The fight of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to maintain control of their destiny and retain their statehood needs no introduction. Threatened by the sea level rise caused by centuries of greenhouse gases, SIDSs are both among the most affected (due to their low elevation above sea levels) and the smallest contributors to climate change.
In the absence of a solid body of state practice on whether a state can exist without a territory, scholars and analysts have invoked various precedents and strains of state practice. One of these is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or SMOM (also sometimes called “Order of Malta”), due to its peculiar international legal personality (ILP). The SMOM was founded in 1048 as a religious order of the Catholic Church, and has a storied history as a geopolitical actor. The Order previously controlled territories, though these were seized by the Ottoman Empire leaving it with only the territory of Malta. However, in 1798, the SMOM lost control of the island to Napoleon and now recognises Malta’s sovereignty over the island. Since then, the SMOM focuses on its humanitarian mission.
