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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
In the Broadest historical and technical sense recognition in international relations refers to the acknowledgment by a nation of any change in a situation in a foreign country. The authority to extend recognition is an attribute of sovereignty by which a nation, government, or people fixes its relations with other nations, governments, and peoples, thus establishing or reestablishing a legal continuity which has, for one reason or another, been broken. Decisions on recognition are usually restricted to the recognition of new states, the recognition of belligerency or insurgency, and the recognition of new governments. They involve such questions as the following: When does a state acquire juridical personality and become entitled to enjoy the rights and incur the obligations of a state under international law? What cognizance can or should governments take of the domestic situation within another state? When does a new government begin to function formally in international relations?
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11 Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Mexico City, February 21-March 8, 1945, Report of the Delegation of the United States of America (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946), p. 7.
12 Ibid., pp. 354-355.
13 Charter of the United Nations, Article 41; and Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, Article 8.
14 Organization of American States, Ninth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers oj Foreign Affairs, July 21-26, 1964, Final Act (Washington: Pan American Union, 1964).
15 Whiteman, Digest, II, 85-87; and Bulletin of the Pan American Union, LVIII (March 1934), 161.
16 Consejo de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, Acta de la Sesión Extraordinaria Celebrada el 30 de Octubre de 1963 (OEA/Ser. G/11 C-a-517) (Washington: Pan American Union), p. 26.
17 James Byrnes, statement on recognition of de facto governments.
18 Ninth International Conference of American States, Bogotá, Colombia, March 30-May 2, 1948, Report of the Delegation of the United States of America, with Related Documents, Department of State Publication No. 3263, p. 271.
19 Dean Acheson, Waging Peace in the Americas, Department of State Bulletin No. 21 (September 26, 1949), pp. 463-464.
20 Whiteman, Digest, II, 242-320.
21 Ninth International Conference of American States, Bogotá, Colombia, Report, cti sup., pp. 15, 35-36, 112-120.
22 Fifth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Santiago, Chile, August 12-18, 1959, Final Act (Washington: Pan American Union, 1960): and Inter- American Economic and Social Council Meeting, Punta del Este, Uruguay, August 5-17, 1961, Alliance for Progress (Washington: Pan American Union, 1961).
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29 Consejo de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, Acta de la Sesión Extraordinaria Celebrada el 12 de noviembre de 1963, (OEA/Ser.G/II C-a-520) (Washington: ‘ Pan American Union), pp. 7-8.
30 Ibid., p. 48.
31 Draft, “Mechanism of Consultation on Recognition of De Facto Governments,” submitted by the Ambassadors of Venezuela and Costa Rica to the Chairman of the Council of the Organization of American States, March 31, 1964, (OEA/Ser G/V C-d- 1206, April 2, 1964), pp. 5-6.
32 “Proposed Agenda of the Meeting of the Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,” submitted by the Ambassadors of Venezuela and Costa Rica to the Chairman oí the Council of the Organization of American States, March 31, 1964, (OEA/Ser G/ VC-d-1206, April 2, 1964), p. 3.
33 Council of the Organization of American States, “Statement of Ambassador Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the Organization of American States, December 5, 1962. (OEA/Ser G/VII CP/CAJP-24) (mimeographed).
34 Consejo de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, Acto de la Sesión Extraordinaria Celebrada el 13 de noviembre de 1963 (OEA/Ser G/II C-a-521, provisional) (Washington: Pan American Union), passim.
