What factors does a country have to fulfill to be able to join the United Nations?

BRY2K

Any country can become a member of the United Nations. However, the country has to follow certain procedures. First the state needs to submit an application to the Secretary General and a formal declaration which states that it accepts the obligations under the UN Charter. The Security Council first considers the application. This application needs affirmative votes of nine of its 15 members of the Council. However, the application can be rejected if it’s voted out by its 5 permanent members- China, the Russian Federation, Northern Ireland, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The recommendation is presented to the General Assembly, once it is passed on by the Council. Two third majorities is necessary for admission of a new state and membership is successful only from the date when the admission is adopted. http://www.blurtit.com/q928855.html Mar 28 08, 3:46 AM

davejacobs

Northern Ireland!!! The cited source has just destroyed any vestige of authority for me. Here is where the real permanent members of the Security Council are listed: "The Council is composed of five permanent members — China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States — and ten non-permament members..." http://www.un.org/sc/members.asp USA of course, not Northern Ireland, which is not even a country. Mar 28 08, 4:02 AM

triviapaul

Someone obviously split the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" in two. Either a prank or some very careless copy-pasting. Mar 28 08, 6:44 AM

McGruff

Because the example is here, I'm going to warn again to be careful not to reference your answer with an unreferenced answer from another question/answer site. In this case it is blurtit.com Others to be wary of are Yahoo!Answers, Ask.com, Allexperts.com - there are a lot of them. These sites can be helpful in steering you in the right direction, but take a few more minutes to find a more credible source. The only time an unreferenced answer from another question/answer site should be used here is as a suggestion when there is absolutely no other answer to be found. Mar 28 08, 9:21 AM

McGruff

However, if an explanation at another question/answer site is especially well written and you would like to borrow it, either, 1.) run it through Google to see if it was lifted from somewhere else, and if not, 2.) cite the "ask" page where you found it, and find a credible source to back it up. Mar 28 08, 9:37 AM

BRY2K

Point well taken, McG....I will live and learn. Mar 28 08, 11:15 AM