27-800: The Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee , abbreviated BOIC or COIB , is the National Olympic Committee for Belgium . The administrative seat is located in Brussels . The Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee was founded and recognized by International Olympic Committee in 1906. The Belgian National Federations are the organizations that coordinate all aspects of their individual sports. They are responsible for training, competition and development of their sports. There are currently 32 Olympic Summer and 7 Winter Sport Federations in Belgium. 1: National Olympic Committee
54-528: A person in international law if it meets the following criteria: According to the declarative theory, an entity's statehood is independent of its recognition by other states. By contrast, the constitutive theory defines a state as a person of international law only if it is recognised as such by other states that are already a member of the international community. Quasi-states often reference either or both doctrines in order to legitimise their claims to statehood. There are, for example, entities which meet
81-461: A country typically falls somewhere between the declarative theory and constitutive theory approaches. The criteria for inclusion on this list are limited to polities that claim sovereignty , lack recognition from at least one UN member state , and either: There are 193 United Nations (UN) member states , while both the Holy See and Palestine have observer state status in
108-553: Is a member of the CIJM. 5: National Olympic committee also the national Commonwealth Games Association. 1: Israel was a member of the OCA, but was expelled from the organization between 1952 and 1981. Joined the EOC in 1994. 2: National Olympic Committee is a member of the CIJM. 3: National Olympic committee also the national Commonwealth Games Association. 4: National Olympic Committee
135-599: Is also National Commonwealth Games Association 1: National Olympic committee also a member of the Commonwealth Games Federation 1: National Olympic Committee is a member of the UANOC. 2: National Olympic Committee is a member of the OCA but not an ANOC member. 3: Official name used by the IOC, ANOC and OCA for the [REDACTED] Republic of China (Taiwan). 4: National Olympic Committee
162-483: Is influenced by the presence of a foreign military force in the territory of the contested entity, making the description of the country's de facto status problematic. The international community can judge this military presence too intrusive, reducing the entity to a puppet state where effective sovereignty is retained by the foreign power. Historical cases in this sense can be seen in Japanese -led Manchukuo or
189-647: Is one such state, as it maintains unofficial relations with many other states through its Economic and Cultural Offices , which allow regular consular services. This allows Taiwan to have economic relations even with states that do not formally recognise it. A total of 56 states, including Germany, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom, maintain some form of unofficial mission in Taiwan. Kosovo , Northern Cyprus , Abkhazia , Transnistria ,
216-732: Is suspended by the International Olympic Committee National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee ( NOC ) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee , NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games . They may nominate cities within their respective areas as candidates for future Olympic Games. NOCs also promote
243-569: Is suspended by the IOC. 1: National Olympic Committee is an associate member of the ONOC but not an ANOC member. The NOCs are all members of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), which is also split among five continental associations: See the article for each continental association for the complete lists of all NOCs. The Faroe Islands and Macau both have recognized National Paralympic Committees and compete at
270-478: Is unclear. Currently, all other remaining states are ineligible to join the IOC as they are not recognized by a majority of United Nations member countries. Constituent countries and dependent territories such as Curaçao , the Faroe Islands , Gibraltar , Greenland , Macau , New Caledonia and French Polynesia can also no longer be recognized, so athletes from these territories can only participate in
297-643: The German -created Slovak Republic and Independent State of Croatia before and during World War II . In the 1996 case Loizidou v. Turkey , the European Court of Human Rights judged Turkey for having exercised authority in the territory of Northern Cyprus . There are also entities that do not have control over any territory or do not unequivocally meet the declarative criteria for statehood but have been recognised to exist as sovereign entities by at least one other state. Historically, this has happened in
SECTION 10
#1732775943735324-572: The Northern Mariana Islands , Anguilla , Montserrat , Turks & Caicos Islands , Transnistria , Kurdistan , Northern Cyprus , Somaliland , Abkhazia , and Native Americans . It was reported in 2014 that South Ossetia intend to establish a National Olympic Committee. [REDACTED] Vatican [REDACTED] Vatican List of states with limited recognition A number of polities have declared independence and sought diplomatic recognition from
351-721: The Paralympic Games . However, neither territory's National Olympic Committee is recognized by the IOC, so they cannot participate in the Olympics. Macau remains recognized by the Olympic Council of Asia and takes part in the Asian Games . Other existing countries/regions with unrecognized Olympic committees: Catalonia , Gibraltar , French Polynesia , Niue , New Caledonia , Curaçao , Guadeloupe , French Guiana , Martinique , Sint Maarten ,
