1.
Ecuador:
(Statement
made at the time of signature)
With
regard to the Permanent Council's functions vis-á-vis the peaceful
settlement of disputes, the Delegation of Ecuador believes that unilateral
recourse by any of the parties to a dispute to obtain the Council`s good
offices is governed by the obligation that the Permanent Council has, in
the application of the Charter`s principles and lofty purposes for peace,
"to assist the parties and to recommend the procedures it considers
suitable for the peaceful settlement of the dispute." All of this is now
a broad mandate to the Permanent Council to watch over the maintenance of
friendly relations among the Member States and to assist them effectively
in the peaceful settlement of their disputes. Even if the procedure is
not accepted by one of the parties, the Council may take steps to achieve
an agreement.
2.
United States:
(Statement
made at the time of signature)
The
United States, upon signing the Protocol of Amendment to the Charter of
the Organization of American States, states that it does so subject to the
following understandings and that the provisions of the Protocol shall be
effective with respect to the United States only insofar as they are
interpreted and applied in a manner consistent with such
understandings:
Article 1
of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol, does not limit the existing
powers and functions of the Organization of American States (OAS) as
practiced over the last forty years and any action taken by the OAS under
the Charter or the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio
Treaty), such as actions in furtherance of democracy or security, will not
be considered to be inconsistent with this article.
Article 3,
paragraph (e) of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol, must be
interpreted as being consistent with, and not derogating from, the
democratic principles embodied in paragraph (d) of this same article.
Accordingly, it neither bars the promotion under the Charter and Rio
Treaty of democracy and security by the Organization and its Member
States, nor requires the OAS or its Member States to accept regimes that
are undemocratic or otherwise hostile to inter-American values, nor is it
intended in any way to change the fundamental character of the OAS as an
organization of democratic states.
Article 23
of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol, does not affect the obligation
of Member States to continue to submit disputes with other American states
to the peaceful procedures set forth in the Charter of the Organization of
American States before referring such disputes to the United Nations
Security Council, consistent with Article 52(2) of the United Nations
Charter and with the purpose of the Protocol to strengthen the
Organization.
Articles
29, 30 and 31 of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol, do not create
enforceable legal obligations and do not affect the sovereign rights and
discretion of donor and recipient states with respect to the provision and
receipt of assistance, including the terms, conditions and mechanisms
under and through which such assistance may be provided. The pledge to
ensure international social justice extends the requirements that Member
States mobilize their own national human and material resources through
suitable programs and recognize the importance of operating within an
efficient domestic structure as fundamental conditions for their economic
and social progress and for assuring effective inter-American
cooperation. In this regard, the United States will continue to help
Member States fulfill their goals of social justice through assistance it
considers appropriate to support democracy, human rights, and the poor of
the region.
Article 35
of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol, does not derogate in any way
from the obligation of states reflected in Article 3 faithfully to fulfill
their international obligations with respect to transnational enterprises
whether derived from treaties and agreements or other sources of
international law, nor does it derogate from the jurisdiction other states
may have with regard to such enterprises.
Article 38
of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol, establishes non binding goals,
including the important goal of reducing or eliminating tariff and
nontariff barriers to exports of all Member States, and does not affect
the competence or scope of the General Agreement and Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), as the principal rule making body for the international trading
system, to address negotiable issues such as special and differential
treatment for developing country exports.
3.
Peru:
(Statement made at the time of signature)
Upon
signing this Protocol of Amendment, the Delegation of Peru states that it
is only an initial, albeit significant, step in the process of
restructuring the inter-American system, as provided for in resolution
AG/RES. 745 (XIV-0/84). In order to be complete, this restructuring calls
for, among other amendments, the inclusion of collective economic security
in the Charter of the Organization.
This goes
hand in hand with the preservation of peace and security in the hemisphere
and also with overall development, which has been included in this
amendment. The Delegation of Peru states by way of a reservation that the
powers conferred upon the Secretary General in Article 116 may not be
exercised for matters that have already been resolved through settlement
by the parties or through the decision of an arbitrator or a judgment
handed down by an international court, or that are governed by agreements
or treaties in force. Also, in accordance with international law, good
offices are a means of peaceful settlement whose scope has been specified
in international treaties, including the Pact of Bogotá. This procedure
assumes the consent of the parties, and it is in this sense that the
Delegation of Peru understands the powers conferred upon the Permanent
Council in the new Article 84 of this Protocol.
4.
Chile:
(Statements made at the time of ratification)
a) The
Government of Chile states that it understands the new Article 35 to vest
final authority in the legislation of the individual Member States.
