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International Agencies in the Western Hemisphere
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2017
Extract
In the course of the last fifty-five years the countries of the Western Hemisphere have developed effective instruments and procedures for cooperative action in many fields of common interest. There is, in the first place, the official governmental machinery for hemispheric cooperation—the Inter- American system—which operates through thirty permanent agencies. There are, furthermore, some thirty-nine semi-official and private agencies (Inter-American, Caribbean, Latin American, and South American regional, as well as bipartite) which have been established in response to recommendations of general or special Inter-American conferences, under the auspices of the government of some one American state, or by private initiative. And, finally, there are seventeen official agencies created by joint action of two states to deal with problems of special interest to them. In all, there are now eighty-six international agencies in the Americas, over half of them governmental. An adequate presentation of this very extensive machinery for collaboration would exceed the scope of an article. We shall only attempt here to show the variety of common interests now served by international agencies in the Western Hemisphere. Of necessity, the description of individual agencies must be rather sketchy but detailed information concerning the history, purposes, internal administration, and accomplishments of all agencies here mentioned may be found in a volume which has just been published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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References
1 Four codification agencies—generally counted in—have not completed their membership nor begun working; if these are excluded, the total number of agencies would amount to eighty-two.
2 Eleven of these are war-time bodies and hence of an emergency nature, but several will probably be continued after the war in altered form.
3 Handbook of International Organizations in the Americas, prepared by Masters, Ruth D. and other staff members of the Division of International Law, Washington, 1945.Google Scholar
4 Although not an official member, Canada has participated in a number of special Inter- American conferences and is a member of several Inter-American agencies, both official and private. Resolution XXII of the Mexico City Conference expresses the wish of the conference “that the collaboration of Canada with the Pan American system shall become ever closer.“
5 Pan American Union, Final Act of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Mexico City, February-March, 1945, Washington, 1945.
6 The name of the Bureau was changed twice: by the Second International Conference of American States, Mexico City, 1901-2, to “International Bureau of the American Republics,“ and by the Fourth Conference, Buenos Aires, 1910, to “Pan American Union.“
7 Text in The International Conferences of American States, 1889-1928, New York, 1931, p. 36, to be cited henceforth as Am. Int. Confs.
8 Despite this transformation of the original Union of American Republics no clear definition of its objectives and functions has been given either in resolutions of the International Conferences of American States or in the 1928 Convention on the Pan American Union (which has not yet come into force).
9 This term was first used in the 1928 convention and is now commonly in use. The “Union of American States” should be distinguished from the “Pan American Union.“ Despite its name the latter is not itself a union but rather the principal agency of a Union, viz., the Union of American States
10 Text in Am. Int. Confs., pp. 201, 251, and 476. The Protocol has recently been denounced by several states and it is expected that the Bureau will cease functioning the end of this year.
11 The commercial arbitration system of the Western Hemisphere was completed with the establishment in 1943 of a Canadian-American Commercial Arbitration Commission, composed of two national sections elected by the American Arbitration Commission and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, respectively.
12 A similar organization is the Canada-United States Committee which is maintained jointly by the Canadian and United States chambers of commerce. Several other private organizations devoted to the promotion of economic cooperation (giving the term its broadest connotation) should be mentioned. Of these, the South American Union of Engineers' Association, in Montevideo, founded in 1935; the Pan American Institute of Mining Engineering and Geology, in Santiago, and the South American Petroleum Institute, in Montevideo (the last two founded in 1942), maintain very close relations with each other. Others are: the Confederation of Latin American Workers, in Mexico City, created in 1938, and the Pan American Union of Technical Experts in the Field of Economic Sciences, in Buenos Aires, the Inter-American Hotel Association, with offices in New York City, and the Inter-American Committee for the Dairy Industries, in Washington, all founded in 1941.
13 The Board announced formation of the Council on August 29, 1945.
14 The Inter-American Financial and Economic Advisory Committee had been composed likewise of twenty-one members appointed by the American governments. It maintained offices in the Pan American Union but had its own budget (since 1943).
15 An unusual type of agency is the Permanent Joint Commission, Chile and Ecuador which was established by the Treaty of Commerce of April 7,1936, for the purpose of administering the treaty and of promoting better trade relations between Chile and Ecuador.
