Scrutinizing Possible Procedures by which States Withdraw from the United Nations

Abstract

A state rarely considers leaving an international organization when negotiating the conditions of its entry. Among such organizations is the United Nations (UN), an institution of obvious global importance. The issue of withdrawal, neglected though it often is (whether deliberately or unintentionally), could however be equally as significant as that of entry. By contrast with the Covenant of the League of Nations, the UN Charter makes no provision for withdrawal. The procedure to be followed should a state request to withdraw is therefore left uncertain. The current study therefore examines three primary instruments: the proposal of the Committee of the San Francisco Conference, the Indonesian example and the inclusion of the relevant provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The study aims to determine whether these instruments provide an explicit procedure for withdrawal from the UN. The current study contributes to the Turkish literature by providing insight into this largely ignored topic.

Keywords

UN Charter, withdrawal, San Fransisco Conference Proposals, Vienna Convention

Citation

Bektaş, Mehmet Halil Mustafa, "Scrutinizing Possible Procedures by which States Withdraw from the United Nations", International Relations, Volume 16, Issue 61, 2019, pp. 39-54, DOI: 10.33458/uidergisi.541525

Affiliations

• Mehmet Halil Mustafa BEKTAŞ, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Bursa Uludağ University