The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States is a treaty signed at

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, on December 26, 1933, during the Seventh

International Conference of American States The Conferences of American States, commonly referred to as the Pan-American Conferences, were meetings of the Pan-American Union, an international organization for cooperation on trade. James G. Blaine, a United States politician, Secretary ...

. The Convention codifies the declarative theory of statehood as accepted as part of customary international law. At the conference, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State

Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ...

declared the '' Good Neighbor Policy'', which opposed U.S. armed intervention in inter-American affairs. The convention was signed by 19 states. The acceptance of three of the signatories was subject to minor reservations. Those states were Brazil, Peru and the United States. The convention became operative on December 26, 1934. It was registered in ''League of Nations Treaty Series'' on January 8, 1936. The conference is notable in U.S. history, since one of the U.S. representatives was Dr.

Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (April 1, 1866 – July 30, 1948) was an American activist, Progressive Era social reformer, social scientist and innovator in higher education. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in political science and ...

, the first U.S. female representative at an international conference.''From colony to superpower: U.S. foreign relations since 1776''
by George C. Herring, Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 499. Online at Google Books. Retrieved 2011-09-20.

Background

In most cases, the only avenue open to self-determination for colonial or national ethnic minority populations was to achieve international legal personality as a nation-state. The majority of delegations at the

represented independent states that had emerged from former colonies. In most cases, their own existence and independence had been disputed or opposed by one or more of the European colonial empires. They agreed among themselves to criteria that made it easier for other dependent states with limited sovereignty to gain international recognition.

Contents of the convention

The convention sets out the definition, rights and duties of statehood. Most well-known is Article 1, which sets out the four criteria for statehood that have been recognized by international organizations as an accurate statement of

customary international law Customary international law is an aspect of international law involving the principle of custom. Along with general principles of law and treaties, custom is considered by the International Court of Justice, jurists, the United Nations, and its ...

: Furthermore, the first sentence of Article 3 explicitly states that "The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states." This is known as the declarative theory of statehood. It stands in conflict with the alternative

constitutive theory of statehood Constitutive may refer to: * In physics, a constitutive equation is a relation between two physical quantities * In ecology, a constitutive defense is one that is always active, as opposed to an inducible defense * Constitutive theory of statehood ...

: a state exists only insofar as it is recognized by other states. It should not be confused with the Estrada doctrine. "Independence" and "sovereignty" are not mentioned in article 1. An important part of the convention was a prohibition of using military force to gain sovereignty. According to Article 11 of the Convention, Furthermore, Article 11 reflects the contemporary Stimson Doctrine, and is now a fundamental part of international law through article 2 paragraph 4 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Parties

The 17 states that have ratified this convention are limited to the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. ;Notes A further three states signed the Convention on 26 December 1933, but have not ratified it. The only state to attend the Seventh International Conference of American States, where the convention was agreed upon, which did not sign it was

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Costa Rica, which did not attend the conference, later signed the convention.

Customary international law

As a restatement of

, the Montevideo Convention merely codified existing legal norms and its principles and therefore does not apply merely to the signatories, but to all subjects of international law as a whole. The European Union, in the principal statement of its Badinter Committee, follows the Montevideo Convention in its definition of a state: by having a territory, a population, and a political authority. The committee also found that the existence of states was a question of fact, while the recognition by other states was purely declaratory and not a determinative factor of statehood.

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, although not a member of the European Union, adheres to the same principle, stating that "neither a political unit needs to be recognized to become a state, nor does a state have the obligation to recognize another one. At the same time, neither recognition is enough to create a state, nor does its absence abolish it."Switzerland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DFA, Directorate of International Law: "Recognition of States and Governments," 2005.

References

External links

Original text at UN Treaties Series
Registration Number: 3802

The Montevideo Convention and Taiwan/ROC {{Franklin D. Roosevelt, state=collapsed History of Montevideo 1933 in the United States Interwar-period treaties Treaties concluded in 1933 Treaties entered into force in 1934 Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Vargas-era Brazil Treaties of Chile Treaties of Colombia Treaties of Cuba Treaties of the Dominican Republic Treaties of Ecuador Treaties of El Salvador Treaties of Guatemala Treaties of Haiti Treaties of Honduras Treaties of Mexico Treaties of Nicaragua Treaties of Panama Treaties of Paraguay Treaties of Peru Treaties of the United States Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of Venezuela