United Nations Security Council Resolution 1290
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United Nations Security Council resolution 1290 was adopted on 17 February 2000. Resolution 1290 examined
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...
's application to become the 189th member of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
(UN). Tuvalu achieved independence in 1978 after over eighty years of British colonial rule. The country had struggled economically, and it took the 2000 sale of Tuvalu's Internet
country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all t ...
''
.tv The domain name .tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like com.tv, net.tv, org.tv and others, any person may register second-level domains under .tv. The domain name is popular, and thus ...
'' for the nation to be able to afford UN membership. Resolution 1290 was adopted unopposed, although China abstained due to concerns over Tuvalu's relationship with
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
.


Background

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...
is a
Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
n island country situated in the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
; it has a population of approximately 11,000 people (). Tuvalu was colonised by the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in the late nineteenth century, and in 1892 it became a protectorate as a part of the general
British Western Pacific Territories The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, of a series of Paci ...
. In 1916, the United Kingdom reorganized Tuvalu's administration, and the colony became a part of the
Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...
. Following
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization was formed, and this committee encouraged Tuvalu to begin its process of
self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
. In 1974, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands held a
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
; as a result of the vote, the two constituent parts split. The Gilbert Islands became Kiribati and the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu. Following the referendum, Tuvalu was an individual British dependency, until it declared independence on 1 October 1978. Tuvalu continued to develop as an independent nation throughout the late twentieth century but it could not afford to apply for United Nations membership due to its weak
economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
. In 1998 the Tuvaluan government began discussions with the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
with the aim of selecting a partner who would manage ''
.tv The domain name .tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like com.tv, net.tv, org.tv and others, any person may register second-level domains under .tv. The domain name is popular, and thus ...
'', the nation's top-level Internet domain. In 2000, Tuvalu, led by
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Ionatana Ionatana Ionatana Ionatana, CVO OBE CPM (5 November 1938 – 8 December 2000), was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He represented the constituency of Funafuti in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Tuvalu f ...
, signed a deal by which the American firm DotTV exchanged
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
50 million for the rights to the ''.tv'' domain. This deal essentially trebled Tuvalu's national income, and enabled the country to make its requisite United Nations contributions (Tuvalu's net contributions to the UN's 2001 regular budget were US$10,343).


Resolution

On 16 November 1999, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Ionatana wrote to the
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
(UNSC), saying that Tuvalu had met the admission requirements specified in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter, and requesting his country's admission. On 5 January 2000, Tuvalu's membership request was officially circulated to the UNSC. Resolution 1290 was adopted on 17 February 2000 by the UNSC at its 4103rd meeting. Resolution 1290 received 14 votes in favour with none against. China abstained from the vote and said it could not approve the resolution due to Tuvalu's close relation with
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. China said that Tuvaluan–Taiwanese relations contradicted
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) was passed in response to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1668 that required any change in China's representation in the UN be ...
. China chose not to exercise its right to veto, as it was in the interests of both China and Taiwan for Tuvalu to achieve United Nations member status. A similar situation had occurred with
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1249 United Nations Security Council resolution 1249, adopted on 25 June 1999, after examining the application of the Republic of Nauru for membership in the United Nations, the Council recommended to the General Assembly that Nauru be admitted, bring ...
, when
Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...
's membership had been ratified despite China's abstention. On 5 September 2000, the
United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
(UNGA) accepted the UNSC's recommendation without a vote and Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations.


See also

* Enlargement of the United Nations * List of United Nations member states *
List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1201 to 1300 This is a list of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1201 to 1300 adopted between 15 October 1998 and 31 May 2000. See also * Lists of United Nations Security Council resolutions * List of United Nations Security Council Resolutio ...


References


External links

*
Text of the Resolution at undocs.org
{{UNSCR 2000 1290 1290 1290 2000 in Tuvalu February 2000 events