Foreign Relations of The Republic of Macedonia - International Recognition

International Recognition

The Republic of Macedonia became a member state of the United Nations on April 8, 1993, eighteen months after its independence from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is referred within the UN as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", pending a resolution, to the long-running dispute about the country's name. Unusually, the country's flag was not raised at UN Headquarters when the state joined the UN. It was not until after the country's flag was changed that it was raised at the UN Headquarters. Other international bodies, such as the European Union, European Broadcasting Union, and the International Olympic Committee have adopted the same convention. NATO also uses the reference in official documents but adds an explanation on which member countries recognise the constitutional name.

All UN member states currently recognise Macedonia as a sovereign state, but they are still divided over what to call it. A number of countries recognise the country by its constitutional name – the Republic of Macedonia – rather than the UN reference, notably four of the five permanent UN Security Council members (the UK, the United States, Russia, and the People's Republic of China) and over 120 other UN members.