Montevideo Convention
Convention on the Rights and Duties of States | |
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Montevideo Convention at Wikisource |
The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States is a treaty signed at
The convention became operative on December 26, 1934. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 8, 1936.[3]
The conference is notable in U.S. history, since one of the U.S. representatives was Dr.
Background
In most cases, the only avenue open to
Contents of the convention
The convention sets out the definition, rights and duties of statehood. Most well-known is Article 1, which sets out the four criteria for statehood that have been recognized by international organizations as an accurate statement of customary international law:
The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
Furthermore, the first sentence of Article 3 explicitly states that "The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states." This is known as the
An important part of the convention was a prohibition of using military force to gain sovereignty. According to Article 11 of the convention,[2]
The contracting states definitely establish the rule of their conduct the precise obligation not to recognize territorial acquisitions or advantages that have been obtained by force whether this consists in the employment of arms, in threatening diplomatic representations, or in any other effective coercive measure
Furthermore, Article 11 reflects the contemporary Stimson Doctrine, and is now a fundamental part of international law through article 2 paragraph 4 of the Charter of the United Nations.[citation needed]
Parties
The 17 states that have ratified this convention are limited to the Americas.
State[1][7] | Signed | Deposited | Method |
---|---|---|---|
Brazil | Dec 26, 1933 | Feb 23, 1937 | Ratification |
Chile | Dec 26, 1933 | Mar 28, 1935 | Ratification |
Colombia | Dec 26, 1933 | Jul 22, 1936 | Ratification |
Costa Rica[a] | Sep 28, 1937 | Accession | |
Cuba | Dec 26, 1933 | Apr 28, 1936 | Ratification |
Dominican Republic | Dec 26, 1933 | Dec 26, 1934 | Ratification |
Ecuador | Dec 26, 1933 | Oct 3, 1936 | Ratification |
El Salvador | Dec 26, 1933 | Jan 9, 1937 | Ratification |
Guatemala | Dec 26, 1933 | Jun 12, 1935 | Ratification |
Haiti | Dec 26, 1933 | Aug 13, 1941 | Ratification |
Honduras | Dec 26, 1933 | Dec 1, 1937 | Ratification |
Mexico | Dec 26, 1933 | Jan 27, 1936 | Ratification |
Nicaragua | Dec 26, 1933 | Jan 8, 1937 | Ratification |
Panama | Dec 26, 1933 | Nov 13, 1938 | Ratification |
Paraguay | Dec 26, 1933 | Sep 7, 2018 | Ratification |
United States | Dec 26, 1933 | Jul 13, 1934 | Ratification |
Venezuela | Dec 26, 1933 | Feb 13, 1940 | Ratification |
- Notes
A further three states signed the convention on 26 December 1933, but have not ratified it.[1][9]
The only state to attend the Seventh International Conference of American States, where the convention was agreed upon, which did not sign it was Bolivia.[9] Costa Rica, which did not attend the conference, later signed the convention.[8]
Customary international law
As a restatement of customary international law, the Montevideo Convention merely codified existing legal norms and its principles and therefore does not apply merely to the signatories, but to all subjects of international law as a whole.[10][11]
The
Switzerland, although not a member of the European Union, adheres to the same principle, stating that "neither a political unit needs to be recognized to become a state, nor does a state have the obligation to recognize another one. At the same time, neither recognition is enough to create a state, nor does its absence abolish it."[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "A-40: Convention on Rights and Duties of States". Organization of American States. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
- ^ ISBN 9781107609433.
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 165, pp. 20-43.
- ^ From colony to superpower: U.S. foreign relations since 1776, by George C. Herring, Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 499. Online at Google Books. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
- ^ The Postcoloniality of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Volume 46, Number 2, Summer 2005, Sundhya Pahuja, page 5 Archived 2009-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 90-04-13965-6, page 110
- United Nations Treaty Series, Registration Number:3802. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
- ^ ISBN 9780313286001. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
Delegations from twenty states participated - from the United States and all those in Latin America except Costa Rica (provision was made for Costa Rica to later sign the conventions and treaties presented in the conference).
- ^ Yale. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
- ^ Harris, D.J. (ed) 2004 "Cases and Materials on International Law" 6th Ed. at p. 99. Sweet and Maxwell, London
- ISBN 9041114092.
- ^ The Badinter Arbitration Committee (full title), named for its chair, ruled on the question of whether the Republics of Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia, who had formally requested recognition by the members of the European Union and by the EU itself, had met conditions specified by the Council of Ministers of the European Community on December 16, 1991. "The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee: A Second Breath for the Self-Determination of Peoples". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ Opinion No 1., Badinter Arbitration Committee, states that "the state is commonly defined as a community which consists of a territory and a population subject to an organized political authority; that such a state is characterized by sovereignty" and that "the effects of recognition by other states are purely declaratory".
- ^ Switzerland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DFA, Directorate of International Law: "Recognition of States and Governments," 2005.
Further reading
- Stuart, Graham. "The Results of the Good Neighbor Policy In Latin America' World Affairs 102#3 (September, 1939), pp. 166–170 online
External links
- Original text at UN Treaties Series, Registration Number: 3802
- Searching for a symbol The Montevideo Convention and Taiwan/ROC