United Nations member states

As of 2007, there are 192 United Nations (UN) member states. Each member state is a member of the United Nations General Assembly.According to the United Nations Charter, Chapter 2, Article 4, the admission of any state to membership in the UN "will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council." In principle, only sovereign states can become UN members, and today all UN members are fully sovereign states. However, four of the original members (Belarus, India, the Philippines, and Ukraine) were not independent at the time of their admission. Moreover, because a state can only be admitted by the approval of the Security Council and the General Assembly, some entities which may be considered sovereign states according to the Montevideo Convention are not members due to the fact that the UN do not consider them to be sovereign states, the lack of international recognition or opposition from certain members.
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