Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone/Talk

This article leaves the reader wondering why, if the Neutral Zone was partitioned in 1983, did it take ISO until 1993 to withdraw the corresponding ISO 3166 code - and leads to the suspicion that one of these years might be a typo. So I think we need to explain this, but I'm not very clear on the details. My understanding is that the 1983 agreement was not officially recognised internationally, simply because the relevant paperwork was never submitted. I've seen it suggested that it still isn't recognised - but date of withdrawal from ISO 3166 suggests that the matter was settled in the aftermath of the Gulf War, which would make sense. Does anyone know for certain? --Zundark, 2001 Nov 14

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I don't know; that's the year the U.S. State Department gave. One possibility is that the ISO 3166-MA was just slow. What do you mean by it not being recognized internationally because the "relevant paperwork was never submitted"? Agreements to divide territory don't need to submit "relevant paperwork" AFAIK. Member States of the United Nations have to register all treaties with the United Nations Secretary-General; but failure to register doesn't make the treaty invalid, or deny it international recognition. Secret agreements aren't recognized by the United Nations, but it doesn't sound like the 1983 agreement was secret. And in any event, unless the international community had some substantive objection to the partition, they would recognize it even in the absence of proper formalities. -- SJK