Convention of the African Migratory Locust Organization

Convention of the African Migratory Locust Organization

 

Part I

DEFINITION

Article 1

By this Convention there is established an Organization called:
“International African Migratory Locust Organization”
or in French:
“Organisation Internationale contre le Criquet Migrateur
Africain”
O.I.C.M.A.
hereinafter referred to as the “Organization”

Article 2

The Organization established by this Convention succeeds to the
assets and assumes the obligations of the Organization set up
under the Convention of the l5 May 1952.

Article 3

The seat of the Organization shall be at Bamako. It may be
transferred to any other place in the Republic of Mali by a
decision of the Administrative Council.

Part II

FUNCTIONS

Article 4

The functions of the Organization shall be as follows:

1. To exercise continuous surveillance and preventive control of
the African Migratory Locust in the outbreak area already
recognized on the River Niger. Such control operations shall
include in particular the destruction of all concentrations of
this locust which threaten to develop into incipient bands and
swarms.

2. To undertake research on the African Migratory Locust in order
to determine the ecological factors involved in its
multiplication and behaviour.

3. To devise and develop the most economic and effective methods
for its control.

4. The Organization may also be entrusted with surveillance,
research and preventive control relating to all other species of
migratory Acrididae of which incipient bands or swarms may be
found in the outbreak area on the River Niger.

5. The Organization may, subject to approval by the Council,
extend its operations to any other outbreak areas of the African
Migratory Locust that may be recognized.

Part III

STRUCTURE AND ADMINISTRATION

Article 5

The Organization shall comprise:

_ an Administrative Council (hereinafter referred to as the
“Council”)
_ an Executive Committee
_ a Directorate

Article 6

1. The Organization shall be administered by an Administrative
Council composed of Representatives designated by the Contracting
Governments.

2. The Council shall meet once each year in Ordinary Session at a
place to be decided at its previous meeting.

3. The Council shall elect a President from among its members. He
shall hold office for three years, and may be re-elected.

4. Each Contracting Government shall have one vote on the
Council. It may delegate its vote to any other Contracting
Government and shall notify such delegation of vote formally to
the President of the Council.

5. The decisions of the Council, if taken by vote, will be taken
by a simple majority of votes cast.

6. The Council shall adopt its own rules of procedure. It shall
nominate an Executive Committee and determine its composition and
competence.

7. An extraordinary Session of the Council may be convened by the
President at the request of at least one third of the Contracting
Governments.

8. The Council at its annual meeting shall examine the report and
the accounts of the Organization and shall adopt plans and draft
estimates for the operations of the following financial year.

9. The Council shall have the right:

a) to invite any international or regional Organization with an
interest in Locust Control to appoint observers to attend the
meetings of the Council; and:

b) to invite any individual or representative of an Anti-locust
research Organization to attend its meetings as a consultant.

Part IV

DIRECTORATE

Article 7

1. The Council shall appoint the Director of the Organization
subject to the approval of the authorities of the State in which
its Headquarters are situated.

2. The duties of the Director, in addition to those necessary to
ensure the discharge of the Organization’s main functions
outlined in Article 4, shall include:

a) the transmission by means of periodic reports to Contracting
Governments, and to such Organizations as are concerned with
anti-locust research, of full information on the nature of the
locust infestation, the progress of research and the operation of
control measures,

b) the maintenance of permanent contact and cooperation with all
other Organizations concerned with the locust problem;

c) Responsibility for the collection of the contributions of
Contracting Governments;

d) Responsibility for the maintenance of the accounts of the
Organization.

3. The Director shall also submit to the Council a report for the
past financial year as well as the programmes of work and
estimates for the next year. He shall submit annually to the
Council duly audited accounts. He shall transmit copies of these
documents to the Contracting Governments not later than one month
before the annual meeting of the Council.

4. The Director shall send a report for the preceding year,
approved by the Council, to the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations and the Economic Commission for Africa
(E.C.A.).

Part V

INSPECTIONS

Article 8

The Council may arrange for inspections to be made of the
activities of the Organization. Each Contracting Government may,
with the prior approval of the Council, undertake similar
inspections at its own expense.

