#9066: Territory code request for Abkhazia

[Mats Blakstad]

As far as I know CLDR does not follow ISO 3166-1 code elements on several
other issues than Kosovo.

Ascension Island (AC)
Clipperton Island (CP)
Diego Garcia (DG)
Ceuta and Melilla (EA)
Canary Islands (IC)
Tristan da Cunha (TA)

These codes have their own territory code within CLDR, but as far as I can
see these are not valid ISO 3166-1 codes. Several of them have both a
territory code and a sub-division code, so it seems like other regions
already have both types of codes.

The request is not about anything political, like asking to recognize
Abkhazia as a country. CLDR do not create "country codes", it is a list of
territories, and from my understanding the territory list mostly reflect
that for some areas there is a need for some special consideration when you
want to effectively localize your project there. So what should be the
guiding star in the question weather new territory code should be created
or not, is if there is a valid need to collect localization data.

What I ask for is to provide localization data for Abkhazia, that people
then can choose to use or not. I don't understand why political converses
in UN should decide weather we are allowed to collect localization data for
a new territory within CLDR. To collect localization data will actually
help create more effective communication between people living in these
marginalized regions and the wider international community, and I guess
that is needed a lot.

In Abkhazia there are real people living that by all practical measures of
everyday life, do not live in Georgia. As example they use their own
currency. So I guess it would make a lot of sense to be able to give them
overview of money values estimates in their local currency. That a region
operate with their own local currency, to me it is by itself a valid reason
to create a new territory code in CLDR.

As long as there is a need for localization data to create effective
communication with people living in an area, I don't understand why there
should be a problem to create a new territory code.

If we would like to follow the ISO 3166-1, we could of course just delete
the above mentioned codes that are not part of ISO 3166-1. If not I guess
weather a territory have a ISO 3166-1 code is not relevant for
CLDR-territory codes.

2015-11-19 0:46 GMT+01:00 Doug Ewell <doug at ewellic.org>:

> Mats Blakstad wrote:
>
> > I want to add localization data for Abkhazia, even though it do not -
> > like many other territories - have an ISO code. If people prefer to
> > work on a list matching ISO they can easily extract territory
> > information for only ISO codes. However, I don't understand why that
> > should prevent other people from collecting and maintaining
> > localization data for new territories.
> >
> > Where can I add my patch and how is the process to move forward with
> > this ticket?
>
> You'll have to wait for a reply from an actual CLDR team member, but my
> guess is that the reply will be something along these lines:
>
> ISO 3166-1 code elements are based on United Nations criteria: to be
> included, a state must be either a UN member state, a member of one of
> its specialized agencies (such as UNESCO), or a party to the Statute of
> the International Court of Justice. Kosovo is not included although it
> is a member of the IMF and the World Bank Group.
>
> CLDR, like many standards and data sets, uses ISO 3166-1 to identify
> "countries" or "regions." The main reason for delegating this to ISO is
> to avoid getting embroiled in political arguments over what constitutes
> a country.
>
> Abkhazia and South Ossetia are certainly two of the most politically
> controversial "countries" on the planet. They are recognized as
> independent only by Russia and a small handful of other nations.
> Identifying them as separate nations would generally be regarded as a
> statement about Georgian sovereignty.
>
> CLDR does make an exception in the case of Kosovo, which is recognized
> by roughly half of UN member states.
>
> --
> Doug Ewell | http://ewellic.org | Thornton, CO ����
>
>
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