THE

MEANING

OF

"STATES"

IN

THE

MEMBERSHIP

PROVISIONS OF

THE

UNITED

NATIONS

CHARTER

Frederick Tse-shyang

Chen*

"Statehood"

is

an

element

of

membership in

the

United Nations. The

two

provisions

of

the

Charter

on

membership

are

quite

clear

on this

requirement:

Article

3.

The

original

Members

of

the

United

Nations

shall

be

the

states

which,

having

participated

in

the

United

Nations

Conference

on

International

Organization

at

San Francisco,

or

having

previously

signed

the

Declaration

by

United

Nations

of

January

1,

1942,

sign

the

present Charter

and

ratify

it

in

accordance

with

Article

110.'

Article

4.

(1.)

Membership

in

the

United

Nations

is

open

to

all

other

peace-loving

states

which

accept

the

obligations

contained

in

the

present

Charter

and,

in

the

judgment

of

the

Organization,

are

able

and

willing

to carry

out these

obligations.

2

However,

the

Charter

does

not define

the

term

"states"

nor

do

the

two

advisory

opinions

of

the

International

Court

of

Justice concerning membership

of

the

United

Nations

.3

In

practice,

the decision-makers

seem

to have

followed

a

number

of

criteria

and

have

given

a

wide

variety

of

meanings

to

the

term.

First,

they

have

applied

a

traditional

definition

of

states

in

international

law

which

regards

an

entity

as

a

state

if

it

possesses

"(a)

a

permanent population;

(b)

a

defined

territory;

(c)

government;

and

(d)

capacity

to

enter

into

relations

with

other

states."

4

The entities

found

to

fit

this

definition,

however,

have

*

Professor

of

Law,

Quinnipiac

University, Connecticut,

U.S.A;

formerly

Dean

and

Professor,

School

of

Law,

Soochow

University,

Taipei,

Taiwan,

R.O.C.

This

article

is

adapted

from

a

lecture

the

author

gave

at

the Institute

of

Comparative

Law

in

Japan

at

Chuo University,

Tokyo,

Japan

on

March

17,

2001

and

is

scheduled

to

be

published

by

the

Institute during

the

2001-02

academic

year. The

author wishes

to

thank

his

colleague,

Alan

Karabus,

for

his

connents.

1.

U.N.

CHARTER

art.

3

(emphasis added).

2.

Id.

art.

4,

para.

I

(emphasis

added).

3.

Conditions

of

Admission

of

a

State

to

Membership

in

the United

Nations,

1948

I.C.J.

57

(May

28);

Competence

of

the General

Assembly

for

the

Admission

of

a

State to

the United

Nations,

1950

I.C.J.

4

(Mar.

3).

4.

Convention

on

the

Rights

and

Duties

of

States,

Dec. 26,

1933,

art.

1,

49

Stat.

3097,

165

L.N.T.S.

19,

U.S.T.

881.

The

Restatement defines

state

in

similar

terms:

"Under

international

law,

a

state

is

an

entity that has

a

defined

territory

and

a permanent

population,

under

the

control

of

its

own

government,

and that

engages

in,

or

has

the

capacity

to

engage

in,

formal

relations with

other

such

entities."

RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OFFOREIGN

RELATIONS

LAW