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Dependent Territory Information

A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, and remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area.[1]

A dependency is commonly distinguished from other subnational entities in that they are not considered to be part of the integral territory of the governing State. A subnational entity typically represents a division of the State proper, while a dependent territory often maintains a great degree of autonomy from the controlling State. Historically, most colonies were considered to be dependencies of their controlling State. Most of these have either become independent, by joining neighbouring independent countries, or assimilated into the conquering state. The dependencies that remain generally maintain a very high degree of political autonomy. Although dependencies retain a degree of autonomy, not all autonomous entities are considered to be dependencies.[2]

The United Nations Trusteeship Agreements or were listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-Governing. (official document 2002)

Many political entities have a special position recognized by international treaty or agreement resulting in a certain level of autonomy or differences in immigration rules. These are sometimes[3] considered dependencies,[4] but are officially considered by their controlling states to be integral parts of the state.[3] Examples are Åland of Finland, Svalbard of Norway, the Azores and Madeira of Portugal, and Hong Kong and Macau of the People's Republic of China. Such territories are not included in the list below. Also not included are Aruba, Sint Maarten, and Curaçao, which though they are sometimes considered dependencies of the Netherlands they have equal status in the Kingdom of the Netherlands along with the Netherlands.[5]

Contents

Lists of dependent territories

World map of dependent territories
AUS CHI DAN FRA NZL NOR GBR USA

Dependency claims without general international recognition, including all claims in Antarctica, are listed in italics. The list includes several territories that are not included in the list of non-self-governing territories listed by the General Assembly of the United Nations,[6] as well as those that are not legally classified as dependencies by their respective sovereign government.

Australia

See also: States and territories of Australia

Although all territories of Australia are considered to be fully integrated in its federative system, and the official status of an external territory does not differ largely from that of a mainland territory (except in regards to immigration law), debate remains as to whether the external territories are integral parts of Australia, due to their not being part of Australia in 1901, when its constituent states federated.[7] They are often listed separately for statistical purposes.

Inhabited territories Administration
Christmas Island Administered from Canberra by the Attorney-General's Department.[8][9]
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Norfolk Island Commonwealth responsibilities administered from Canberra through the Attorney-General's Department.[8]
Uninhabited territories Administration
Ashmore and Cartier Islands Administered from Canberra by the Attorney-General's Department.[8]
Coral Sea Islands [10]
Australian Antarctic Territory Administered from Canberra by the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage.
Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Denmark

See also: Danish Realm
Division Administration
Faroe Islands Self-governing overseas administrative division since 1948. Part of the Danish Realm, but not of the European Union.
Greenland Self-governing overseas administrative division since 1979. Part of the Danish Realm. Withdrew from the European Economic Community in 1986.

France

See also: Overseas departments and territories of France

Overseas France consists of five overseas departments (Départements d'outre-mer) and all overseas territories (Territoires d'outre-mer). Overseas departments (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and French Guiana), along with those of Metropolitan France, are constituent units of the French Republic. Overseas territories are listed below.

Inhabited territories Administration
French Polynesia Overseas collectivity since 2003; Overseas country since 2004.
New Caledonia "Sui generis" collectivity since 1999; appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Saint Barthélemy Overseas collectivities since 2007.
Saint Martin
Saint Pierre and Miquelon Territorial collectivity since 1985; overseas collectivity since 2003.
Wallis and Futuna Overseas territory since 1961; overseas collectivity since 2003.
Uninhabited territories Administration
Clipperton Island Island administered by the Minister for Overseas Territories. No permanent population.
French Southern and Antarctic Lands The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (called TAAF for Terres australes et antartiques françaises) is an Overseas territory since 1955, administered from Paris by an Administrateur Supérieur. No permanent population. Includes the French territorial claim in Antarctica: Adelie Land.

