So here's an interesting tidbit that took me completely by surprise. I was reading my favorite online newspaper and learned that Switzerland didn't even join the United Nations until 2002. It's not that much of a surprise for me to know that they're not in the EU - after all, that's been e a contentious issue within some countries, and the Swiss are known for their independence and neutrality, but that UN thing was a big surprise. Now I'm wondering if there are any other 1st world countries that aren't in the UN.
The article wasn't even about this - its focus was how Switzerland's economic strength is weakening due to the global credit crisis - a problem that is exacerbated by its reliance on banking as the #1 industry, but it was the UN thing that really got my attention.
1 comment:
Dear Mark,
I didn't know this, either, until I read your blog, and it surprised me as well.
It sparked my curiosity and left me thinking. On the one hand I thought this decision to not be a member until 2002 was the correct one and the Swiss were right by staying very true to their principle of neutrality, which has always had all my respect and admiration. But on the other hand, I cannot help sometimes feeling partial to the claim that the Swiss neutrality is an easy 'escape route', a no-fault excuse to stand back and avoid getting involved in anything.
In the case of its membership in the UN, I was tilting towards the latter...
However, there was something about all this that didn’t quite convince me. The Swiss may be hard-core neutral but still…
So I did a little research.
And I found something very surprising.
Switzerland did put down its neutrality in favor of membership in the UN—but it was not admitted by the UN as full member until 2002. In other words, it was not a decision of the Swiss when to become a member.
Now *that* was surprising!
It turns out that Switzerland was left to the side, so to speak, by the UN, which gave it merely the status of “permanent observer” since 1948. Observer status is granted by a UN General Assembly resolution. Observers have the right to speak at the UN General Assembly meetings, participate in procedural votes, and to sponsor and sign resolutions, but not to vote on resolutions and other substantive matters. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_observers#Non-member_states)
Non-member observer states are recognized as sovereign entities, and are free to submit a petition to join as a full member at their discretion. Switzerland was a permanent observer until becoming a full member on 10 September 2002. The text of the resolution of the Security Council – very brief and quite interesting – can be found at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/sc7464.doc.htm.
There are several other surprising facts I found out about the UN while reading Wikipedia’s respective article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_member_states):
“In addition to the member states, there is currently one non-member observer state: the Holy See (which holds sovereignty over the state of Vatican City). It has been an observer state since 6 April 1964, and gained all the rights of full membership except voting on 1 July 2004.”
But more surprising was this: “Several current or former UN member states were also granted observer status before being admitted, such as:
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1973–1991)
- Federal Republic of Germany (1955–1973)
- German Democratic Republic (1972–1973)
- Republic of Korea (1953–1991)
- Switzerland (1948–2002)”
Germany’s admittance as late as 1973 is no surprise given the principles which served to lay the foundations of the UN in 1945. But what I did find surprising in a negative way was that (South Korea) was not only admitted as late as 1991, but also on the same date as its northern counterpart…
By the way: the only independent state which has no status whatsoever is Kosovo: “Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia and is recognized by 56 UN member states, is not expected to be admitted to the UN in the near future due to the resistance of Russia and China to recognizing Kosovo, as admission to the UN requires approval from the Security Council, and the two countries, as permanent members of the Security Council, have veto power.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_member_states)
So, Mark, do you think the U.S. will ever at least start paying its debt to the UN?
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