Inter-American Convention to Facilitate Disaster Assistance

Inter-American Convention to Facilitate Disaster Assistance

 

Article I

Applicability

a. This Convention shall apply whenever a state party
furnishes assistance in response to a request from another
state party, except as they otherwise agree.

b. For the purposes of this Convention, acceptance by
a state party of an offer of assistance from another state
party shall be considered to be a request for such
assistance.

Article II

Reauests for and Offers and Acceptance
of Assistance

a . Requests for and offers and acceptance of
assistance from one state party to another shall be
communicated via diplomatic channels or the National
Coordinatinq Authority, as the circumstances may warrant.

b . Upon the occurrence of a disaster the assisting
state shall consult with the assisted state to receive
from the latter information on the kind of assistance
considered most appropriate to provide to the populations
stricken by the disaster.

C . To facilitate assistance, a state party that
accepts it shall promptly notify its competent national
authorities and/or its National Coordinating Authority to
extend the necessary facilities to the assisting state, in
accordance with this Convention.

Article III

National Coordinating Authority

a. For the purposes set forth in Article II, and
pursuant to its domestic legislation, each state party
shall designate a National Coordinating Authority, which
shall have the following functions, among others:

i. To transmit requests for assistance and to receive
offers from other states parties, as the case may
be.

ii. To coordinate assistance within its national
jurisdiction, as set forth in Article IV of this
Convention.

b. Each state party shall inform the General
Secretariat of the Organization of American States, as
promptly as possible, of the designation of its National
Coordinating Authority.

C. The Chairman of the Inter-American Emergency Aid
Committee of the Organization of American States shall
coordinate cooperation between the National Coordinating
Authorities of the states parties and that Committee.

d. Upon the occurrence of a disaster in a state
party, when the first official contacts are being
established between that state and the Chairman of the
Inter-American Emergency Aid Committee or his
representative, the latter will offer the stricken state
his services to alert the office of the United Nations
Disaster Relief Coordinator.

e . The General Secretariat shall notify the states
parties of the designation of the National Coordinating
Authorities, and of any changes in them that the states
parties report to it. The General Secretariat shall also
circulate periodically an information bulletin on the
structure, functions, procedures, and work methods of the
National Coordinating Authorities.

Article IV

Direction and Control of Assistance

a. Unless otherwise agreed, the overall direction,
control, coordination, and supervision of the assistance
within its territory shall be the responsibility of the
assisted state.

b. When the assistance includes personnel, the
assisting state, in consultation with the assisted state,
shall designate the person who shall be responsible for
the immediate operational supervision of the personnel and
equipment provided. The designated person shall exercise
such supervision in coordination with the appropriate
authorities of the assisted state.

C. Unless otherwise agreed, the assisted state shall
provide, to the extent of its capabilities, local
facilities, and services for the proper and effective
administration of the assistance. It shall also make its
best efforts to protect personnel, equipment, and
materials brought into its territory by or on behalf of
the assisting state for such purpose.

Article V

Transport Vehicles, Equipment, and Supplies

Transport vehicles, equipment, and supplies fully
identified and sent by states parties for assistance
purposes may enter, move about in, and leave the territory
of the assisted state. They may also move across the
territory of other states parties en route to where the
assistance is to be provided. In the aforementioned
cases, they shall be exempt from the payment of taxes,
fees, and other charges. Also in the aforementioned
cases, the assisted state or transit state shall make its
best efforts to expedite or, if appropriate, dispense with
customs formalities, and to facilitate the transit of such
transport vehicles, equipment, and supplies. Further, in
both cases, the restricted areas so designated by the
assisted state or the transit state shall be respected, in
accordance with the provisions of Article VIII.

Article VI

Access and Transit Routes

The assisted state shall have the right to designate
the access routes and final destination of the transport
vehicles, equipment, and supplies. The transit state
shall also have the right to designate the routes of the
transport vehicles, equipment, and supplies.

Article VII
Personnel

a. Personnel of the assisting state (hereinafter
referred to as “assistance personnel”) may enter, cross,
and leave the territory of the assisted state or of the
transit state party to this Convention, as necessary to
carry out their mission. To this end, each state party
shall provide such personnel with the necessary
immigration documents and facilities, in accordance with
its laws.

b. The assisting state and the assisted state shall
make every possible effort to provide the assistance
personnel with documentation or other means by which to
identify them as such.

Article VIII

Restricted Areas

In the application of this Convention, the states
parties shall respect any restricted areas so designated
by the assisted state.

Article IX

Support from the Assisted State

The assisted state shall endeavor to provide such
support as the assistance personnel may require, the
appropriate guidance and information, and, if necessary,
translation and interpretation services.

