Talk:List of members of the Universal Postal Union

Moved member list
This list moved from the main Universal Postal Union article as original article getting too long. Maidonian (talk) 12:38, 18 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Which references (if any) from the UPU article are the data sources for this list? Stan (talk) 13:06, 18 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I am aware it needs tidying and I will do that. Thanks. Maidonian (talk) 13:33, 18 March 2010 (UTC)


 * No problem, just curious (plus I'm interested in expanding ex-members). Stan (talk) 15:08, 18 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I think both of the sources mentioned in the main article are general ones relating to the UPU as a whole rather than the date any particular country joined so I have not copied them across. Maidonian (talk) 15:56, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Gold Coast and Hawaii
Was Crown Colony of Gold Coast really an INDEPENDENT member of UPU? Other British Crown Colonies were apparently not. Of course Gold coast had its own stamps but that is not the same thing. I would like to see a source that explicitly says that Gold Coast was a member.

It also seems a bit odd that Hawaii would have been a member of UPU until 1959. It certainly was a member earlier. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.78.196.51 (talk) 12:50, 22 April 2010 (UTC)
 * The source for Gold Coast is the book by Rossiter mentioned in the footnote. That book does not, however, say anything about the type of membership. I cannot comment on Hawaii. Maidonian (talk) 20:12, 22 April 2010 (UTC)
 * General thumbing through the Stamp Atlas shows lots of British colonies with various UPU joinup dates. It makes sense for the time, given that the colonial postal systems had some degree of autonomy, and it would have been a mess (and slow) to route every single communique through London.  It would be an interesting bit of research to find if there were different classes of membership back then. Stan (talk) 00:39, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Morocco
According to this list (and the UPU homepage) Morocco joined UPU on Oct 1st 1920. At that time Morocco was a protectorate divided beween France and Spain. Did both parts become a UPU member at the same time or to which of the two parts is this admission date referring?--Diorit (talk) 11:08, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Here are the UPU details for Morocco, but unfortunately it does not answer your question. That will require some deeper research. ww2censor (talk) 14:32, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Non-members
It seems easier to list the parts of the planet that don't participate in the UPU. Excluding direct and indirect participation, are we left with only Western Sahara? -- Beland (talk) 16:44, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
 * List_of_members_of_the_Universal_Postal_Union lists them, but it is mostly unsourced. TDL (talk) 17:01, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Ah, this was missing from the table of contents. I fixed that, though it maybe to keep the number of sections down we should combine letters of the alphabet into larger sections? Maybe it's fine like it is. -- Beland (talk) 21:45, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

South Africa
The 1994 date for South Africa's membership is wrong. I have found a brief mention of "A resolution to expel South Africa from the UPU" dated 5 June, 1964 - thus it was a member before that date. The 1994 date is probably correct for SA rejoining, but it's original membership is much earlier. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:50, 13 May 2014 (UTC)


 * This link says they were members until the 1980s, when they were "banned" and were readmitted in 1994. More info here and this link states that they joined in 1964 and were readmitted in 1994 but do not give a date for banning/expulsion. Some more details are necessary to clarify the matter. ww2censor (talk) 13:44, 13 May 2014 (UTC)


 * (ec)It seems to me that the 1964 resolution was to expel SA from the UPU's conference - not from membership of the organization itself. It appears that UN members were/are automatically also UPU members - SA was never suspended or expelled from the UN General Assembly. More research needed. Unfortunately most online South African history sources seem to believe that the entire universe was created in 1994 - with Mandela working as the Almighty's apprentice. There is a rather unsettling amnesia about pre-1994 history - except of course for various "massacres and atrocities" by the "evil Apartheid regime". So I'm not having much luck at all with such mundane information. My "gut" says SA became a member in it's own right in 1910 when it achieved independence from Britain and became a Dominion - similar to Canada, Australia and a few others. Pre-1910 part of SA would have been included in Britain's colonies and territories, other parts were independent republics until 1902, which may have been members in their own right. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:07, 13 May 2014 (UTC)
 * There is a pretty comprehensive description of the history here. The summary: there were numerous attempts to oust South Africa from the UPU but the legal legitimacy of these resolutions was disputed.  In 1994 the "Removal of the Ban on Readmission of South Africa to UPU" was passed.  But the UPU gives 1994 as their date of membership, and that is when SA ratified the UPU constitution   so I think we should stay with 1994.  But some sort of clarifying note might be helpful.  TDL (talk) 17:44, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Taiwan
I am going to update Taiwan to say mail is delivered through Japan and the USA, as this is what Universal Postal Union states and has a citation for.

Dmartin969 (talk) 19:55, 1 April 2016 (UTC)