16 The very close political and economic ties between Canada and the United States have facilitated the solution of a number of common problems through joint action by permanent commissions entrusted with considerable authority over a given situation. Thus, common interests in the utilization of boundary waters are safeguarded by the International Joint Commission, United States and Canada established by the treaty of January 11, 1909 (36 Stat. L. 2448), and joint measures for the preservation of the important west coast halibut and Pacific salmon fisheries are put into effect by the International Fisheries Commission,United States and Canada, and the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission,created, respectively, by the conventions of March 2, 1923 (43 Stat. L. 1841) and May 26, 1930 (50 Stat. L. 1355). Although not charged with any economic functions, the International Boundary Commission, United States, Alaska, and Canada, which was put on a permanent basis by the treaty of February 24, 1925 (44 Stat. L. 2101), may be mentioned here to complete the list of joint United States-Canadian peacetime agencies. A commission combining the task of preserving the boundary line with large powers over the joint utilization of boundary waters, is the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico, originally the International Boundary Commission, United States and Mexico, established by the treaty of March 1,1889 (26 Stat. L. 1512).
17 United States Treaty Series, No. 970.
18 The United States consumes one half of the coffee entering world trade and the fourteen Latin American countries account for over 85 per cent of world coffee production.
19 The coffee producers of some eight Latin American countries have set up a private agency, the Pan American Coffee Bureau, established in New York in 1936, which coordinates their efforts to increase coffee consumption and to reduce shipping and distributing costs of coffee exports.
20 Pursuant to a resolution of the same Congress, the Pan American Union established a Pan American Soil Conservation Commission which, though still in existence, has not functioned for some time. The same Congress was also instrumental in the foundation of a private organization, the American Society of Agricultural Sciences, whose purposes are similar to those of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences. The Society has offices in the Pan American Union.
21 United States, Treaty Series, No. 987. A joint commission charged with facilitating coöperation of the member governments in the promotion of agriculture and rural welfare is the Mexican-United States Agricultural Commission, established in 1942. Two wartime agencies should also be mentioned here: The Brazilian-American Food Production CommUaion, established in Rio de Janeiro in 1042, deals with the promotion of food production in the northern and northeastern provinces of Brazil where several United States military bases are located and The Standing Agricultural Committee of Canada and the United States, which has national sections in Ottawa and Washington, was established in 1943 to keep agricultural and food production and distribution in the two countries under continuing review so that they could be fitted into the wartime food and agriculture plans of Canada and the United States.
22 The Joint Railway Commission, Bolivia and Argentina, established in 1937, and the Joint Railway Commission, Bolivia and Brazil, established in 1938, are agencies of a type probably not found elsewhere. They are official bodies, composed of an equal number of engineers appointed by the participating governments, and employing a large staff, charged by the two governments with constructing railroads within the territory of Bolivia which will connect the Bolivian railways with the lines in Argentina and Brazil, respectively. These two countries have obligated themselves by treaty to advance the cost of construction at a low rate of interest, to be repaid in part by oil deliveries from the eastern provinces of Bolivia which will be made accessible by the new railroads.
23 Railroad connections now exist between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, Bolivia and Chile, Argentina and Paraguay, and Bolivia and Peru; the last two by utilizing train ferries.
24 A private organization uniting national associations of private fliers and private aero clubs, with temporary headquarters in Washington, was founded in 1937. The Inter- American EscadriUe, whose primary purpose is to develop civilian aviation over the “Inter- American skyway,” has concentrated, during the war, on a program of aeronautical education and hemisphere-mindedness of the youth of America by introducing model plane building in the schools and holding model plane contests.
25 Text in The International Conferences of American States, First Supplement, 1938-40, Washington, 1940, cited henceforth as Am. Int. Confs., First Supp., p. 201.
26 In 1941 an Inter-American Federation of Automobile Clubs was established in Buenos Aires, pursuant to resolutions of the Fourth Pan American Highway Congress and the Second Inter-American Travel Congress which met in that year in Mexico City.
27 The South American Postal Union was founded in 1911 and superseded in 1921 by the Pan American Postal Union.
28 53 Stat. L. 1576.
29 54 Stat. L. 2514.
30 A North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement came into force at the same time as the Havana Convention and Arrangement, viz., on March 29, 1941. There are also in force a Central, and a South American, Regional Radio Agreement.
30a The earlier sanitary councils in Constantinople, Tangier, Teheran and Alexandria (established in 1839,1840,1867, and 1881, respectively), though international bodies, dealt only with sanitary matters in their particular localities.
