TREATY

LEY N° 13.903

Approve the Inter-American Treaty on Reciprocal Assistance.

Sanctioned: June 28-1950

Promulgated: July 11-1950

WHY:


ARTICLE 1 Approve the Inter-American Treaty on Reciprocal Assistance, signed in the city of Rio de Janeiro on 2 September 1947.

ARTICLE 2°- Contact the Executive.

Given in the meeting room of the Argentine Congress, in Buenos Aires, on the twenty-eight day of the month of June of the year of the Liberator General San Martín, a thousand nine hundred and fifty.

J. H. QUIJANO	H. J. CAMPORA
Alberto H. Reales	L. Zavalla Carbó

On behalf of their Peoples, the Governments represented at the Inter-American Conference on the Maintenance of Peace and Security of the Continent, encouraged by the desire to consolidate and strengthen their relations and friendship and good-neighbourliness and

CONSIDERING:

That Resolution VIII of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, gathered in Mexico City, recommended the conclusion of a treaty aimed at preventing and suppressing threats and acts of aggression against any of the countries of America:

That the High Contracting Parties reiterate their willingness to remain united within an inter-American system consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations and reaffirm the existence of the agreement they have on matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security that are susceptible to regional action;

That the High Contracting Parties renew their commitment to the principles of inter-American solidarity and cooperation and especially to the principles set forth in the considerations and declarations of the Chaputepec Act, all of which must be accepted as norms of their mutual relations and as a legal basis of the Inter-American System;

That, in order to improve the procedures for the peaceful settlement of their disputes, the Inter-American Peace System Treaty, envisaged in Resolutions IX and XXXIX of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, is proposed to be held;

That the obligation of mutual assistance and the common defence of the American Republics is essentially linked to their democratic ideals and to their will for permanent cooperation to realize the principles and purposes of a peace policy;

That the American regional community affirms as a manifest truth that legal organization is a necessary condition for security and peace and that peace is based on justice and moral order and, therefore, on the international recognition and protection of the rights and freedoms of the human person, on the indispensable well-being of peoples and on the effectiveness of democracy for the international realization of justice and security.

They have resolved, in accordance with the objectives set forth, to conclude the following Treaty in order to ensure peace by all possible means, to provide effective mutual assistance to deal with armed attacks against any American State and to conjure threats of aggression against any of them.



The High Contracting Parties formally condemn war and are obliged in their international relations not to resort to the threat or use of force in any manner incompatible with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations or the present Treaty.


As a result of the principle set forth in the previous article, the High Contracting Parties undertake to submit any dispute arising between them to the methods of peaceful settlement and to seek to resolve it among themselves, through the procedures in force in the Inter-American System, before referring it to the General Assembly or the United Nations Security Council.


1. The High Contracting Parties agree that an armed attack by any State against an American State shall be regarded as an attack on all American States and in
Each of these Contracting Parties undertakes to assist in addressing the ongoing attack on the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence recognized in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.

2. At the request of the State or States directly attacked, and until the decision of the Inter-American System Consultation Body, each Contracting Party may determine the immediate measures it takes individually in compliance with the obligation of the preceding paragraph and in accordance with the principle of continental solidarity. The Consultative Body will meet without delay with a view to reviewing these measures and agreeing on the collective action to be taken.

3. The provisions of this Article shall apply in all cases of armed attack occurring within the region described in Article 4 or within the territory of an American State. Where the attack occurs outside those areas, the provisions of Article 6 shall apply.

4. The self-defence measures under this Article may be applied while the United Nations Security Council has not taken the necessary measures to maintain international peace and security.


North to the point north to the north to the north to the north to the north to the north to the point to the north to the north to the south to the point to the north to the north to the west to the west to the west to the point to the north to the north to the north.


The High Contracting Parties shall immediately send the United Nations Security Council in accordance with Articles 51 and 54 of the San Francisco Charter, complete information on the activities undertaken or planned in the exercise of the right of self-defence or for the purpose of maintaining inter-American peace and security.


If the inviolability or integrity of the territory or sovereignty or political independence of any American State are affected by an aggression that is not armed attack, or by an extracontinental or intracontinental conflict, or by any other act or situation that may endanger the peace of America, the Organ of Consultation shall meet immediately, in order to agree on the measures that in the event of aggression should be taken in the aid of the assault or in any case.


In the event of a conflict between two or more American States, without prejudice to the right of self-defence, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, the High Contracting Parties gathered in consultation shall urge the disputing States to suspend hostilities and to restore things to the status quo ante bellum and shall further take all other necessary measures to restore or maintain inter-American peace and security, and to resolve the conflict by peaceful means. The rejection of peaceful action will be considered for the determination of the aggressor and the immediate implementation of the measures agreed at the consultation meeting.


For the purposes of this Treaty, the measures agreed upon by the Consultative Body shall include one or more of the following: the withdrawal of the heads of mission; the breakdown of diplomatic relations; the breakdown of consular relations; the partial or total interruption of economic relations or of railway, maritime, air, telegraphic, telephone, radio-telephone or radio communications; and the use of armed force.


