The Controversial Legal Status of Macedonia in the United Nations under the provisional reference “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia“

Volume 8, Issue 6, December 2024     |     PP. 273-280      |     PDF (147 K)    |     Pub. Date: November 11, 2024
DOI: 10.54647/sociology841354    372 Downloads     4566 Views  

Author(s)

Igor Janev, Institute for political science, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

Abstract
The admission of Macedonia to UN membership in April 1993 by the UN General Assembly resolution 47/225 (1993), pursuant the Security Council resolution 817 (1993) that recommends such admission, was associated with imposing on the applicant two additional conditions with respect to those explicitly provided in Article 4(1) of the UN Charter, namely: acceptance by the applicant state (i) of “being provisionally referred to for all purposes within United Nations as ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ pending settlement of the difference that has arisen over the name of the state”, and (ii) of negotiating with a neighbouring country (Greece) over its name. The described situation regarding the admission of Macedonia to UN membership rises two major questions: (1) are the imposed conditions on Macedonia for its admission to UN membership in accordance with the provisions of UN Charter, and (2) what are the implications of imposed conditions for admission on the legal status of Macedonia in the UN Organization? A detailed analysis of the first question was given on the basis of advisory opinion of International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 1948. The conclusion of that analysis, derived directly from the mentioned ICJ advisory opinion (stating that the conditions for admission of a state to UN membership laid down in Article 4(1) of the Charter are exhaustive, i.e. their fulfilment is necessary and sufficient for admission) and the character of conditions (i) and (ii) (which transcend in time the act of admission and are, therefore, obviously additional to those listed in Article 4(1) of the Charter), was that the resolutions GA Res. 47/225 (1993) and SC Res. 817 (1993) are in violation with Article 4 (1) of the Charter as a legal norm.

Keywords
United Nations, Law, conditions, reference, denomination, norm, International Court of Justice, Opinion

Cite this paper
Igor Janev, The Controversial Legal Status of Macedonia in the United Nations under the provisional reference “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia“ , SCIREA Journal of Sociology. Volume 8, Issue 6, December 2024 | PP. 273-280. 10.54647/sociology841354

References

[ 1 ] GA Res. 47/225, 8 April 1993 [hereafter: GA Res.47/225 (1993)].
[ 2 ] SC Res. 817, 7 April 1993 [hereafter: SC Res.817 (1993)].
[ 3 ] See Supra note 1.
[ 4 ] See Supra note 2.
[ 5 ] Ibid.
[ 6 ] See UN SCOR, 48th Sess., Supp. Apr., May, June, at 36, UN Doc. S/25543 (1993).
[ 7 ] See UN SCOR, 48th Sess., Supp. Apr., May, June, at 35, UN Doc. S/25541 (1993).
[ 8 ] See 11 Constitutions of the Countries of the World, and Supp. 98-6, (A.P.Blaustein and G. H. Flanz, eds., 1994, 1998)
[ 9 ] I. Janev, ‘Legal aspects of the use of provisional name for Macedonia in the Nations system’, 93 AJIL 155 (1999).
[ 10 ] Admission of a State in the United Nations (Charter, Art. 4), ICJ Reports, 57 (1948).
[ 11 ] GA Res. 197 (III,A), 8 December 1948.
[ 12 ] UN Charter, Art. 2(1).
[ 13 ] Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, GA Res. 2625 (XXV), 24 October 1970.
[ 14 ] See 31 ILM 1507, 1511 (1992).
[ 15 ] L. Henkin, R.C. Pugh, O. Schachter and H. Smit, “International Law: Cases and Materials”, p. 253 (3rd ed., 1993).
[ 16 ] See Supra note 13.
[ 17 ] UN Charter, Art. 2(7).
[ 18 ] See Supra note 10.
[ 19 ] See Supra note 11.
[ 20 ] See Supra note 10.
[ 21 ] See Supra note 2; Preamble.
[ 22 ] See Supra note 7.
[ 23 ] See Supra note 10.
[ 24 ] See Supra note 12.
[ 25 ] Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character, UN Doc. A/CONF. 67/16 (March 14, 1975). [See also 69 AJIL 730 (1975)].