Observer status is a privilege granted by some organizations to non-members to give them an ability to participate in the organization's activities. Observer status is often granted by intergovernmental organizations (IGO) to non-member parties and international nongovernmental organizations (INGO) that have an interest in the IGO's activities. Observers generally have a limited ability to participate in the IGO, lacking the ability to vote or propose resolutions.
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👉 Observer status in the context of Diplomatic service
Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to other countries. Diplomatic services are often part of the larger civil service and sometimes a constituent part of the foreign ministry.
Some intergovernmental organizations, such as the European Union, and some international non-state organizations, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, may also retain diplomatic services in other jurisdictions. For non-state organizations, the reciprocation of diplomatic recognition by other jurisdictions is difficult, as diplomacy tends to establish the concept of recognition upon an assumed sovereignty over geographical territory; the SMOM, in this case, receives diplomats at its headquarters in Rome, as all permanent missions to the SMOM are jointly accredited as permanent missions to the Holy See. In relation, many more non-state international organizations, such as the IFRC/ICRC, maintain permanent non-voting observer status to intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations General Assembly, appointing individual representatives to the observer office.
In this Dossier
Observer status in the context of Member states of the Arab League
The Arab League has 22 member states. It was founded in Cairo in March 1945 with seven members, namely the Kingdom of Egypt, the Kingdom of Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Republic, Transjordan, and North Yemen. Membership increased during the second half of the 20th century. Seven countries have observer status. The headquarters are located in Cairo, Egypt.
Observer status in the context of Member states of UNESCO
As of July 2023, UNESCO members include 194 member states and 12 associate members. Some members have additional National Organizing Committees (NOCs) for some of their dependent territories. The associate members are non-independent states.
Three UNESCO member states are not UN member states: Cook Islands, Niue, and Palestine (Palestine is a non-member observer State of the United Nations General Assembly since 29 November 2012), while UN member states Israel and Liechtenstein are not UNESCO members. Israel and the United States left on 31 December 2018 asserting that the organization had an anti-Israel bias. The United States later reversed its decision in 2023, and was readmitted by the UNESCO General Conference that July.
Observer status in the context of West Indies Federation
The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and those on the Leeward and Windward Islands, came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state – possibly similar to Australia, Canada, or Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how it would be governed or function viably. The formation of a West Indian Federation was encouraged by the United Kingdom, but also requested by pan-Caribbean nationalists.
The territories that would have become part of the Federation eventually became the nine contemporary sovereign states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago; with Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands becoming British overseas territories. British Guiana and British Honduras held observer status within the West Indies Federation.