The Anti-war Treaty of Non-aggression and Conciliation, also called the Saavedra Lamas Pact, was signed at Rio de Janeiro on 10 October 1933 by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Spanish and Portuguese texts are the original, in a single copy deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Worship of Argentina. It is not the 1948 Pact of Bogotá on pacific settlement, which superseded it among parties to that pact, and it is not the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Article I: the parties condemn wars of aggression in their mutual relations and in those with other states, and declare that disputes shall be settled only by the pacific means sanctioned by international law. Article II: territorial questions must not be settled by violence; they will not recognise any territorial arrangement not obtained by pacific means, nor the validity of occupation or acquisition of territory brought about by force of arms. Article III: if a state engaged in a dispute fails to comply, the others undertake to make every effort for the maintenance of peace, to adopt as neutrals a common and solidary attitude, and to use political, juridical or economic means authorised by international law, without diplomatic or armed intervention, subject to other collective treaties. The clause remains a framework, not a pressure programme.

Article IV submits to the conciliation procedure disputes that diplomacy has not settled within a reasonable time. Article V limits the reservations allowed at signature, ratification or adherence to disputes already covered by pacific treaties, those the parties prefer to settle directly or by arbitration or justice, questions left to the exclusive competence of each state, and matters affecting constitutional precepts. Chile signed with the reservations under letters a to d. The effect of a limitation is reciprocal, to the measure of the exception stated. Parties may later abandon those limitations wholly or in part.

Articles VI and VII: failing a permanent commission or an organisation already charged with the mission, the difference is examined by a commission of five, one designated by each party and three by common agreement from nationals of third powers, of different nationalities, without customary residence in the parties’ territory and not in their service; the president is chosen from those three. If no agreement is reached, selection may be entrusted to a third power, or names are drawn by lot from lists. Supreme courts may preferentially be designated to discharge the mission. Articles VIII and IX: the commission establishes its own procedure, which must hear both sides; its labours are not public except with the assent of the parties; decisions are by majority, but it may not pronounce on the substance except in the presence of all its members.

Article X: the commission’s duty is to secure a conciliatory settlement and to propose bases of settlement by a just and equitable solution; the report is in no case a final decision or an arbitral award. Article XI: the report is presented within one year of the first meeting, unless the parties shorten or extend the period; once begun, the procedure may be interrupted only by a direct settlement or by a later common decision to go to arbitration or international justice. Article XII: the parties have not more than six months to decide on the proposed bases; if they do not accept them, they regain freedom of action within the limits of Articles I and II. Article XIII: during the procedure they abstain from measures prejudicial to execution of an agreement the commission may propose, or capable of aggravating the controversy. Article XIV shares honoraria and expenses.

Article XV: ratification as soon as possible; the original and the instruments are deposited with the Argentine ministry, which communicates the ratifications; the treaty takes effect between the parties thirty days after deposit of the respective ratifications, in the order in which they are effected. Article XVI: it remains open to the adherence of all states, by deposit of the instrument with the same ministry. Article XVII: indefinite duration, denunciation on one year’s notice. The United States adhered later, with a reservation; it was not among the signatories at Rio.

The signatories were Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Afrânio de Melo Franco, Marcial Martínez de Ferrari, Alfonso Reyes, Rogelio Ibarra and Juan Carlos Blanco. The cover shows the Itamaraty Palace in Rio de Janeiro, then the seat of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, not a signing hall.

Sources consulted: Saavedra Lamas Treaty; Bevans translation, Anti-war Treaty of Non-aggression and Conciliation.