The inter-American system is and has traditionally been inspired by a deep sense of universal cooperation; The inter-American system, as an expression of the common ideals, the needs, and the will of the community of American Republics, should be further improved and strengthened for the purpose of adjusting and solving inter-American problems; The inter-American system should, furthermore, maintain the closest relations with the proposed general international organization and assume the appropriate responsibilities in harmony with the principles and purposes of the general international organization, The Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace Resolves: 1. That the International Conferences of American States shall meet ordinarily at four-year intervals and shall be the inter-American organ entrusted with the formulation of general inter-American policy and the determination of the structure and functions of interAmerican instruments and agencies. The next Conference shall meet in Bogotá in 1946. 2. The regular Meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs shall be held annually upon special call by the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, unless there should be held in the same year an International Conference of American States pursuant to the preceding article. The next regular Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs shall be held in 1947. The Meetings shall be charged with taking decisions on problems of great urgency and importance concerning the inter-American system and with regard to situations and disputes of every kind which may disturb the peace of the American Republics. If, under exceptional circumstances, a Minister of Foreign Affairs should be unable to attend, he may be represented by a special delegate. 3. The Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall be composed of one ad hoc delegate designated by each of the American Republics, which delegates shall have the rank of Ambassadors and shall enjoy the corresponding privileges and immunities, but shall not be part of the diplomatic mission accredited to the government of the country in which the Pan American Union has its seat. This provision shall take effect at the expiration of the present period of sessions of the existing Board. 4. In addition to its present functions the Governing Board of the Pan American Union a) Shall take action, within the limitations imposed upon it by the International Conferences of American States or pursuant to the specific direction of the Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, on every matter that affects the effective functioning of the inter-American system and the solidarity and general welfare of the American Republics; b) Shall call the regular Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs provided for in Paragraph 1 of Article 2 hereof, and special meetings, when they are requested, to consider exclusively emergency questions. In the latter case the call shall be made upon the vote of an absolute majority of the Board; c) Shall supervise the inter-American agencies which are or may become related to the Pan American Union, and shall receive and approve annual or special reports from these agencies. 5. The Chairman of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall be elected annually and shall not be eligible for re-election for the term immediately following. The Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall meet at least once each week. The seat of the Pan American Union and of the Governing Board shall continue to be in Washington. The Director General of the Pan American Union shall be chosen by the Governing Board for a term of ten years; he shall not be eligible for re-election, nor can he be succeeded by a person of the same nationality. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Director General of the Pan American Union, a successor shall be appointed who shall hold office until the end of the term and who may be re-elected if the vacancy occurs during the second half of the term. The first term shall begin on January 1, 1955. The appointment and replacement of the Assistant Director shall be made in accordance with the above rules, except that the first term shall begin on January 1, 1960. It is understood that the Governing Board may at any time, by vote of fifteen of its members, remove the Director General or the Assistant Director, on grounds relating to the efficiency of the organization. 6. Until the Ninth International Conference of American States, in accordance with the procedure provided hereinafter, creates or confirms the various agencies of the inter-American system, the following agencies created by the Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs shall continue to function: The Inter-American Juridical Committee, the Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense, and the Inter-American Defense Board. 7. In place of the emergency agency now functioning as the InterAmerican Financial and Economic Advisory Committee, there is hereby created a permanent Inter-American Economic and Social Council-subsidiary to the Governing Board of the Pan American Union-the members of which shall be designated by the respective Governments, and which shall be empowered: a) To carry out recommendations of the International Conferences of American States; b) To serve as the coordinating agency for all official interAmerican economic and social activities; c) To promote social progress and the raising of the standard of living for all the American peoples; d) To undertake studies and other activities upon its own initiative or upon the request of any American government; e) To collect and prepare reports on economic and social matters for the use of the American Republics; f) To maintain liaison with the corresponding agency of the general international organization when established, and with existing or projected international economic and social agencies. The Governing Board of the Pan American Union is authorized to organize provisionally the Inter-American Economic and Social 98756-50-28 Council. The permanent organization shall be established by the Ninth International Conference of American States. 8. The Division of Intellectual Cooperation of the Pan American Union shall be maintained for the purpose of strengthening by all means at its command the spiritual bonds between the American nations. 9. The Governing Board of the Pan American Union, availing itself of all Pan American agencies that it deems appropriate, is charged with preparing, beginning May 1, 1945, a draft charter for the improvement and strengthening of the Pan American system. The Governing Board shall submit the draft to the Governments of the Continent prior to December 31, 1945. The draft charter shall first of all proclaim: The recognition, by all the American Republics, of international law as the effective rule of their conduct and the pledge of those Governments to observe the standards enunciated in a "Declaration of the Rights and Duties of States" and a "Declaration of the International Rights and Duties of Man"; these shall serve as the definition of the fundamental principles of international law and shall appear as an annex to the charter, so that, without amending it, the Declarations may be revised from time to time to adapt them to the requirements and aspirations of international life. For the preparation of the first Declaration, the principles already incorporated into the juridical heritage of the inter-American system shall be coordinated, especially those contained in the "Convention on the Rights and Duties of States" approved at the Seventh International Conference of American States; in the "Declaration of Principles of Inter-American Solidarity and Cooperation" adopted at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace; 2 in the "Declaration of the Principles of the Solidarity of America," and the "Declaration of American Principles" adopted at the Eighth International Conference of American States; in the "Declaration on the Maintenance of International Activities in Accordance with Christian Morality" and the declaration relative to "Reciprocal Assistance and Cooperation for the Defense of the Nations of the Americas," 5 approved at the First and Second Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, respectively; and in the Declarations on "Continental Solidarity in Observance of Treaties" and "The Good Neighbor Policy," adopted at the Third Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The draft declaration on "Reaffirmation of Fundamental Principles of International Law" prepared by the Inter-American Juridical Committee, and any Declaration of Principles that may be adopted by this Conference, shall also be taken into account. In regard to the second Declaration mentioned above, the text shall be that formulated by the Inter-American Juridical Committee in ful 1 Treaty Series 881; 49 Stat. 3097. Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 1-23, 1936, Department of State publication 1088, Conference Series 33, pp. 227-228. Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, Peru, December 9-27, 1938, Department of State publication 1624, Conference Series 50, pp. 189-190. Report of the Delegate of the United States of America to the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the American Republics, Held at Panamá September 23-October 3, 1939, Department of State publication 1451, Conference Series 44, p. 60. Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Habana, July 21-30, 1940 (Report of the Secretary of State), Department of State publication 1575, Conference Series 48, pp. 71-72. • Department of State Bulletin, Feb. 7, 1942, publication 1696. fillment of the request contained in another resolution of the present Conference. It is the desire of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace that there shall be taken into account the InterAmerican Commission of Women, which for sixteen years has rendered eminent services to the cause of America and humanity, and that it be included among the organizations which form the Pan American Union, with the same prerogatives and position that have been accorded to other inter-American institutions of a permanent or emergency character that have functioned within or without the Pan American Union. 10. The draft charter shall provide for the strengthening of the inter-American system on the bases of this resolution and by the creation of new agencies or the elimination or adaptation of existing agencies, specifying and coordinating their functions as among themselves and with the world organization. The draft shall take into account the need of accelerating the consolidation and extension of existing inter-American peace instruments and the simplification and improvement of the inter-American peace structure, and to this end the Governing Board of the Pan American Union shall utilize the services of the Inter-American Juridical Committee. In addition, the draft shall provide for the consolidation and simplification of all other inter-American instruments so that they may be more effective. 11. The American Governments shall send to the Governing Board of the Pan American Union prior to September 1, 1945, all their proposals relating to the preceding articles. 12. The draft charter shall also provide for the establishment of an equitable system for the financial support of the Pan American Union and of all its related agencies. 61. RIO DE JANEIRO CONFERENCE FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF CONTINENTAL PEACE AND SECURITY, AUGUST 15– SEPTEMBER 2, 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance 1 In the name of their Peoples, the Governments represented at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, desirous of consolidating and strengthening their relations of friendship and good neighborliness, and Considering: That Resolution VIII of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, which met in Mexico City, recommended the conclusion of a treaty to prevent and repeal threats and acts of aggression against any of the countries of America; That the High Contracting Parties reiterate their will to remain united in an inter-American system consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations, and reaffirm the existence of the 1 Department of State Bulletin of September 21, 1947, pp. 565-567, 572. Senate document, Executive II, 80th Cong., 1st sess. The treaty was ratified by the President on behalf of the United States on December 19, 1947, and the instrument of ratification was deposited with the Pan American Union in Washington on December 30, 1947. agreement which they have concluded concerning those matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security which are appropriate for regional action; That the High Contracting Parties reaffirm their adherence to the principles of inter-American solidarity and cooperation, and especially to those set forth in the preamble and declarations of the Act of Chapultepec, all of which should be understood to be accepted as standards of their mutual relations and as the juridical basis of the Inter-American System; That the American States propose, in order to improve the procedures for the pacific settlement of their controversies, to conclude the treaty concerning the "Inter-American Peace System" envisaged in Resolutions IX and XXXIX of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, That the obligation of mutual assistance and common defense of the American Republics is essentially related to their democratic ideals and to their will to cooperate permanently in the fulfillment of the principles and purposes of a policy of peace; That the American regional community affirms as a manifest truth that juridical organization is a necessary prerequisite of security and peace, and that peace is founded on justice and moral order and, consequently, on the international recognition and protection of human rights and freedoms, on the indispensable well-being of the people, and on the effectiveness of democracy for the international realization of justice and security, Have resolved, in conformity with the objectives stated above, to conclude the following Treaty, in order to assure peace, through adequate means, to provide for effective reciprocal assistance to meet armed attacks against any American State, and in order to deal with threats of aggression against any of them: Article 1. The High Contracting Parties formally condemn war and undertake in their international relations not to resort to the threat or the use of force in any manner inconsistent with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations or of this Treaty. Article 2. As a consequence of the principle set forth in the preceding Article, the High Contracting Parties undertake to submit every controversy which may arise between them to methods of peaceful settlement and to endeavor to settle any such controversy among themselves by means of the procedures in force in the Inter-American System before referring it to the General Assembly or the Security Council of the United Nations. Article 3. 1. The High Contracting Parties agree that an armed attack by any State against an American State shall be considered as an attack against all the American States and, consequently, each one of the said Contracting Parties undertakes to assist in meeting the attack in the exercise of the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. 2. On the request of the State or States directly attacked and until the decision of the Organ of Consultation of the Inter-American System, each one of the Contracting Parties may determine the immediate measures which it may individually take in fulfillment of the obligation contained in the preceding paragraph and in accordance |