New Zealand

See also: Realm of New Zealand
In free association Administration
Cook Islands Self-governing state in free association with New Zealand since 1965. The Cook Islands are fully responsible for their internal affairs; New Zealand, in consultation, retains some responsibility for external affairs and defence. As of 2005, the Cook Islands have diplomatic relations in their own name with eighteen countries.
Niue Self-governing state in free association with New Zealand since 1974. Niue is fully responsible for its internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defence. New Zealand's responsibilities confer no rights of control and are only exercised at the request of the Government of Niue.
Territory Administration
Tokelau Territory of New Zealand. As it moves toward free association with New Zealand, Tokelau and New Zealand have agreed to a draft constitution. A UN-sponsored referendum on self-governance in February 2006 did not produce the two-thirds supermajority necessary for changing the current political status. Another one was in October 2007, which failed to reach the 2/3 margin.
Ross Dependency No permanent population. New Zealand's Antarctic claim.

Norway

See also: Dependencies of Norway
Dependency Administration
Bouvet Island No permanent population. Dependency administered from Oslo by the Polar Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Police.
Peter I Island No permanent population. Dependencies (subject to the Antarctic Treaty System) administered from Oslo by the Polar Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Police.
Queen Maud Land

In contrast, Jan Mayen and Svalbard are fully integrated parts of Norway. Svalbard is subject to several special laws, but its government is not independent and does not decide laws on its own.

United Kingdom

See also: British overseas territories, Crown dependency, and Sovereign Base Areas The terms of the dependent territory of the British commonwealth
Overseas territories Administration
Anguilla British overseas territories.
Cayman Islands
Gibraltar
Montserrat
Pitcairn Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Bermuda British overseas territory or self-governing territory as defined by the UK.
British Antarctic Territory The UK's Antarctic claim.
British Indian Ocean Territory British overseas territory administered by a commissioner resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.
British Virgin Islands British overseas territory with internal self-government.
Falkland Islands British overseas territory. The Falkland Islands also administers South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands through the Governor of the Falkland Islands as representative of the British monarch.
Sovereign Base Areas Administration
Akrotiri and Dhekelia British overseas territory administered by the Commander of British Forces, Cyprus. Note SBAs are primarily required as military bases and not ordinary dependent territories.
Crown dependencies Administration
Guernsey Responsibility for defence, international representation, and good government rests with the United Kingdom. However, the Parliament of the United Kingdom can legislate on their behalf, if it deems it necessary.[11][12][13]
Jersey
Isle of Man

United States

See also: Insular area and Territories of the United States
Inhabited territories Administration
American Samoa Unincorporated and unorganized territory administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Guam Unincorporated organized territory; policy relations between Guam and the U.S. conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth in political union with the U.S.; federal funding administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Puerto Rico Unincorporated organized territory of the U.S. with commonwealth status; policy relations between Puerto Rico and the U.S. conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of the President.
U.S. Virgin Islands Unincorporated organized territory; policy relations between the Virgin Islands and the U.S. conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Uninhabited territories Administration
Baker Island Unorganized and unincorporated territory administered from Washington, D.C. by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior.
Bajo Nuevo Bank Unincorporated territory of the U.S. administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Currently controlled by Colombia, and also claimed by Jamaica and Nicaragua.
Howland Island Unorganized and unincorporated territory administered from Washington, D.C. by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior.
Jarvis Island
Johnston Atoll
Kingman Reef
Midway Island
Navassa Island Unincorporated territory of the U.S. administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boquerón, Puerto Rico. Claimed by Haiti and privately via the Guano Islands Act.
Serranilla Bank Unincorporated territory of the U.S. administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Currently controlled by Colombia, and also claimed by Honduras and Nicaragua.
Wake Island Supervised by the U.S. Air Force, administered from Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and is claimed by the Marshall Islands.

Although uninhabited and unorganized, Palmyra Atoll is a fully integrated part of the United States.

