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THE INTER-AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM
A COMPARISON OF THE INTER-AMERICAN TREATIES: 1947-1997

I. CONTENT OF THE DOCUMENT

II. METHOD

III. SOME FACTS THAT CAN SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR A COLLECTIVE ASSESSMENT

3.1 The Inter-American treaties and their subject matter

3.2 The Inter-American treaties across time

3.3 Combined signatures and ratifications of the Inter-American treaties

3.4 Entry into force of the inter-American treaties

IV. GRAPHS

4.1 Inter-American treaties classified by subject matter

4.2 Number of treaties signed each year within the framework of the OAS

4.3 Inter-American treaties classified by year and subject matter

4.4 Combined signatures and ratifications

4.5 Treaties signed and in force, by year

4.6 Inter-American treaties signed and in force, classified by subject matter

 

THE INTER-AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM
A COMPARISON OF THE INTER-AMERICAN TREATIES 1947-1997


I. CONTENT OF THE DOCUMENT

From the very creation of this Organization, the member countries of the Organization of American States have attached great importance to the development and codification of international law in the Americas.

Accordingly, in the Declaration of Panama on the Inter-American Contribution to the Development and Codification of International Law, adopted at the OAS General Assembly in 1996, they underscored the need to promote codification as a suitable way to strengthen relations of peace and solidarity among the states of the Americas, with full respect for their sovereignty and the principle of nonintervention.

The codification work that the states decide to promote is that much easier if there is a clear idea of the historic development of Inter-American treaties, of the subject matters for which those laws are created and codified, of the status of signature and ratification of these legal instruments and their entry into force.

The working paper being presented at this time contains a preliminary comparison of the Inter-American treaties that have been approved since the 1948 adoption of the Charter of the Organization of American States and developed within its institutional framework.

This document is not so much an attempt to arrive at some conclusions as it is a tool that the countries can use to determine the type of actions, especially in the area of juridical cooperation, that they want to undertake to develop and enhance the Inter-American system.

By means of graphs and comparative charts, the document illustrates the principal subjects that efforts to codify Inter-American law have targeted, what those efforts have produced over the years, the signature and ratification of the legal instruments that make up this system and their entry into force.

II. METHOD

This study concerns the Inter-American treaties signed within the framework of the Organization of American States since the time it was established and for which the General Secretariat is depository.

Given its importance, the one exception to this rule is the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), signed at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security in Rio de Janeiro in September 1947, which is also included in this document.

This document uses the definition of a treaty given in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, of 1969, Article 1(a) of which stipulates that: "treaty" means an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation.

The 64 Inter-American treaties signed within the OAS framework between 1948 and 1997 and the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance have been classified into 18 topic areas. This classification and the subdivision made within each topic area are not rigorous; nor is it the traditional division of international law into private international law and public international law.

As for the countries included, this study concerns only those that are members of the Organization, although in some instances Inter-American treaties have also been signed by nonmember countries, as in the case of the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory, which was signed by Spain, and the Agreement Establishing the Inter-American Development Bank, which was signed by 17 countries that are not members of the OAS.

This document is composed of the graphs and comparative charts mentioned below, which are an attempt to facilitate the analysis of the Inter-American treaties from several angles. Whenever possible, each one is in the alphabetical order of the topical classification shown in Appendix I.

Graph I is the classification of Inter-American treaties by subject matter, whereas Graph II shows the number of those legal instruments signed each year for the duration of the period covered in the study (1947 to 1997).

Graph III expands upon this, as it is a combination of the total number of treaties signed each year and the topic areas to which each one pertains.

Graph IV contains two types of comparison. The first concerns the overall number of signatures, as opposed to the overall number of ratifications for the 64 treaties approved to date. The second takes that combined figure and compares it to the number of signatures and ratifications there would have been within the Inter-American system had all member states signed and ratified all those legal instruments.

Graph V compares the total number of treaties signed each year with those that are in force as of the present.

Graph VI makes the same comparison as Graph V, but with the treaties classified by subject matter rather than by year.

Finally, two appendices have been included. The first illustrates the classification system used to classify the 64 Inter-American treaties by topic and subtopic. The second chart shows the status of signature and ratification of the Inter-American treaties, by country. This comparative chart preserves the same topical classification of the Inter-American treaties, showing each treaty and country individually. It includes the date of signature and ratification, as the case may be, for each member state and also indicates the treaties that are already in force.

As a supplement to this document, an individualized graphic study has been prepared for each delegation, similar to the one presented here and summarizing the information on the status of signature and ratification, and the information by year and by subject matter.

The study consists of four types of graphs. The first is a classification of the Inter-American treaties signed and ratified by the country, according to subject matter. The second compares the total number of signatures and ratifications by that country each year for the duration of the study; the third classifies them by year and subject matter, while the fourth compares the country's total signatures and ratifications with the total number it would have had, had it signed and ratified all the treaties adopted during the period covered by the study.

It is hoped that this study will facilitate matters for those member countries that might wish to analyze and study the treaties signed, ratified and those whose ratification or accession they might wish to consider.

III. SOME FACTS THAT CAN SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR A COLLECTIVE ASSESSMENT

3.1 The Inter-American Treaties and their Subject Matter  (Graph 1)

Reviewing the history of the codification of Inter-American law, one can distinguish what the priority issues for the member states have been from the number of treaties they have adopted on those subjects within the framework of the OAS.

Graph No. 1 shows that the subject matters on which the most treaties have been approved are human rights, judicial cooperation and private international law. The treaties on these issues account for 54% of the total number of treaties approved between 1947 and 1997.

