ARTICLE 20 Decisions which require the application of the measures specified in Article 8 shall be binding upon all the Signatory States which have ratified this Treaty, with the sole exception that no State shall be required to use armed force without its consent. ARTICLE 21 The measures agreed upon by the Organ of Consultation shall be executed through the procedures and agencies now existing or those which may in the future be established. ARTICLE 22 This Treaty shall come into effect between the States which ratify it as soon as the ratifications of two-thirds of the Signatory States have been deposited. ARTICLE 23 This Treaty is open for signature by the American States at the city of Rio de Janeiro, and shall be ratified by the Signatory States as soon as possible in accordance with their respective constitutional processes. The ratifications shall be deposited with the Pan American Union, which shall notify the Signatory States of each deposit. Such notification shall be considered as an exchange of ratifications. ARTICLE 24 The present Treaty shall be registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations through the Pan American Union, when two-thirds of the Signatory States have deposited their ratifications. ARTICLE 25 This Treaty shall remain in force indefinitely, but may be denounced by any High Contracting Party by a notification in writing to the Pan American Union, which shall inform all the other High Contracting Parties of each notification of denunciation received. After the expiration of two years from the date of the receipt by the Pan American Union of a notification of denunciation by any High Contracting Party, the present Treaty shall cease to be in force with respect to such State, but shall remain in full force and effect with respect to all the other High Contracting Parties. ARTICLE 26 The principles and fundamental provisions of this Treaty shall be incorporated in the Organic Pact of the Inter-American System.1 In witness whereof, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, having deposited their full powers found to be in due and proper form, sign The proposed "Organic Pact of the Inter-American System" became the Charter of the Organization of American States, signed at Bogotá, Colombia, May 2, 1948; TIAS 2361 (2 UST 2394), and A Decade of American Foreign Policy, pp. 427-445. this Treaty on behalf of their respective Governments, on the dates appearing opposite their signatures. Done in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in four texts respectively in the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish languages, on the second of September nineteen hundred forty-seven. RESERVATION OF HONDURAS: The Delegation of Honduras, in signing the present Treaty and in connection with Article 9, section (b), does so with the reservation that the boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua is definitively demarcated by the Joint Boundary Commission of nineteen hundred and nineteen hundred and one,' starting from a point in the Gulf of Fonseca, in the Pacific Ocean, to Portillo de Teotecacinte and, from this point to the Atlantic, by the line that His Majesty the King of Spain's arbitral award established on the twenty third of December of nineteen hundred and six.2 STATEMENTS3 ARGENTINA: The Argentine Delegation declares that within the waters adjacent to the South American Continent, along the coasts belonging to the Argentine Republic in the Security Zone, it does not recognize the existence of colonies or possessions of European countries and it adds that it especially reserves and maintains intact the legitimate titles and rights of the Argentine Republic to the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, the South Georgia Islands, the South Sandwich Islands, and the lands included in the Argentine Antarctic sector, over which the Republic exercises the corresponding sovereignty. GUATEMALA: Guatemala wishes to place on record that it does not recognize any right of legal sovereignty of Great Britain over the Territory of Belice, called British Honduras, included in the Security Zone, and that once again, it expressly reserves its rights, which are derived from the Constitution of the Republic, historical documents, juridical arguments and principles of equity which have on appropriate occasions been laid before the universal conscience. 'Antonio Bermúdez M., Limites definitivos entre Honduras y Nicaragua (Tegucigalpa, 1938), pp. 23–43. 2 Ibid., pp. 107-112. These statements were appended to the Final Act of the Rio Conference (Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, Quitandinha, Brazil, August 15-September 2, 1947; Department of State publication 3016 (1948), pp. 45-57), not to the text of the Rio Treaty. Their bearing on the treaty rather than on the Final Act dictated their reprinting at this point. The texts used here are from S. Exec. H, 80th Cong., 1st sess., p. 24. MEXICO: Only because the Delegation of Guatemala has seen fit to make the preceding declaration, the Delegation of Mexico finds it necessary to reiterate that, in case there should occur a change in the status of Belice, there cannot fail to be taken into account the rights of Mexico to a part of the said territory, in accordance with historical and juridical precedents. CHILE: The Delegation of Chile declares that, within the waters adjacent to the South American Continent, in the extension of coast belonging to the Republic of Chile, comprised within the Security Zone, it does not recognize the existence of colonies or possessions of European countries and it adds that it especially reserves and maintains intact the legitimate title and rights of the Republic of Chile to the lands included in the Chilean Antarctic zone, over which the Republic exercises the corresponding sovereignty. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: With reference to the reservations made by other Delegations concerning territories located within the region defined in the Treaty, their boundaries, and questions of sovereignty over them, the Delegation of the United States of America wishes to record its position that the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro has no effect upon the sovereignty, national or international status of any of the territories included in the region defined in Article 4 of the Treaty. 