Description

Three Crown dependencies are in a form of association with the UK. They are independently administrated jurisdictions, although the British Government is solely responsible for defence and international representation, and has ultimate responsibility for ensuring good government. They do not have diplomatic recognition as independent states, but they are not an integrated part of the UK, nor do they form part of the European Union. The UK Parliament retains the ability to legislate for the Crown dependencies even without the agreement of the insular legislatures. None of the Crown dependencies has representatives in the UK Parliament. Bermuda and Gibraltar have similar relationships to the UK as the Crown dependencies. While Britain is officially responsible for defence and international representation, these jurisdictions maintain their own militaries and have been granted limited diplomatic powers, in addition to having internal self-government. Nevertheless, they are British overseas territories.

New Zealand and dependencies share the same Governor-General and constitute one realm. The Cook Islands and Niue are officially termed associate states.

Puerto Rico (since 1952) and the Northern Mariana Islands (since 1986) are non-independent states freely associated with the USA. The mutually negotiated Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States was approved in 1976. The Covenant was fully implemented November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on legally qualified CNMI residents.[14]

Under the Constitution of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico is described as a Commonwealth and Puerto Ricans have a degree of administrative autonomy similar to citizens of a U.S. state. Puerto Ricans "were collectively made U.S. citizens" in 1917 as a result of the Jones-Shafroth Act.[15][16] The commonly used name in Spanish of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, literally "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico", which sounds similar to "free association" particularly when loosely used in Spanish, is sometimes erroneously interpreted to mean that Puerto Rico's relationship with United States is based on a Compact of Free Association and at other times erroneously held to mean that Puerto Rico's relationship with United States is based on an Interstate compact. This is a constant source of ambiguity and confusion when trying to define, understand and explain Puerto Rico's political relationship with the United States. For various reasons Puerto Rico's political status differs from that of the Pacific Islands that entered into Compacts of Free Association with the United States. As sovereign states, these islands have full right to conduct their own foreign relations, while the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has territorial status subject to United States congressional authority under the Constitution's Territory Clause, “to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory… belonging to the United States.”.[17] Puerto Rico does not have the right to unilaterally declare independence, and at the last referendum (1998) the narrow majority voted for "none of the above", which was a formally undefined alternative used by commonwealth supporters to express their desire for an "enhanced commonwealth" option.[17]

This kind of relationship also can be found in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is a federacy. The continental part is organized like a unitary state but the status of its territories (Aruba, since 1986, and the Netherlands Antilles, since 1954 until 2010) can be considered dependencies or "associated non-independent states". After the split-up of the Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao and Saint Maarten are separate associated states like Aruba.

Additionally, Denmark operates in a similar manner to a federacy. The Faroes and Greenland are two self-governing territories, or regions within the Kingdom. The relationship between Denmark proper and the two territories is semi-officially termed the "Rigsfællesskabet".

See also

References

  1. ^ United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514
  2. ^ United Nations Trusteeship Council
  3. ^ a b United Nations General Assembly 15th Session - The Trusteeship System and Non-Self-Governing Territories (pages:509-510)
  4. ^ Listaba.com
  5. ^ "THE CHARTER FOR THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS" (pdf). The Hague, the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba Foreign Affairs. September 1954. p. 2. http://www.arubaforeignaffairs.com/afa/readBlob.do?id=704. Retrieved March 18, 2012. "...The Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, noting that in 1954 the Netherlands, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles expressed freely their will to establish a new constitutional order in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which they will conduct their internal interests autonomously and their common interests on a basis of equality..."
  6. ^ For the list, see Special Committee on Decolonization (2002). "Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories". United Nations, Special Committee on Decolonization. http://www.un.org/en/decolonization/nonselfgov.shtml. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  7. ^ Carney, Gerard (2006). The constitutional systems of the Australian states and territories. Canberra: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86305-6. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6Pd8F1mFp1oC.
  8. ^ a b c First Assistant Secretary, Territories Division (2008-01-30). "Territories of Australia". Attorney-General's Department. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/territories/index.aspx. Retrieved 2008-02-07. "The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General's Department administers Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Jervis Bay, and Norfolk Island as Territories."
  9. ^ Territories and Information Law Division; First Assistant Secretary, Territories and Information Law Division (7 September 2009). "Cocos Islands Governance and Administration". Territories of Australia. Australian Government, Attorney-General's Department. http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/TerritoriesofAustralia_Cocos(Keeling)Islands_CocosIslandsGovernanceandAdministration. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  10. ^ Willis Island is permanently manned by a small team of meterologists.
  11. ^ CIA (2010-07-15). "Guernsey at the CIA's page". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gk.html. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  12. ^ CIA (2010-07-15). "Jersey at the CIA's page". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/je.html. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  13. ^ CIA (2010-07-15). "The Isle of Man at the CIA's page". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/im.html. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  14. ^ CIA (2010-07-15). "Northern Mariana Islands at the CIA's page". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cq.html. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  15. ^ The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion: 1803-1898. By Sanford Levinson and Bartholomew H. Sparrow. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. 2005. Page 166, 178. "U.S. citizenship was extended to residents of Puerto Rico by virtue of the Jones Act, chap. 190, 39 Stat. 951 (1971) (codified at 48 U.S.C. § 731 (1987)")
  16. ^ CIA (2010-07-15). "Puerto Rico at the CIA's page". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rq.html. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  17. ^ a b December 2005 report of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.