In order of numerical importance, the issues that have been codified within the inter-American system are the following: human rights (18.8%); judicial cooperation (18.8%); private international law (14.1%); the constitution and structure of the Organization of American States (9.4%); the regional institutional system (6.3%); amateur radio service (4.7%); international transit and transportation (4.7%); arbitration and conflict resolution (3%); asylum (3%); reciprocal assistance (3%); hemispheric security (3%); corruption (1.6%); economic development (1.6%); culture (1.6%); civil strife (1.6%); historical and archeological heritage (1.6%), terrorism (1.6%) and weapons (1.6%).

3.2 The inter-American Treaties over Time  (Graphs 2) (Graph 3)

While this study spans a period of nearly fifty years, Graph 2 shows that most of the inter-American treaties signed within the framework of the OAS have been approved since 1975.

The Organization's activity in the area of law increased starting that year. In the period from 1947 to 1974, a total of 18 conventions were approved, whereas 46 were approved in the period from 1975 to 1997.

The study also shows that apart from 1947, the years in which the highest number of Inter-American treaties were approved were also the years when the Inter-American Specialized Conferences on Private International Law (CIDIPs) were held, which were 1975, 1979, 1984, 1989 and 1994, as shown in Graph 2.

Of the 64 treaties approved within the OAS framework, 24 (37.5%) were approved at the CIDIPs, which suggests that the Inter-American Specialized Conferences are an effective vehicle for codifying Inter-American law, the tangible results of which are clearly in evidence in the number and importance of the conventions approved.

The 1970s was the most prolific decade in terms of the number of Inter-American treaties signed (30%), followed by the 1990s (22%), the 1980s (21%), the 1940s (11.1%), the 1950s (11.1%) and the 1960s (4.8%).

In the last 14 years, at least one convention has been approved each year within the framework of the OAS, the only exception being 1986.

Graph 3 shows that in the last ten years (1987-1997), the Organization's juridical work has focused on human rights, judicial cooperation, and the regulation of amateur radio service.

Of the 21 treaties approved between 1987 and 1997, 61.9% concern these three issues, whereas the remaining 38.1% are about the following: structure and immunities of the OAS (9.1%); international transit and transportation (4.8%); reciprocal assistance (4.8%); the regional institutional system (4.8%); contracts (4.8%) corruption (4.8%) and weapons (4.8%).

As Graph 3 shows, certain issues seem to be the focus of attention at particular periods in time:

Two of the three existing Inter-American treaties concerning women were signed in 1948;

Of the three treaties approved in 1954, two had to do with the subject of asylum;

Seven of the nine Inter-American treaties on private international law were approved between 1975 and 1979;

Nine of the twelve treaties on the subject of judicial cooperation were approved between 1975 and 1984, while the remaining three were approved in 1992 and 1993;

Four of the three Inter-American treaties relating to the protection of minors were approved between 1984 and 1989;

Between 1987 and 1988, two of the three treaties concerning the amateur radio service were approved.

3.3 Combined Signatures and Ratifications of the Inter-American Treaties    (Graph 4)

As Graph 4 illustrates, the Inter-American treaties included in this study bear a total of 1074 signatures and have 713 ratifications, which is a 33% differential between the number of signatures and the number of ratifications.

Graph 4 also shows how many signatures and ratifications there would be within the Inter-American system had all member countries signed and ratified all treaties and those that exist thus far.

As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, at the present time, taken togethe,r the Inter-American treaties have 1074 signatures. If all the member countries were to sign each one of those treaties, the overall number of signatures would be 2176. Correspondingly, while the current number of ratifications is 713, if all the member states were to ratify all the treaties, the total figure would be 2176.

3.4 Entry into Force of the Inter-American Treaties  (Graphs 5) (Graph 6)

As graphs 5 and 6 show, of the 64 Inter-American treaties that this study covers, 10 have not yet entered into force. These treaties are shown in the table attached as Appendix I and are named below:

Optional Protocol related to the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, 1993;

Inter-American Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, 1989;

Amendment to Article 7 of the Inter-American Amateur Radio Service Convention (Lima Convention), 1988;

Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights "Protocol of San Salvador", 1988;

Inter-American Convention on Jurisdiction in the International Sphere for the Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments, 1984;

Agreement on the Adoption of the Inter-American Manual on Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (Convention of Caracas), 1979;

Protocol of Amendment to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, 1975;

Protocol of Amendment to the Convention on the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences, 1958;

Economic Agreement of Bogota, 1948, and

Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacure and Trafficking in Weapons, Munitions, Explosives and Other Related Materials, 1997.

The above-mentioned treaties concern the following: human rights (1), judicial cooperation (2), international transit and transportation (2), economic development (1), the regional institutional system (1), amateur radio service (1), hemispheric security (1) and weapons (1).

The study also found that 1.5% of the Inter-American treaties entered into force seventeen and one-half years after their adoption; 14.5% entered into force from 4 to 10 years after their adoption; 63.5% entered into force anywhere from 7 months to 3 years of their adoption, while 3% entered into force between 7 and 30 days of the date on which they were adopted.

The Inter-American treaty that entered into force in the shortest time was the Additional Protocol to the Pan American Sanitary Code (7 days), while the one that took the longest to enter into force was the Inter-American Convention to Facilitate International Waterborne Transportation (seventeen and a half years).

It should be added that in recent years, and in keeping with the practice followed since the first CIDIP back in 1975, the mechanism whereby Inter-American treaties enter into force has been eased. While in the past a minimum of eleven ratifications were required for a treaty to enter into force, since 1975 only two signatory countries need ratify a treaty for it to enter into force.

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