31 Pending its formal establishment, the Inter-American Hospital Association, a private organization for the promotion of better hospital management in the Americas, functions under the auspices of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau. The Association was set up in 1941, largely on the initiative of the American College of Hospital Administrators and the American Hospital Association. Since 1922 efforts have been made by the American republics to create a central agency for the promotion of popular education in eugenics, homiculture, and social problems in general. A Central Pan American Bureau of Eugenics and Homiculture was provisionally established by the First Pan American Conference on Eugenics and Homiculture, Havana, 1927. It is now in process of reorganization. A Permanent Secretariat of the Pan American Congress of Physical Education, created in 1943, with headquarters in the Ministry of Public Education, Lima, Peru, acts as the consultative office of the Pan American Congresses of Physical Education. Its Secretary General is the Director of Physical Education and School Hygiene of Peru and its members are the directors of physical education of the twenty-one American republics. Its purpose is to promote collaboration of the governments and educational institutions in the field of physical education. No less than seven private organizations uniting professional men and women in medicine and dentistry are now functioning in the Americas. These are the Latin American Odontological Federation (Buenos Aires), the Pan American Medical Association (New York City), the Pan American Homeopathic Medical Congress (Philadelphia), the Latin American Union of Societies of Pkthisiology (Montevideo), and the Pan American Odontological Association (New York City), founded, respectively, in 1917, 1928, 1930, 1933, and 1937; also the Latin American Society of Plastic Surgery (Sao Paulo) and the Pan American Congress of Ophthalmology (Chicago), both established in 1940.
32 56 Stat. L. 1303.
33 Am. Int. Confs. First Supp., p. 252.
34 A semi-official agency which should perhaps be included in this section is the Inter- American Congress of Municipalities which has a permanent organ in the Pan American Commission on Intermunicipal Coöperation. The Commission administers a permanent secretariat, located in Havana, and acts as the permanent committee of periodical Congresses of Municipalities. It also collects and distributes data on municipal administration and promotes coöperation among the municipal authorities of the American states for the purpose of improving city management. It was established at the First Pan American Congress of Municipalities, Havana, 1938, and represents mumcipal authorities in all the American republics.
35 The Society was instrumental in the establishment, in 1940, of a Corporation of Caribbean Librarians, Archivists, and Curators of Museums which also has its headquarters in Havana. Several other private agencies are functioning in the field of cultural relations, viz., The Inter-American Bibliographical and Library Association (Washington), the Ibero- American Confederation of Catholic Students (Mexico City), the Association of American Writers and Artists (Havana), the International Institute of Ibero-American Literature (Austin, Texas), the Inter-American Institute of Music (Montevideo), the Inter-American Bar Association (Washington), the Inter-American Federation of Societies of Authors and Composers (Havana), and the Inter-American Society of Anthropology and Geography (Los Angeles). These agencies were founded, respectively, in 1930, 1933, 1936, 1938 (both the International Institute of Ibero-American Literature and the Inter-American Institute of Music were established in 1938), 1940, 1941, and 1943.
36 The Institute was founded in 1912 and has active members in all of the American republics and corresponding members in several European countries. It is devoted to the study of questions of public and private international law, and the codification of law, and is famous for its “Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Nations,” issued January 6, 1916.
37 The Committee is discussed more fully in the section on Political and Military Defense.
38 This machinery originated in the Treaty to Avoid or Prevent Conflicts between the American States of May 3, 1923 ﹛Am. Int. Confs., p. 285) and includes panels of mediators, commissions of inquiry, conciliation commissions, and arbitral tribunals. As these agencies are ad hoc in that they are not engaged in the continuous performance of the duties entrusted to them, they are not discussed in this article.
39 Am. Int. Confs., First Supp., p. 335 (Declaration of Panama).
40 Same, p. 329 (General Declaration of Neutrality of the American Republics).
41 Resolution XXVI; text in Pan American Union, Report on the Third Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Rio de Janeiro, January 15-88,19J$, Washington, 1942.
42 It was also charged with the duty of developing and coördinating the work of codification of international law. The Mexico City Conference recommended making it the central agency for the codification of international law and also requested it to formulate standards for the determination of war criminals, to prepare an Inter-American Charter of Social Guarantees, to draft a Declaration of the International Rights and Duties of Man, and to prepare a draft of an Inter-American Peace System, for consideration by the Ninth Conference (Resolutions XXV, VI, LVIII, XL, and XXXIX).
43 Text in Pan American Union, Pan American Postwar Organization: Observations and Suggestions of the Executive Committee on Postwar Problems of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, Washington, 1944, pp. 49, 63.
44 United States, Treaty Series, No. 977.
45 The Governing Board of the Pan American Union selected seven states and these in turn appointed the members of the Committee. The regulations of the Committee provide specifically that its members shall represent not their own governments but all the governments members of the Pan American Union.
