Editing Montevideo Convention (section)

==Analysis==

The Montevideo Convention codified several [[customary international law|existing legal norms and principles]], which apply to all subjects of international law.<ref>Harris, D.J. (ed) 2004 "Cases and Materials on International Law" 6th Ed. at p. 99. Sweet and Maxwell, London</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGMxfj4oedEC&pg=PA77|title=International Law and Self-Determination: The Interplay of the Politics of Territorial Possession With Formulations of Post-Colonial National Identity|pages=77|year=2000|last=Castellino|first=Joshua|publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]]|isbn=9041114092}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2024}}

The [[Badinter Committee]],<ref>''The Badinter Arbitration Committee'' (full title), named for its chair, ruled on the question of whether the Republics of Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia, who had formally requested recognition by the members of the European Union and by the EU itself, had met conditions specified by the Council of Ministers of the European Community on December 16, 1991. {{cite web|url=http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol3/No1/art12.html |title=The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee: A Second Breath for the Self-Determination of Peoples |access-date=2012-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517085252/http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol3/No1/art12.html|archive-date=2008-05-17}}</ref> which consisted of arbitrators from several European countries, considered a state as having a territory, population, and organised political authority and that the existence of states was a question of fact, while the recognition by other states was purely declaratory.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Opinion No.1 |journal=International Law Reports |date=January 1993 |volume=92 |pages=162–166 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781316152195.002 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-law-reports/article/abs/opinion-no1/08D0CCF726116E399A0BD66DA2D38F3F |language=en |issn=0309-0671}}</ref>

[[Switzerland]] 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."<ref>Switzerland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DFA, Directorate of International Law: "Recognition of States and Governments," 2005.</ref>{{Verify quote|date=October 2024|type=|text=This URL may be helpful: https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/fdfa/organisation-fdfa/directorates-divisions/directorate-international-law.html}}

Actual state practices do not follow the Montevideo Convention exactly. While they play an important role, fulfilling its criteria do not automatically create a state because additional requirements must be met. The status of countries such as [[Kosovo]] and [[Somaliland]] largely depends on the recognition or non-recognition by other states.<ref name=EJIL>{{cite web |last1=Akande |first1=Dapo |title=The Importance of Legal Criteria for Statehood: A Response to Jure Vidmar |url=https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-importance-of-legal-criteria-for-statehood-a-response-to-jure-vidmar/ |website=EJIL: Talk! |language=English |date=7 August 2013}}</ref>