UNASUR Constitutive Treaty

Constitutive Treaty
Treaty establishing the Union of South American Nations
SignedMay 23, 2008
LocationBrasília, Brazil
EffectiveMarch 11, 2011
ConditionRatified by 12 Member States
Signatories12
Parties
DepositaryGovernment of Ecuador
LanguagesDutch, English, Portuguese and Spanish
Full text
Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations at Wikisource

The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty, officially the Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations, was signed on May 23, 2008 during the extraordinary summit of heads of state and government of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) held in Brasília, Brazil. It officially established the Union of South American Nations, an intergovernmental continental union of all twelve South American nations.

Signatories

The twelve signatory states of the UNASUR Constitutive Treaty.
On behalf of Signed by Ratified Date of ratification
 Argentina Cristina Kirchner Yes Yes 2 August 2010
 Bolivia Evo Morales Yes Yes 11 March 2009
 Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Yes Yes 14 July 2011
 Chile Michelle Bachelet Yes Yes 22 November 2010
 Colombia Álvaro Uribe Yes Yes 28 January 2011
 Ecuador Rafael Correa Yes Yes 15 July 2009
 Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo Yes Yes 12 February 2010
 Paraguay Nicanor Duarte Yes Yes 9 June 2011
 Peru Alan García Yes Yes 11 May 2010
 Suriname Ronald Venetiaan Yes Yes 5 November 2010
 Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Yes Yes 9 February 2011
 Venezuela Hugo Chávez Yes Yes 13 March 2010

Ratification

The Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations came into force on March 11, 2011, thirty days after the date of receipt of the ninth instrument of ratification.

Treaty content

The treaty consists of 27 relatively short sections, and is the constitution of the new union. It outlines its structure and organs, and assumes that additional documents fill in the details.

Summary

The treaty declares the establishment and objects of the Union (in §§ 1-3), its organs (§§ 4-10 and 17), juridical foundation (§§ 11-13 and 22-27), and financial foundation (§ 16). It regulates the acceptance of new associate or full members and the right of cessation from the union in §§ 19, 20, 24, and 26, and the rules for adopting amendments to the treaty in § 25. Finally, §§ 14, 15, 18, and 21 declare the intent to employ dialogue among the member states, with its citizens, with third parties, and as the means for conflict resolution.

Membership

The 12 original signatories of the document have presented documentation of ratification to the Ecuadorian government. Other Latin American and Caribbean states may be admitted as associated members. An associated member may apply for and be granted full membership, but only after having been associated for at least four years, and only after five years have elapsed since the treaty came into force. This implies that no new full members outside the original twelve can be admitted before March 11, 2016.

A full or associated member state may unilaterally withdraw from the union. To do so, the state must deposit their cessation documentation in a similar manner as the ratification, and the cessation will take effect six months after the deposition. However, cessation of membership will not free states from any financial debts to the Union for unpaid membership fees or otherwise.

At the time the treaty came into force on March 11, 2011, it had been ratified by Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The two other original signatories, Brazil and Paraguay, had not yet completed the ratification process by that date. By December 14, 2011, when Colombia deposited its instruments of ratification of the Constitutive Treaty with the Government of the Republic of Ecuador, the process was complete.

Amendments

Any member state may suggest amendments to the constitutional treaty. In order to be adopted, an amendment must be approved by the Council of Heads of State and Government, and then ratified by at least nine member states.

Additional Protocol

On November 26, 2010, during the 2010 South American Summit, representatives introduced a democratic clause to the Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations. The amendment specifies measures to be taken against member-states whose political processes are not respected. The clause establishes sanctions, such as shutting down borders and the suspension of trade against the country that suffers an attempted coup.

The decision to include a democratic clause was made after the recent upheaval in Ecuador that briefly threatened the administration of President, Rafael Correa. The additional protocol was signed by all member-states of UNASUR.

Entering into force

On March 11, 2011, when the Constitutive Treaty entered into legal force, establishing the Union of South American Nations as an international legal personality, the Foreign Ministers of the UNASUR member states met at Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador, to celebrate the event and lay the foundation stone of the UNASUR Secretariat headquarters.[citation needed]

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-05-26 06:16 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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