Senior lawyers criticising Starmer’s pledge have cited the Montevideo convention, which sets out four criteria
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A group of senior lawyers has written to the UK government’s most senior legal adviser, Lord Hermer, claiming that Keir Starmer’s pledge to recognise Palestine risks breaking international law. Here the Guardian explains the Montevideo convention, which they cite, and examines whether it does represent an obstacle to recognition.
It is a treaty signed in the Uruguayan capital in 1933 by 19 states, all from the Americas, including the US, that set four criteria for recognition of a state. They were: a defined territory, a permanent population, a government and the capacity to enter into international relations. The fact that the UK did not sign does not mean that it would not apply to it, as it can be recognised as part of customary international law.
According to the Times, which has seen the letter, it says that there is no certainty over the borders of a proposed Palestinian state and the government would face difficulty continuing to recognise millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as “refugees”, given recognition of statehood would mean they were in their own territory.