In addition to other acts that may be characterized as aggression at the consultation meeting, they shall be regarded as such:

(a) The armed attack, not caused by a State, against the territory, population or ground, naval or air forces of another State;

(b) The invasion, by armed force of a State, of the territory of an American State, through the transfer of the borders demarcated in accordance with a treaty, court ruling, or arbitral award, or, in the absence of such demarcated borders, the invasion affecting a region that is under the effective jurisdiction of another State.


None of the provisions of this Treaty shall be construed to undermine the rights and obligations of the High Contracting Parties in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.


The consultations referred to in this Treaty shall be carried out through the Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the American Republics which have ratified it, or in the form or by the organ that will be agreed upon in the future.


The Board of Trustees of the Pan-American Union may act provisionally as a body of consultation, as long as the Consultation Body referred to in the preceding article is not convened.


The consultations will be promoted by request addressed to the Board of Directors of the Pan American Union by any of the signatory States that have ratified the Treaty.


Only representatives of the signatory States that have ratified the Treaty may take part in the voting referred to in this Treaty.


The Board of Directors of the Pan American Union shall act in all matters concerning this Treaty as a liaison body between the signatory States that have ratified it and between them and the United Nations.


The agreements of the Board of Directors of the Pan American Union referred to in Articles 13 and 15 shall be adopted by an absolute majority of Members entitled to vote.


The Consultative Body shall adopt its decisions by the vote of two thirds of the signatory States that have ratified the Treaty.


In the case of a situation or dispute between American States, the parties directly concerned shall be excluded from the votes referred to in the preceding two Articles.


To constitute a quorum at all meetings referred to in the preceding Articles, the number of States represented shall be required to be at least equal to the number of votes required to adopt the respective decision.


Decisions requiring the implementation of the measures referred to in Article 8 shall be binding on all States signatories to this Treaty that have ratified it, with the sole exception that no State shall be obliged to use armed force without its consent.


The actions agreed upon by the Consultative Body shall be carried out through the procedures and bodies currently in place or established.


This Treaty shall enter into force among States ratifying it as soon as the ratifications of the two thirds of the signatory States have been deposited.


This Treaty is open to the signature of the American States in the city of Rio de Janeiro and will be ratified by the signatory States as soon as possible, in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures. Ratifications shall be delivered for deposit to the Pan American Union, which shall notify all signatory States of each deposit. Such notification shall be regarded as a redemption of ratifications.


This Treaty shall be registered with the General Secretariat of the United Nations through the Pan American Union, with the ratifications of the two thirds of the signatory States deposited.


This Treaty shall govern indefinitely but may be denounced by any of the High Contracting Parties by written notification to the Pan American Union, which shall communicate to all other High Contracting Parties each of the denunciation notifications it receives. After two years from the date on which the Pan American Union receives a notification of denunciation from any High Contracting Party, this Treaty shall cease to its effect on that State, remaining to all other High Contracting Parties.


The fundamental principles and provisions of this Treaty shall be incorporated into the Constitutive Pact of the Inter-American System.

In faith of which, the Plenipotentiaries who subscribe, having deposited their full powers that were found in good and proper form, sign this Treaty on behalf of their respective Governments, on the dates that appear at the foot of their signatures.

Made in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in four texts, respectively in the Spanish, French, English and Portuguese languages, on the two days of the month of September of nine hundred and forty-seven.



The delegation of Honduras, in subscribing the present Treaty and in relation to Article 9, inc. b), makes it with the reservation that the boundary established between Honduras and Nicaragua is definitively demarcated by the Joint Commission of Limits of the years of a thousand nine hundred and one thousand nine hundred one, starting from a point in the Gulf of Fonseca, in the Pacific Ocean, to the Port of Atlantic of Teotecacinte,


ARGENTINA:

The Argentine delegation declares that within the waters adjacent to the South American continent in the extension of coasts corresponding to the Argentine Republic in the area called security, it does not recognize the existence of colonies or possessions of European countries and adds that it especially reserves and maintains intact the legitimate titles and rights of the Argentine Republic to the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia Islands, South Sandwich Islands, and lands included in the Antarctic area the Argentine Republic, the Argentine Republic.

GUATEMALA:

Guatemala wishes to state that it does not recognize any right of legal sovereignty to the United Kingdom in the Territory of Belize, called the British Honduras, which is within the Security Zone, and that once again it expresses its reservation of its rights, which derive from the constitution of the Republic, historical documents, legal arguments and principles of equity that are timely exposed to universal consciousness.

MEJICO:

Only because the delegation of Guatemala has deemed it relevant to make the previous declaration, the delegation of Mexico sees the need to reiterate that, in the event of a change in the status of Belize, the rights of Mexico on a part of that Territory could not be disregarded, in accordance with the historical legal precedents.

CHILE:

The Chilean delegation states that within the waters adjacent to the South American continent, in the extension of coasts corresponding to the Republic of Chile in the area called security, it does not recognize the existence of colonies or possessions of European countries and adds that it especially reserves and maintains intact the legitimate titles and rights of the Republic of Chile in the lands included within the Chilean Antarctic sector, on which the Republic exercises the corresponding sovereignty.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

With regard to reservations made by other Delegations on Territories within the Treaty, their limits and their sovereignty over those Territories, the delegation of the United States of America wishes to define its position by stating that the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro has no effect on the sovereignty or national or international status of any of the territories included in the Region as defined in article 4 of the Treaty.