Article X

Risk

The states parties furnishing assistance shall make
every possible effort to do so skillfully and to prevent
negligence. However, this shall not constitute a
guarantee against the occurrence of damage.

Article XI

Protection of Assistance Personnel

a. Assistance personnel whose names have been duly
communicated to the assisted state and who have been
accepted by the assisted state and the respective National
coordinating Authorities and shall not be Subject to the
criminal, civil or administrative jurisdiction of the
assisted state for acts connected with the provision of
assistance.

b. The provisions of paragraph (a) shall not apply to
acts unrelated to the provision of assistance or, in civil
or administrative actions, to willful misconduct or gross
negligence.

C. In accordance with its domestic law, the assisted
state may extend the treatment stipulated in paragraph (a)
of this article to its nationals or permanent residents
who are part of the assistance personnel.

d. Assistance personnel have the obligation to
respect the laws and regulations of the assisted state and
of states they may cross en route. Assistance personnel
shall abstain from political or other activities that are
inconsistent with said laws or with the terms of this
Convention.

e . Judicial actions brought against assistance
personnel or against the assisting state shall be heard
and may be decided in the courts of the assisted state.

Article XII

Claims and Compensation

a . The assisted state waives any claim for loss or
damage that could be brought against the assisting state
or the assistance personnel as a result of the provision
of assistance.

b. The assisted state shall substitute for the
assisting state and for the assistance personnel with
respect to claims for loss or damage that might arise from
the provision of assistance and might be brought against
the assisting state or the assistance personnel by third
parties.

C. This article shall not apply to acts unrelated to
the provision of assistance or to willful misconduct or
gross negligence.

d. The affected assisting and assisted states shall
closely cooperate in order to facilitate the resolution of
any claims or legal proceedings to which this article
applies.

e. The assisted state may take out insurance to cover
the damages that the assisting state or the assisting
personnel might be expected to cause.

Article XIII

The provisions of articles XI and XII may be amended
through the express agreement of the assisting and
assisted states.

Article XIV

Costs

Except for the provisions of Articles IX and XII, the
assistance shall be provided at the expense of the
assisting state, without cost to the assisted state,
except where these states agree otherwise.

Article XV

Relation to Existing Agreements

If there is any discrepancy between this Convention
and other international agreements on the subject to which
the assisting and assisted states are parties, the
provision that affords the greatest degree of assistance
in the event of disaster and favors support and protection
to personnel providing assistance shall take precedence.

Article XVI

Governmental and Nongovernmental Organizations

a. Governmental International Organizations that
provide disaster assistance may, with the consent of the
assisted state, have recourse, mutatis mutandis to the
provisions of this Convention.

b. States and governmental international
organizations that provide assistance may include private,
physical, or juridical persons or nongovernmental
International Organizations within their relief missions,
which persons shall enjoy the protection afforded by this
convention.

C. A State party requesting assistance may, by
agreement with a nongovernmental organization, be it
national or international, apply the provisions of this
Convention to the personnel of the organization, except
that paragraph (a) of Article XI shall not be applicable
to such personnel.

d. The agreements mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (c)
of this article shall not apply to third-party states.

Article XVII

Signature

This convention shall be open for signature by the
member states of the organization of American States.

Article XVIII

Ratfication

This convention is subject to ratification. The
instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the organization of American
States.

Article XIX

Accession

This Convention is open to accession by any other
state. The instruments of accession shall be deposited
with the General Secretariat of the Organization of
American States.

Article XX

Reservations

The states parties may, at the time of approval,
signature, ratification, or accession, make reservations
to this Convention, provided that such reservations are
not incompatible with the object and purpose of the
Convention and concern one or more specific provisions.

Article XXI

Entry-into Force

This Convention shall enter into force on the
thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the second
instrument of ratification. For each state that ratifies
the convention or accedes to it after the second
instrument of ratification has been deposited, the
Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day
following the date on which that state has deposited its
instrument of ratification or accession.

Article XXII

Duration

This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely,
but any of the states parties may denounce it. The
instrument of denunciation shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the organization of American
States. After one year from the date of deposit of the
instrument of denunciation, the Convention shall no longer
be in effect for the denouncing state, but shall remain in
effect for the other states parties.

Article XXIII

Deposit, Registration, Publication and Notification

The original instrument of this Convention, the
English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish texts of which
are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General
Secretariat of the organization of American States, which
shall send an authenticated copy of its text to the
Secretariat of the United Nations for registration and
publication in accordance with Article 102 of its Charter.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States shall notify the member states of that organization
and the states that have acceded to the Convention of the
signatures and deposits of instruments of ratification,
accession, or denunciation, and reservations, if any.

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

International Conventions from 1991, International Organizations, Multilateral treaties: Organization of American States, Treaties.


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