UNASUR Constitutive Treaty

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.[1] It officially established the Union of South American Nations, an intergovernmental continental union of twelve South American nations.

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

Signatories
The twelve signatory states of the UNASUR Constitutive Treaty.
On behalf ofSigned byRatifiedDate of ratification
 ArgentinaCristina Kirchner Yes2 August 2010[2]
 BoliviaEvo Morales Yes11 March 2009[3]
 BrazilLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva Yes14 July 2011[4]
 ChileMichelle Bachelet Yes22 November 2010[5]
 ColombiaÁlvaro Uribe Yes28 January 2011[6]
 EcuadorRafael Correa Yes15 July 2009[7]
 GuyanaBharrat Jagdeo Yes12 February 2010[8]
 ParaguayNicanor Duarte Yes9 June 2011[9]
 PeruAlan García Yes11 May 2010[10]
 SurinameRonald Venetiaan Yes5 November 2010[11]
 UruguayRodolfo Nin Novoa Yes9 February 2011[12]
 VenezuelaHugo Chávez Yes13 March 2010[13]

Ratification

The Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations came into force on March 11, 2011,[14] thirty days after the date of receipt[15] of the ninth instrument of ratification.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18] The additional protocol was signed by all member-states of UNASUR.[19]

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.

See also

References
  1. South America nations found union BBC, accessed on May 23, 2008.
  2. Argentina ratified UNASUR Constitutive Treaty Archived 2011-10-09 at the Wayback Machine Unasur. Retrieved on 2010-11-25.
  3. Bolivia ratifica el tratado constitutivo de la UNASUR Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine El Ciudadano. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  4. "Brasil promulga aprovação do tratado da Unasul e vira membro pleno" (in Portuguese). Correio do Brasil. Archived from the original on March 21, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  5. Santiago ratifico el tratado constitutivo de la unasur Yahoo! Noticias. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  6. "Colombia se integra al Unasur" (in Spanish). El Universal. Retrieved February 17, 2011..
  7. Ecuador segundo país en ratificar Tratado Constitutivo de UNASUR Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine Flacso. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  8. Guyana ratificó tratado constitutivo de Unasur Como tu quieras. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  9. Paraguay approved UNASUR Constitutive Treaty on 6-9-2011. (in Spanish).
  10. Perú ratifica Tratado Constitutivo de UNASUR Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine Flacso. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  11. Surinam ratifica el Tratado Constitutivo de Unasur Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine El Ciudadano. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  12. Entrada em vigor do Tratado Constitutivo da UNASUL Archived 2012-02-01 at the Wayback Machine Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Retrieved on 2011-02-14. (in Portuguese).
  13. Venezuela ratificó el Tratado Constitutivo de Unasur El Universal. Retrieved on 2010-11-25. (in Spanish).
  14. Entrada em vigor do Tratado Constitutivo da UNASUL ("Entry into force of the Unasur Constitutive Treaty") Archived 2012-02-01 at the Wayback Machine Ministry of External Relations of Brazil. Retrieved on 2011-02-15. (in Portuguese).
  15. Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations Archived 2008-12-06 at the Wayback Machine Ministry of External Relations, accessed on May 25, 2008.
  16. The Decline of UNASUR and the Crisis of South American Regionalism
  17. "Colombia y Ecuador acordaron mejorar seguridad y transporte en la frontera" (in Spanish). December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  18. UNASUR Summit condemned attempt of coup d´etat in Ecuador and reasserted commitment to democratic institutions Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine Telam. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
  19. Additional Protocol to the Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations on Commitment to Democracy Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Guyana: Government Information Agency. Retrieved on 2010-11-27.
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