The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2012 granting Palestine the status of a non-member observer state to the United Nations. (Document)
What are the requirements for Palestine to become a full Member of the United Nations? As the Council enters its seventh month of devastating war in Gaza, the Security Council has taken up the matter, with United Nations News analysing the current status of Palestine and the conditions for membership in the United Nations.
The current status of Palestine
Currently, Palestine is a "permanent observer State" of the United Nations and enjoys the status of participating in all the activities of the organization, except that it cannot vote on draft resolutions and decisions in its principal organs and bodies, from the Security Council to the General Assembly and its six Main Committees.
Additional rights may be granted to Permanent Observers for certain periods of time. For example, a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly provides that, during the Palestinian presidency of the Group of 77 and China (G77) in 2019, Palestine will be granted additional rights on an interim basis: to submit and introduce proposals and amendments, to exercise the right of reply, to introduce procedural motions, including points of order, and to request that the proposal be put to a vote. These temporary rights granted to Palestine expired in 2020.
On April 2, 2024, Palestine sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General requesting that Palestine's application for UN membership be reconsidered, which was originally submitted in 2011. Upon receipt of the request, the Secretary-General of the United Nations forwarded it to the Security Council, which held a public meeting on 8 April to discuss the issue.
The current process is a continuation of a process that began in September 2011, when the President of Palestine sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General requesting to join the UN, who immediately submitted the application to the Security Council and the UN General Assembly. In accordance with its provisional rules of procedure, the Council referred the matter to the Committee on the Admission of New Members for consideration, which was unable to reach a consensus on the approval of the request.
联合国图片/Rick Bajornas
How the membership of the United Nations was born
The admission of any new member states requires agreement between the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.
Any application for membership in the United Nations is submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which is then forwarded to the Security Council and the General Assembly.
The 15-member Security Council, after deliberations by its Committee on the Admission of New Members, decides whether to recommend membership to the 193-member General Assembly.
Outlining this process, the Charter of the United Nations states that membership in the United Nations is "open to all other peace-loving States that have accepted the obligations set forth in the present Charter and are able and willing to fulfil those obligations".
The Council can vote on the proposal, and it must be supported by at least nine members, and none of the permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) uses the veto.
Admission of new members to the Committee
The Council referred the matter to the Committee on the Admission of New Members under rule 59 of its provisional rules of procedure. The committee held two meetings on April 8 and 11, 2024.
In 2011, members of the Committee considered the Palestinian request in several meetings that lasted more than two months, but could not reach agreement on whether to recommend that the Council approve the request. Some members expressed support, others indicated that abstentions were expected if a vote were to be taken, and several others suggested other options, including as an intermediate step: "The General Assembly should adopt a resolution to make Palestine an observer State." ”
联合国图片/Albert Fox
The General Assembly holds a vote
After receiving a positive recommendation from the Council, the United Nations General Assembly began to play its role.
In the case of ratification – like Israel in 1948 and dozens of other countries, including South Sudan, the newest member of the United Nations in 2011 – the UN General Assembly was tasked with drafting a resolution.
Shortly after receiving the Council's recommendation, the General Assembly arranged for a vote on the matter, with all 193 Member States participating in the process.
Full membership is granted
Since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the General Assembly has admitted more than 100 Member States, and a two-thirds majority is required to admit new members.
Once the resolution is adopted, the new members are formally admitted to the United Nations.
Membership includes participation in United Nations meetings, payment of annual dues, and voting on all issues facing the organization. The flags of the new members were subsequently added and displayed in the ranks of the members at United Nations Headquarters in New York and in other major United Nations offices around the world.
Permanent observer status
In 2012, one year after Palestine's application, the UN General Assembly decided to recognize Palestine as a "non-member permanent observer state".
While the only other non-member observer State is currently the Holy See, which represents the Vatican, the practice of granting such status began in 1946, when the Secretary-General accepted the appointment of the Government of Switzerland as a permanent observer to the United Nations. Subsequently, a number of countries that later became members of the United Nations, including Austria, Finland, Italy and Japan, were also designated as observers.
As a permanent observer State, the flag of Palestine does fly outside the United Nations Secretariat building in New York, although it is slightly separated from the flags of United Nations Member States and is not arranged in alphabetical order.
联合国图片/Jean Marc Ferré