Consequently, this provision does not limit or invalidate the sovereign
right of each State to establish the laws for the governance of foreign
investment and transnational enterprises which it regards as best suited
to the needs of its national development.
b) The
Government of Chile states that the procedure for the settlement of
disputes established in Article 84 and the functions vested in the
Secretary General by Article 116 must necessarily be interpreted in
keeping with the other provisions of the Charter. In particular, the
Government of Chile notes the special relevance of Article 1, which
enshrines the principle of strict legality in the Organization's actions,
of Articles 3.b and 17 on respect for and observance of treaties,
judicial judgments, arbitral awards, and other sources of international
law, of Article 18 on nonintervention in the internal or external affairs
of States, and of Article 89, which requires the Permanent Council to
observe the provisions of the Charter, international law, and treaties in
force.
5.
Mexico:
(Statement
made at the time of ratification)
The
Government of Mexico states that it hereby ratifies the Protocol of
Amendment to the Charter of the Organization of American States, Protocol
of Cartagena de Indias, especially pleased by the inclusion within the
Charter of guiding principles that renew our faith in the Organization,
and reaffirms that:
1. The
second paragraph of Article 1 of the Protocol specifically establishes
that the Organization of American States has no implicit or residual
powers, rejects the legal possibility of extensive interpretations of its
governing precepts, and subordinates the Organization itself to the
principle set forth in Article 18 of the Charter whereby no State or group
of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any
reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other state.
2. Article
3 e) introduces political pluralism into the Charter as the guiding
principle of inter-American coexistence and stresses the inalienable right
of every state to choose, without external interference, the political,
economic, and social organization best suited to it, establishes the
obligation of the American States to cooperate fully among themselves,
independently of their political, economic, and social systems, and
aspires to a plural and democratic Organization composed of all the
American States.
3. Article
23 of the Charter, amended by the Protocol of Cartagena, definitively
eliminates the supposed conflict of competition between regional and
universal forums by stating that the obligation to submit international
disputes among the Member States to the peaceful procedures indicated in
the Charter does not impair the rights and obligations of the Member
States, pursuant to Article 35 of the Charter of the United Nations, thus
reaffirming the sovereign faculty of the States to have recourse to the
forum best suited to their interests as soon as they deem it necessary.
4.
Articles 29 and 30, which regulate the principle enunciated in Article 3
j), commit the Member States to a united effort to ensure international
social justice in their relations and to attain integral development for
their peoples through free and unconditional cooperation, in accordance
with the goals and priorities set by each country.
5. Article
35 of the Protocol, which supplements and develops Article 15 of the
Charter with reference to transnational enterprises and private
investment, stipulates that such enterprises and investments shall adapt
to the development policy of the recipient countries and are subject to
their legislation, to the jurisdiction of their competent courts, and to
any international treaties and agreements to which they are parties.
6.
Panama:
(Statement
made at the time of ratification)
In
ratifying the Protocol of Amendment to the Charter of the Organization of
American States, Protocol of Cartagena de Indias, the Republic of Panama
pronounces the Protocol a solemn reaffirmation of the Organization's
purposes of achieving an order of peace and justice and promoting the
solidarity, strengthening the collaboration, and defending the
sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the Member American
States. It also declares that the provisions of the Protocol shall be
binding on the Republic of Panama whenever applied in accordance with the
following understandings:
1. Article
1 of the Charter of the Organization of American States, as amended by the
Protocol of Cartagena de Indias, empowers no organ of the Organization of
American States (OAS) to take, under the Charter, the Inter-American
Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) or any other pretext, any
action or measure that implies any derogation from the sovereignty,
territorial integrity or national independence of Member States, neither
does it authorize any intervention in their internal or external
affairs.
2.
Paragraph e) in Article 3 of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol of
Cartagena de Indias, enshrines political pluralism as a basic principle of
inter-American comity and reaffirms the right of each State to choose,
without external interference, the political, economic and social
organization best suited to it.
3. Article
23 of the Charter of the Organization as amended by the Protocol of
Cartagena de Indias, in accordance with Article 136 of the Charter, leaves
intact the rights and obligations of the Member States under Articles 34
and 35 of the Charter of the United Nations, and each Member State may
exercise as needed its sovereign right to resort to the international
forum that best meets its national interest.
4.
Articles 29 and 30 of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol of Cartagena
de Indias, pledge the Member States to a united effort to ensure
international social justice as a condition essential to peace and
security in the hemisphere, and further reaffirm that inter-American
cooperation for the integral development of the Member States must be
without political ties or conditions and must respect national sovereignty
and the objectives and priorities that each country sets for itself.
5. Article
35 of the Charter, as amended by the Protocol of Cartagena de Indias,
complements Article 15 of the Charter and extends its scope to embrace
transnational enterprises and foreign private investment, making the
ineluctably subject to the legislation of the host countries and the
jurisdiction of their competent courts, to the international treaties and
agreements to which those countries are parties, and to the development
policies of the recipient countries.
