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The Inter-American Regional System: Fifty Years of Progress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2017

Charles G. Fenwick
Charles G. Fenwick*
Affiliation:
Pan American Union
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Extract

So great has been the progress of the inter-American regional system over the past fifty years that it is difficult for a later generation to understand how hesitant and faltering the statesmen of an earlier day could have been in their approach to problems for which we have now found, if not the solution, at least the basis upon which to construct a solution. States were sovereign then, and sovereignty, as the term was practically applied, meant that states were not so much above the law but rather outside its scope in respect to the fundamental and recurrent issue of the defense of national interests.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , January 1956 , pp. 18 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1956

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References

1 The first, 1889–1890, was held in Washington; the second, 1901–1902, in Mexico City; the third, 1906, in Rio de Janeiro. International Conferences of American States, Vol. I, pp. 3, 51,113.

2 Ibid., p. 36.

3 Ibid., pp. 172, 176; see 5 A.J.I.L. Supp. 7 (1911).

4 Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. I, pp. 14, 40.

5 Ibid., pp. 44 ff.

6 Ibid., p. 40.

7 Ibid., pp. 69, 83, 90, 100, 104.

8 Ibid., pp. 172, 176.

9 Bemis, Latin American Policy of the United States, pp. 194 ff.

10 Kelchner, Latin American Relations with the League of Nations, passim.

11 Perkins, Hands Off, pp. 334 ff.

12 Convention on Rights and Duties of States, Art. 8. International Conferences of American States, Vol. II, p. 121; 28 A.J.I.L. Supp. 75 (1934).

13 Convention for the Maintenance, Preservation and Reestablishment of Peace, Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 188; 31 A.J.I.L. Supp. 53 (1937).

14 Declaration of Lima, Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 308; 34 A.J.I.L. Supp. 199 (1940).

15 Improvement in the Procedure of Consultation, Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 807; 34 A.J.I.L. Supp. 199 (1940).

16 General Declaration of Neutrality of the American Republics, Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 326; 34 A.J.I.L. Supp. 9 (1940).

17 Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 334; 34 A.J.I.L. Supp. 17 (1940).

18 Reciprocal Assistance and Cooperation for the Defense of the Nations of the Americas, Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 360; 35 A.J.I.L. Supp. 15 (1941).

19 Act of Habana Concerning the Provisional Administration of European Colonies and Possessions in the Americas, Int. Conf. of Am. States, Vol. II, p. 364; 35 A.J.I.L. Supp. 18 (1941).

20 Pan American Union, Congress and Conference Series, No. 36, p. 32; 36 A.J.I.L. Supp. 62 (1942).

21 Pan American Union, Congress and Conference Series, No. 36, p. 52; 36 A.J.I.L. Supp. 85 (1942).

22 Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, February 21-March 8, 1945 (Pan American Union, Congress and Conference Series, No. 47), p. 1.

23 Ibid., p. 6.

24 Ibid., p. 5.

25 Ibid., p. 30; 39 A.J.I.L. Supp. 108 (1945).

26 Inter-Am. Conf. on Problems of War and Peace, 1945, op. cit., p. 33.

27 Ibid., p. 63.

28 Charter of the U.N. Report of the Secretary of State (Dept. of State Publication No. 2349), p. 107.

29 For an analysis of the Charter of the United Nations in relation to the inter-American regional system, see Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace and Security, 1947, Report on the Results of the Conference (Pan American Union, Congress and Conference Series, No. 53), pp. 14 ff.

30 Ibid., p. 61; 43 A.J.I.L. Supp. 53 (1949).

31 Pan American Union, Law and Treaty Series, No. 23; 46 A.J.I.L. Supp 43 (1952).

32 Final Act of the Ninth International Conference of American States (Pan American Union, Congress and Conference Series, No. 65), p. 52.

33 Arts. 13, 16.

24 The documents of the four cases may be found in Aplicaciones del Tratado Inter-americano de Asistencia Recíproca, 1948–1955 (Pan American Union, 1955). Obviously, of course, the members of the Council are in close touch with their governments in taking such decisions.

35 Second Report of the Inter-American Peace Committee (Pan American Union, 1954).

36 Charter, Arts. 67–72.

37 Final Act, p. 17 (Pan American Union, 1950).

38 The separate reports are available at the Pan American Union.

39 Final Act of the Second Meeting of the Inter-American Council of Jurists, 1953, pp. 46, 49 (Pan American Union, 1953).

40 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum; Convention on Territorial Asylum (Pan American Union, Law and Treaty Series).

41 See Report on the Activities of the Organization of American States, 1948–1953 (Pan American Union, 1953), pp. 39–72; 86–102.

42 Ibid., pp. 131–138.