378-593: The Winter Olympic Games as competitions in which all IOC-recognized NOCs can participate. Each continent also runs its own championships for their members: While not continental unions in themselves, the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees (UANOC) and International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM) organize multi-sport events between Arabic-speaking countries and Mediterranean countries respectively. All 22 National Olympic Committees that form
405-408: The international community as sovereign states , but have not been universally recognised as such. These entities often have de facto control of their territory. A number of such entities have existed in the past. There are two traditional theories used to indicate how a sovereign state comes into being. The declarative theory (codified in the 1933 Montevideo Convention ) defines a state as
432-574: The IOC were not as strict as those within the United Nations , which allowed these territories to field teams separately from their sovereign state. Following an amendment to the Olympic Charter in 1996, NOC recognition can only be granted after recognition as an independent country by the international community. Since the rule does not apply retroactively , the dependent territories and constituent countries which were recognized before
459-705: The Olympics as part of their parent nation's national team. This rule also applies to territories experiencing a change in status – the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee was dissolved at the 123rd IOC session in July 2011 as the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist in 2010. For those countries and territories that are part of the Commonwealth of Nations , their National Olympic Committees usually also serve as
486-506: The UANOC and the 26 from CIJM are also members of either the ANOCA, EOC or OCA and are eligible to send their athletes to either the African, European or Asian Games. National Olympic Committees from the UANOC and CIJM are noted in the list below. 1: National Olympic Committee is a member of the UANOC. 2: National Olympic Committee is a member of the CIJM. 3: National Olympic Committee
513-597: The United Nations. However, some countries that fulfill the declarative criteria, are recognised by the large majority of other states and are members of the United Nations are still included in the list here because one or more other states do not recognise their statehood, due to territorial claims or other conflicts. Some states maintain informal (officially non-diplomatic) relations with states that do not officially recognise them. Taiwan (the Republic of China)
540-802: The United States ( American Samoa , Guam , Puerto Rico , and the United States Virgin Islands ), three British Overseas Territories ( Bermuda , the British Virgin Islands , and the Cayman Islands ), one constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( Aruba ) and one special administrative region of China ( Hong Kong ). Prior to 1996, rules for recognizing dependent territories or constituent countries as separate countries within
567-407: The case of the Holy See (1870–1929); Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania (during Soviet annexation); and Palestine at the time of its declaration of independence in 1988. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is currently in this position . See list of governments in exile for unrecognised governments without control over the territory claimed. State practice relating to the recognition of
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#1732775943735594-555: The current: The ANOC members are eligible to enter the Olympic Games . Some National Olympic Committees who are members of a continental Olympic association but not ANOC members compete in continental-level and subregional-level tournaments. These committees, however, are not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. The five continental Olympic associations are: The IOC runs the Summer Olympic Games and
621-403: The declarative criteria (with de facto partial or complete control over their claimed territory, a government and a permanent population), but whose statehood is not recognised by any other states. Non-recognition is often a result of conflicts with other countries that claim those entities as integral parts of their territory. In other cases, two or more partially recognised states may claim
648-561: The development of athletes and the training of coaches and officials at a national level within their geographies. As of 2023, there are 206 National Olympic Committees. These include each of the 193 member states of the United Nations , one UN observer state ( Palestine ), two states without UN recognition ( Kosovo and Taiwan ) and one associated state of New Zealand (the Cook Islands ). There are also nine dependent territories with recognized NOCs: four territories of
675-583: The members of the Commonwealth Games Association , though not for the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), nor for Canada or Australia, who maintain separate organisations for Commonwealth and Olympic sport. For the other Commonwealth members, their NOCs are responsible for organising and overseeing their national teams at the Commonwealth Games . This section lists
702-569: The rule change are allowed to continue sending separate teams to the Olympics, while the Faroe Islands and Macau send their own Paralympic teams. The only state which thus qualifies to participate in the future is the Vatican City , a UN observer state. Niue , an associated state of New Zealand, could also be eligible as it conducts its own foreign relations and participates independently in UN specialized agencies and treaties, though this
729-508: The same territorial area, with each of them de facto in control of a portion of it (for example, North Korea and South Korea , or the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China ). Entities that are recognised by only a minority of the world's states usually reference the declarative doctrine to legitimise their claims. In many situations, international non-recognition
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