Conditions of admission of a State to membership in the United Nations (Article 4 of Charter), advisory opinion, [1948] ICJ Reports 57 ; Competence of the General Assembly for the Admission of a State to the United Nations, advisory opinion, [1950] ICJ Reports 4

Abstract

Statehood traditionally has been determined by reference to the Montevideo Convention criteria of “a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government; and d) [the] capacity to enter into relations with the other states.” However, over the past few decades, many commentators have come to see collective recognition through UN membership as the main avenue to statehood. The extraordinary efforts emerging states undertake to gain UN membership in recent years support this perceived shift. Only states can be UN members, as UN Charter Article 4 indicates, and so UN membership is the “badge” of statehood, or so the argument goes. In light of this shift to collective recognition through UN membership, the two ICJ advisory opinions that deal with UN membership gain particular importance inasmuch as they can be seen as clarifying some of the finer points of law in this area. In responding to the political stalemate in the Security Council over admission of new UN members, the ICJ insisted on adhering to the legal rules of the UN Charter concerning admission, which is one of the main lessons of these advisory opinions. However, in the end, politics ultimately prevailed over the law when resolving the stalemate, which might be the more important lesson learned from these two advisory opinions.