Part VI

OBLIGATIONS OF CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS

Article 9

Each Contracting Government shall contribute in money, supplies
or services to the expenses of the equipment and operations of
the Organization on the basis of the proportions indicated in the
annex to the present Convention. These proportions may be revised
by the Contracting Governments:

a) in the event of new accessions in accordance with paragraph 2
of Article 14;

b) in the event of denunciation or withdrawal from this
Convention in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 15;

c) by a decision of the Administrative Council approved by
three-quarters of the Contracting Governments.

Article 10

Each Contracting Government shall facilitate the construction on
its own territory of the buildings necessary to the operation of
the Organization.

Article 11

The Contracting Governments shall, when necessary, give every
possible assistance requested by the Organization for the
destruction of incipient swarms.

Article 12

Each Contracting Government shall bear the cost of the
attendance of its delegation at the Council except that the
Organization will bear the transport expenses of one delegate per
country which has fulfilled its financial obligations during the
previous financial year.

Article 13

The Contracting Governments shall accord to the staff of the
Organization operating in their countries the same privileges and
immunities as they accord or would accord to the staff of a
Specialized Agency of the United Nations.

Part VII

ADHESIONS, RATIFICATIONS AND DENUNCIATIONS

Article 14

1. This Convention shall be ratified or approved by the Signatory
Governments in accordance with their respective constitutional
practice, and the instruments of ratification or approval shall
be deposited in the archives of the Government of the Republic of
Mali.

2. The Government of any State may accede to the present
Convention by depositing an instrument of accession with the
Government of the Republic of Mali.

The deposit of this instrument must in all cases be preceded by
an agreement between the acceding Government and all the
contracting Governments in order to determine a new apportionment
of the contributions laid down in Article 9 of this Convention.
Subject to the conclusion of such an agreement accession shall
take effect from the date of deposit of the instrument of
accession with the Government of the Republic of Mali.

3. Each Contracting Government shall if it sees fit, specify in
its instrument of ratification, approval or accession, the
geographical area to which this Convention shall apply in so far
as it is concerned.

Article 15

1. This Convention shall enter into force on the date of deposit
of an instrument of ratification or approval by the sixth
Signatory Government and shall enter into force in respect of the
other signatory Governments on the date of deposit of their
instruments of ratification or approval.

2. At the expiration of a period of five years from the 1 July
1962 and every five years thereafter, the Contracting Governments
shall consult to decide whether the Convention requires
modification.

3. After the expiration of a period of five years from
ratification any Contracting Government may denounce the
Convention by means of a written notification addressed to the
Government of the Republic of Mali. Denunciation shall take
effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification by
the depositary Government.

4. The Government of the Republic of Mali shall inform all
Contracting Governments of the deposit of each instrument of
ratification, approval or accession, and of each notification of
denunciation made in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article 16

In the event that the Organization is dissolved, the
distribution of its property shall be effected in the following
manner:

The Council shall designate a Board of liquidators who shall
have the widest powers to collect the assets, pay off the
liabilities, carry out all necessary operations and in
particular, distribute the assets among the Contracting
Governments to the Organization in proportion to their paid-up
contributions.

In the event of deficit, this shall be met by Contracting
Governments in proportion to their contribution as assessed for
the financial year then current.

Article 17

In the event of litigation, the competent Court shall be the one
having jurisdiction over the domicile of the plaintiff, if the
said domicile is in the territory of one of the Member States.
Failing this the Court having jurisdiction over the Headquarters
of the Organization shall be competent.

The Organization shall have the legal competence conferred by
internal law in each Member State.

Part VIII

AMENDMENTS

Article 18

1. Any Contracting Government may propose amendments to the
present Convention.

2. Any proposal shall be submitted in the two official languages
of the Organization to the Council for consideration.

3. Any amendment approved by the Council shall come into force
immediately after notice of approval of the amendment by
three-quarters of the Contracting Governments.

4. The depositary Government shall inform all the Contracting
Governments of the coming into force of the amendments.

Part IX

REGISTRATION

Article 19

The Government of the Republic of Mali shall cause this
Convention to be registered with the Secretary-General of the
United Nations.

In Witness Whereof the undersigned, duly authorized thereto by
their respective Governments, have signed the present Convention.

Done at Kano (Nigeria) on the 25th May 1962 and amended in Accra
(Ghana), on the 25th July 1968, in the French and English
languages, both texts being equally authentic in a single copy
which shall be deposited in the archives of the Republic of Mali
which shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to all
Signatory and acceding Governments.

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Conventions: Chronological Index 1951-1970, Other Environmental conventions, country.


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