United Nations General Assembly observers

Observer status may be granted by a United Nations General Assembly resolution. The status of a permanent observer is based purely on practice of the General Assembly, and there are no provisions for it in the United Nations Charter. The practice is to distinguish between state and non-state observers. Non-member states are members of one or more specialized agencies, and can apply for permanent observer state status. Non-state observers are the international organizations and other entities.

Non-member observer states

The General Assembly may invite non-member entities to participate in the work of the United Nations without formal membership, and has done so on numerous occasions. Such participants are described as observers, some of which may be further classified as non-member state observers. Most former non-member observer states accepted observer status at a time when they had applied for membership but were unable to attain it, due to the actual or threatened veto by one or more of the permanent members of the Security Council. The grant of observer status is made by the General Assembly only; it is not subject to a Security Council veto.

In some circumstances a state may elect to become an observer rather than full member. For example, to preserve its neutrality while participating in its work, Switzerland chose to remain a permanent non-member state observer from 1948 until it became a member in 2002.

Current non-member observer states

As of November 2025, there are two permanent non-member observer states in the General Assembly of the United Nations: the Holy See and the State of Palestine. Both were described as "Non-Member States having received a standing invitation to participate as Observers in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly and maintaining Permanent Observer Missions at Headquarters".

The Holy See uncontroversially obtained its non-member observer state status in 1964, representing the Vatican City State. The Holy See did not wish to join the United Nations as a member because "Membership in the organization would not seem to be consonant with the provisions of Article 24 of the Lateran Treaty, particularly as regards spiritual status and participation in possible use of force." Since April 6, 1964, the Holy See has accepted permanent observer state status, which was regarded as a diplomatic courtesy, to enable the Holy See to participate in the UN's humanitarian activities and in the promotion of peace.

In 1974, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was admitted as an observer to represent the people of Palestine. In 2012, its observer status was changed from "non-member observer entity" to "non-member observer state" and its name was changed to "State of Palestine", which many called "symbolic". The change followed an application by Palestine for full UN membership in 2011 as part of the Palestine 194 campaign, to provide additional leverage to the Palestinians in their dealings with Israel. The application had not been put to a UN Security Council vote. With the change in status, the United Nations Secretariat held that Palestine was entitled to become a party to treaties for which the UN Secretary-General is the depositary. On 17 December 2012, UN Chief of Protocol, Yeocheol Yoon, declared that "the designation of 'State of Palestine' shall be used by the Secretariat in all official United Nations documents."

The seating in the General Assembly Hall is arranged with non-member observer states being seated immediately after UN member states, and before other observers. On 10 September 2015, the General Assembly resolved to approve the raising at the UN of the flags of non-member observer states alongside those of the 193 UN member states.

Notes:

• The Cook Islands and Niue, both states in free association with New Zealand, are members of several UN specialized agencies, and have had their "full treaty-making capacity" recognized by the UN Secretariat in 1992 and 1994 respectively. The Cook Islands has expressed a desire to become a UN member state, but New Zealand has said that they would not support the application without a change in their constitutional relationship, in particular the right of Cook Islanders to New Zealand citizenship.
• The Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, was a founding member of the UN representing China, which has been divided between the ROC and the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the end of the Chinese Civil War. However, the 1971 General Assembly Resolution 2758 transferred China's seat in the UN from the ROC to the PRC. Since then, Taiwan has sought to resume its participation in UN activities. Various methods were considered, including seeking observer status, but ultimately the ROC chose to submit more vague requests which did not specify the form of participation it sought between 1993 and 2006. These requests have been consistently denied due to the UN's recognition of the PRC as the "legitimate representative of China to the United Nations". The UN Secretary-General concluded from the resolution that the General Assembly considered Taiwan to be a province of China rather than an independent country, and thus ineligible to become party to treaties for which the UN Secretary-General is the depositary.
• The UN recognizes 17 non-self-governing territories "whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government"; they are represented at the UN by their respective administering power. However, Western Sahara's administering power, Spain, unilaterally abandoned its responsibilities for the territory in 1976. The Polisario Front has since been recognized as the legitimate representative of Western Sahara and is occasionally invited to speak as the territory's representative before the Special Committee on Decolonization, but it has never been conferred General Assembly observer status.

Former non-member observer states

Sixteen former non-member states were also granted observer status. Fourteen of those states eventually became members of the United Nations. The other three constitute a single special case.

Most of the former non-member observer states accepted this status at a time when they had applied for membership but were unable to attain it, due to the (actual or threatened) veto of one or more of the permanent members of the Security Council. The vetoes were later overcome either by changes in geopolitical circumstances, or by "package deals" under which the Security Council approved multiple new member states at the same time, as was done with a dozen countries in 1955 and with East and West Germany in 1973.

Notes