2. REPORT BY THE ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRESIDENT, DECEMBER 1, 1947 1 The PRESIDENT, The undersigned, the Acting Secretary of State, has the honor to lay before the President, with a view to its transmission to the Senate to receive the advice and consent of that body to ratification, if his judgment approve thereof, a certified copy of the inter-American treaty of reciprocal assistance, formulated at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security and signed at Rio de Janeiro in the English, French, Portuguese, Spanish languages on September 2, 1947, by the plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and by the plenipotentiaries of other American Republics.2 and There is included in the same volume with the text of the treaty above-mentioned the text of the final act of the Conference, which 1 S. Exec. H, 80th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 2-5. 2 Supra. 3 Act of Sept. 2, 1947; Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Conti nental Peace and Security, Quitandinha, Brazil, August 15-September 2, 1947 (Department of State publication 3016; 1948), pp. 45 ff. contains information regarding the organization of the Conference and the texts of the various resolutions approved by the Conference. The texts of the treaty and final act have been certified by the Secretary-General of the Conference. The final act does not require ratification. The Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security met in Petropolis, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 15 to September 2, 1947. The United States delegation to the Conference, under the chairmanship of the Secretary of State, included the following delegates: The Honorable William D. Pawley, United States Ambassador to Brazil; the Honorable Arthur H. Vandenberg, President of the United States Senate and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Tom Connally, United States Senator and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Sol Bloom, Member of the House of Representatives and of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and the Honorable Warren R. Austin, Ambassador, United States representative to the United Nations. The Conference was convened for the special purpose of formulating the treaty to which reference had been made in the Act of Chapultepec,' embodied in the final act of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace,2 which met in Mexico City from February 21 to March 8, 1945. In part I of the Act of Chapultepec it was declared in part: That every attack of a state against the integrity or the inviolability of the territory, or against the sovereignty or political independence of an American State, shall, conformably to Part III hereof, be considered as an act of aggression against the other States which sign this Act.. That in case acts of aggression occur or there are reasons to believe that an aggression is being prepared by any other State against the integrity or inviolability of the territory, or against the sovereignty or political independence of an American State, the States signatory to this Act will consult among themselves in order to agree upon the measures it may be advisable to take. In part II of the Act of Chapultepec it was recommended thatthe Governments of the American Republics consider the conclusion, in accordance with their constitutional processes, of a treaty establishing procedures whereby such threats or acts may be met by the use, by all or some of the signatories of the said treaty, of any one or more of certain measures. In anticipation of the establishment of the United Nations, it was stipulated in part III of the Act of Chapultepec that the pertinent activities and procedures shall be consistent with the purposes and principles of the general international organization, when established. The inter-American treaty of reciprocal assistance was drawn up in accordance with the recommendation in the Act of Chapultepec and 1 TIAS 1543 (60 Stat. 1831); A Decade of American Foreign Policy, pp. 414-417. Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Mexico City, Mexico, February 21March 8, 1945 (Department of State publication 2497; 1946), pp. 39-139. within the framework of the United Nations Charter. As stated in the preamble, the treaty deals with- those matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security which are appropriate for regional action. This regional arrangement is thus of a type contemplated in chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter. It is entirely consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations and will facilitate and supplement the effective functioning of the United Nations. The authority of the Security Council, with regard to the application of enforcement measures and its general powers with respect to maintenance of international peace and security, are fully recognized in the treaty, and article 10 contains the stipulation that none of the provisions of the treaty shall be construed as impairing the rights and obligations of the High Contracting Parties under the Charter of the United Nations. The principal features of the treaty include (a) references to certain basic considerations and precedents (preamble); (b) a reaffirmation of basic principles with respect to the pacific settlement of disputes (arts. 1 and 2); (c) the stipulation of specific obligations in the event of an armed attack against an American state, with a definition of the areas within which an armed attack would invoke the maximum obligations of the treaty (arts. 3 and 4); (d) provisions for consultation and collective measures in the event of certain other dangers to continental peace (art. 6); (e) provisions specifying the types of measures which may be taken in either event and specifying certain acts of aggression (arts. 7, 8, and 9); (f) provisions assuring consistency with and fulfillment of the obligations under the United Nations Charter (art. 3, pars. 3 and 4, and arts. 5, 10, and 24); and (g) procedural matters affecting consultation regarding, and execution of, measures, voting, and the binding effect of decisions (arts. 11 to 21, inclusive). The basic principle underlying the Act of Chapultepec is restated and extended in the treaty and concomitant obligations set forth in article 3 as follows: 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 with the principle of continental solidarity. The Organ of Consultation shall meet without delay for the purpose of examining those measures and agreeing upon the measures of a collective character that should be taken. Thus, apart from such collective measures as may be agreed upon in consultation, each of the parties obligates itself to take affirmative action to assist in meeting an armed attack. This important provision |