External links

Types of administrative country subdivisions
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Current English terms
Current non-English and loanword terms
Defunct and historical English terms
Defunct and historical non-English terms
See also
Census division
Electoral district
Political division
Table of administrative divisions by country
United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories
United Kingdom Anguilla · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Falkland Islands · Gibraltar · Montserrat · Pitcairn Islands · Saint Helena · Turks and Caicos Islands
United States American Samoa · Guam · United States Virgin Islands
France New Caledonia
Spain / Morocco Western Sahara
New Zealand Tokelau
Category · Portal
United Nations list of Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories
(The United Nations Trusteeship Agreements or were listed by the General Assembly official document as Non-Self-Governing her was independence or other change in a Territory's status, after which information was no longer submitted to the United Nations.)
Australia Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Papua · Nauru Trust Territory · New Guinea Trust Territory
Belgium Belgian Congo · Ruanda-Urundi Trust Territory
Denmark Greenland
France French Equatorial Africa · (Middle Congo) · (Ubangi Shari) · French Establishments in India · French Establishments in Oceania · French Guiana · French Somaliland · French West Africa · (French Guinea) · (French Sudan) · (Niger Colony) · Guadeloupe and Dependencies · Indo-China · Madagascar and Dependencies · Martinique · Morocco · New Caledonia and Dependencies · New Hebrides(Under Anglo French Condominium) · Réunion · St. Pierre and Miquelon · Tunisia · Cameroons Trust Territory · French Togoland Trust Territory
Italy Somaliland Trust Territory
Netherlands Netherlands Indies · Netherlands New Guinea · Netherlands Antilles · Surinam
New Zealand Cook Islands · Niue Island · Western Samoa Trust Territory
Portugal Angola, including the enclave of Cabinda · Cape Verde Archipelago · Goa and Dependencies · Portuguese Guinea · Macau and Dependencies · Mozambique · São João Baptista de Ajudá · Sao Tome and Principe · East Timor
South Africa South West Africa
Spain Fernando Póo and Rí Muni · Ifni
United Kingdom Aden Colony and Protectorate · Bahamas · Barbados · Basutoland · Bechuanaland Protectorate · British Guiana · British Honduras · British Somaliland · Brunei · Cyprus · Fiji · Gambia · Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony · Gold Coast Colony and Protectorate · Hong Kong · Jamaica · Kenya · Leeward Islands(Antigua) · (St. Kitts- Nevis-Anguilla) · Malayan Union · Malta · Mauritius · Nigeria · North Borneo · Northern Rhodesia · Nyasaland · Sarawak · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Singapore · Solomon Islands · Southern Rhodesia · Swaziland · Trinidad and Tobago · Uganda · Windward Islands (Dominica) · (Grenada) · (St. Lucia) · (St. Vincent) · Zanzibar · Cameroons · Togoland · Tanganyka Trust Territory
United States Alaska · Hawaii · Panama Canal Zone · Puerto Rico · Pacific Islands Trust Territory
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