Chapter 2 - OAS Negotiations

Abstract

This chapter reviews the basic contributions made by the Organization of American States (OAS), through negotiation and mediation, in preserving and maintaining peace, so that differences between the states are settled peaceably. OAS aimed at minimizing the suffering of the people in the American hemisphere who often are unaware of the real causes of the conflicts, but who are always mindful of their consequences, because it is the people who inevitably bear the brunt. The chapter discusses the various treaties containing provisions that in one way or another are related to negotiation and mediation in the inter-American system, including the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement, referred to as the Pact of Bogotá, and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, referred to as the Rio Treaty. The chapter presents the procedures and the juridical instruments aimed at the observance and maintenance of peace through collective action. The chapter discusses the institutional framework followed at the highest governing level and analyzes the Pact of Bogotá, the Inter-American Peace Committee, and the Inter-American Committee on Peaceful Settlement, under the terms of the OAS Charter.