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Convention for the Promotion of Inter-American Cultural Relations (A-48) [1954] OASMTSer 3

CONVENTION FOR THE PROMOTION OF INTER-AMERICAN CULTURAL RELATIONS

Signed at the Tenth Inter-American Conference Caracas, March 1-28, 1954

The governments represented at the Tenth Inter-American Conference,

CONSIDERING:

That greater knowledge and understanding of the peoples and the institutions of the countries members of the Organization of American States will contribute to the realization of the purposes for which the Conference was convened; and

That, among the suitable means for attaining this end, are the exchange of professors, teachers, and students among the American countries and the encouragement of closer relationships among the unofficial agencies that exert an influence on the formation of public opinion,

RESOLVE:

To revise the text and strengthen the spirit of the Convention for the Promotion of Inter-American Cultural Relations, concluded at Buenos Aires in 1936, and to that end agree on the following articles:

Article 1

Every year each government shall award one or more fellowships, insofar as it may be able to do so, for the ensuing scholastic year, which may be granted to graduate students or to teachers or to other persons with equiv-alent qualifications from each of the other Member States. The recipients shall be chosen in accordance with the procedure established in Article 4 of this Convention. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each government may award a greater number of fellowships for study if this has been provided in other international agreements or otherwise.

Article 2

Each fellowship shall include, through such agency as may be deemed appropriate, tuition in an institution of higher learning designated by the country awarding the fellowship, as well as textbooks, working materials, and, in addition, a monthly allowance to cover lodging, subsistence, and other necessary additional expenses. The expenses of traveling to the designated institution and those of returning to the country of origin and, in addition, an amount for incidental travel expenses during the journey shall be borne by the recipient or by the nominating government.

Article 3

Each government shall notify the others of the fields of study in which it is prepared to award fellowships at least one month before the period referred to in the following article for the transmission of the panels of candidates.

Article 4

The fellowships referred to in Article 1 shall be awarded after the governments concerned exchange panels of names in the following manner:

Each government shall send to each of the other governments, at least 6 months before the opening of the scholastic year in the host country, unless otherwise agreed upon by the interested governments, a panel containing the names of candidates of the categories referred to in Article 1, together with the information regarding each that the government awarding the fellow-ships deems necessary. The panel shall contain a sufficient number of names to permit the country awarding the fellowships to choose from among the candidates. The latter country shall announce the award of the fellowships and the names of the successful candidates to the nominating government at least 3 months before the opening of the scholastic year.

A candidate's name shall not appear on the panels more than twice. The fellowships shall be awarded for one year, but may be extended for a second year and, in exceptional cases, for a third. No government shall be obliged to consider the panel of names of candidates proposed by any other government if it has not been presented in accordance with the schedule indicated.

Article 5

If for any reason it becomes necessary to repatriate the recipient of a fellowship, the government awarding the fellowship may effect the repatria-tion at the expense of the nominating government.

Article 6

Any of the High Contracting Parties which may be interested in obtaining the services of professors or specialists from other countries and which has not chosen specific individuals may do so through the services of the Pan American Union. The Pan American Union will forward the request to the other countries and will send their replies to the interested country within three months, the latter country then choosing from among the candidates suggested.
Visiting professors or specialists shall devote themselves to the duties for which they have been specifically engaged.

The government that is sending the professors or specialists shall provide the expenses of travel of each to the seat of the institution to which he has been appointed, and of return to the country of origin.

Each government shall take the necessary measures for visiting professors or specialists to receive a salary commensurate with the duties which are assigned to them. The government of the country from which the professor or specialist comes shall compensate him for any unfavorable difference between the salary which he is to receive in the host country and that which he has been receiving in the country from which he comes. However, in specific cases, the governments concerned may make other arrangements.

Article 7

The High Contracting Parties will encourage, in other ways, especially during vacation periods, the exchange, for cultural purposes, of teachers, artists, students, and other persons engaged in the professions, between their respective countries.
Article 8

Each government shall designate or create an appropriate organ, or appoint a special officer, to have responsibility for carrying out the obligations assumed by virtue of this Convention.

Article 9

Authenticated copies of the regulations issued by each of the High Contracting Parties to facilitate compliance with this Convention shall be sent to the other High Contracting Parties and to the Pan American Union.

Article 10

The High Contracting Parties shall transmit annually to the Pan American Union a report enumerating the persons to whom fellowships have been awarded by the governments in accordance with the terms of this Convention. The report shall indicate the nationality of the recipients and the amount of money and the type of assistance which they have received.

This report should likewise include information with regard to persons who have come from other American States and are pursuing university or similar studies in accordance with other exchange-of-persons programs or at their own expense.

The reports referred to above should also include information regard-ing professors and specialists.

The Pan American Union shall compile the reports received under this Article for the information of the High Contracting Parties.

Article 11

The High Contracting Parties declare that this Convention is motivated by the highest principles of cooperation, the extent of the interchange depending upon the circumstances peculiar to each country.

Article 12

This Convention does not affect similar understandings which have been entered into previously by the High Contracting Parties, nor does it exclude the possibility of their entering into other such understand-ings in the future.

Article 13

This Convention shall remain open for signature by the States Members of the Organization of American States and shall be ratified by the signatory States in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures.

Article 14

The original instrument, the English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish texts of which are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Pan American Union, which shall transmit certified copies thereof to the governments for purposes of ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Pan American Union, which shall notify the signatory States of such deposit.
Article 15

This Convention shall enter into force between the States that ratify it in the order in which they deposit their respective instruments of ratification.

Article 16

This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely, but may be denounced by any of the signatory States upon one year's notice, at the end of which it shall cease to be in force with respect to the denouncing State, remaining in force for the other signatory States. The denunciation shall be communicated to the Pan American Union, which shall notify the other signatory States of it.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, whose full powers have been presented and found to be in good and due form, sign this Convention, on behalf of their respective Governments, at the city of Caracas, on March twenty-eight, nineteen hundred and fifty-four.