46 Reference is here made to the revolutionary changes in government in Bolivia and Argentina, on December 20, 1943 and March 10, 1944, respectively.
47 In addition to these Inter-American agencies for political and military defense, there have been created a number of bipartite defense agencies, viz., the Joint Brazil-United States Defense Commission in Washington, established August 25, 1942, the Joint Mexican-United States Defense Commission in Washington, created February 27, 1942, and the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, United States and Canada, with national sections in Ottawa and Washington, set up in August, 1940. The United States and Canada have, furthermore, set up the following war agencies: the Joint War Production Committee and the Material Co6rdinating Committee, both established in Washington, in 1941, and the Joint War Aid Committee in Washington, created in 1943. Two other agencies which have been mentioned previously should be included to complete this list of wartime agencies, viz., The Standing Agricultural Committee of Canada and the United States which has national sections in Washington and Ottawa and was set up in 1943, and the Brazilian-American Food Production Commission in Rio de Janeiro, established in 1942.
48 International Boundary Commission, United States and Mexico; International Joint Commission, United States and Canada.
49 International Fisheries Commission, United States and Canada; International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission.
50 Joint Railway Commission, Bolivia and Argentina, and Joint Railway Commission, Bolivia and Brazil.
51 Permanent Joint Commission, Chile and Ecuador. This commission was patterned after the Permanent Joint Commission, Chile and Peru which is no longer in existence.
52 Joint Railway Commission, Bolivia and Argentina, and Joint Railway Commission, Bolivia and Brazil.
53 International Joint Commission, United States and Canada; International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission.
54 Permanent Joint Commission, Chile and Ecuador.
55 This is a greater increase than for all other types of agencies in this hemisphere. In 1935 there was a total number of thirty-one agencies in the Americas which increased in the next ten years by forty-five to the present number of eighty-six.
56 The only Latin American country with adequate railway facilities is Argentina (some 25,000 miles of railway lines). All of Latin America has approximately 90,000 miles of railroads.
57 The earlier agencies were usually created by resolution of a conference, but of the more recent ones many have the legal basis of a treaty. This difference in origin has not had any effect on the permanence or effectiveness of the agencies. The American republics were the first to institute the practice of meeting periodically for the discussion of any and all problems of mutual interest to them. In addition to the International Conferences of American States many other periodical special conferences are held, such as conferences on child welfare, commercial matters, highways, scientific matters, sanitation, etc.
58 In some cases a two-thirds majority or unanimity is required.
59 Some semi-official and private agencies are also regional counterparts of earlier international organizations (Inter-American Statistical Institute, Pan American Commission on Inter municipal Cooperation, Pan American Railway Congress: Permanent International Association, Inter-American Federation of Automobile Clubs, etc.).
59a The only supervisory agency whose members have unequal votes is the Inter-American Coffee Board.
60 Not until 1936 were the American republics ready to accept the principle of continental solidarity for the preservation of peace in the Americas. At the Buenos Aires Conference they agreed that any act susceptible of disturbing the peace of this hemisphere affects each and every one of the American republics (Declaration of Principles of Inter-American Solidarity and Cooperation, Am. Int. Confs., First Supp., p. 160), and that they would consult together in the event that a war among foreign powers might menace the peace of this continent (Convention for the Maintenance, Preservation and Reěstablishment of Peace (same, p. 189). At the Lima Conference in 1938 they went a step further and agreed upon a method of consultation through emergency meetings of their foreign ministers (Declaration of Lima, same, p. 308). Finally, at the Mexico City Conference they provided for annual Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and in the Act of Chapultepec they obligated themselves to consult together concerning the joint application of sanctions against any state (American or non-American) that should attack the integrity or the inviolability of the territory, or the sovereignty or political independence of an American state. Although this obligation has force only for the duration of the present war, the Act recommends that the American states conclude a treaty embodying its principles “in order that they may be in force at all times.“
61 In instructing the Peruvian delegation to the first Inter-American congress which met in Panama in 1826, Bolivar urged that the congress issue a proclamation which would contain “an energetic and efficient declaration as that made by the President of the United States of America in his message to Congress of last year in regard to the necessity for the European powers of abandoning all ideas of further colonization on this continent, and in opposition to the principle of intervention in our domestic affairs” (Am. Int. Confs., p. xriii). The treaty of Perpetual Union, League, and Confederation adopted by the congress (which never came into effect) actually contained a statement to that effect.