Member Countries
All United Nations member states are all allowed to become members of the UPU. A non-member state of the United Nations may also become a member if two-thirds of the UPU member countries approve its request. The UPU currently has 192 members (190 states and 2 joint memberships of dependent territories groups).
Member states of the UPU are the Vatican City and the 193 UN members less Andorra, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. The newest member is South Sudan, which joined on 4 October 2011.
The overseas constituent countries of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten) are represented as a single UPU member as are the entire British overseas territories. These members were originally listed separately as "Colonies, Protectorates, etc." in the Universal Postal Convention and they were grandfathered in when membership was restricted to sovereign states.
Palestine was granted special observer status to the UPU in 1999, and in 2008 Israel agreed for its mail to be routed through Jordan. Palestine will likely be upgraded to full membership in the near future.
Non-members of UPU are Andorra, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Niue, Palau and the rest of the states with limited recognition. Cook Islands and Niue are represented by New Zealand (they are in free association with it). Andorra, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau have their mail delivered through another UPU member (the United States for the Compact of Free Association states and France and Spain for Andorra.
The Republic of China joined the UPU on March 1, 1914. After the People's Republic of China was founded, the Republic of China continued to represent China in the UPU, until the organization decided on April 13, 1972 to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative. Because of this, International Reply Coupons are not available for Taiwan. Mail addressed to Taiwan is still delivered there, albeit through a third country.
The other states with limited recognition such as Somaliland and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also route their mail through third countries because the UPU will not allow direct international deliveries. For example, the TRNC's mail goes via Turkey and Somaliland's mail via Ethiopia).
Read more about this topic: Universal Postal Union
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