African Migratory Locust Convention
Source: Ruster and Simma, Volume IV: page 1838ff.
The Governments of Belgium, the French Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Desiring to reorganize on an international basis the centre established by the Government-General of French West Africa for the supervision of the outbreak area of the African migratory locust on the Niger in the French Sudan,
Desiring to undertake, on the same basis, investigations on the African migratory locust, and to organize eventually the supervision and preventive control in any other outbreak area of that locust which may be discovered in African territory,
Considering that it is expendient to give effect by a Convention to the recommendations and resolutions put forward by their respective experts at the meetings at Tilembeya in June 1946,
Have agreed as follows:
Article I
(1) (a) Each of the Governments which have signed this Convention (hereinafter referred to as the "Signatory Government ") may invite the authorities of any territory in Africa for whose international relations it is responsible to become a Participating Authority for the purposes of the present Convention (hereinafter referred to as a "Participating Authority"). It will notify the Government of the French Republic which is the depository of the present Convention, of the names of any such territories the authorities of which are participating in the present Convention.
(b) The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan may also become a Participating Authority by notification to that effect given to the Government of the French Republic in such manner and form as may be agreed between the Government of Egypt and the Government of the United Kingdom.
(2) The authorities of any other territory in Africa affected by the African migratory locust may be invited jointly by the Signatory Governments to become a Participating Authority by an invitation addressed through the diplomatic channel to the Government responsible for the international relations of the said territory. If the said Government accepts the invitation, it shall accede to the present Convention so far as concerns the aforesaid territory by means of a notification addressed to the Government of the French Republic and the said Government shall become a party to the present Convention and the appropriate authorities of the aforementioned territory shall become a Participating Authority as from the date of receipt of that notification.
(3) The Government of the French Republic shall inform the Signatory Governments and any Government which has acceded to the present Convention (hereinafter together referred to as the "Contracting Governments") of each notification received under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article and of the date of its receipt.
Article II
(1) An International Administrative Council for the Supervision and Preventive Control of the African Migratory Locust (hereinafter referred to as the "Council") is hereby established consisting of representatives designated by the Contracting Governments or the Participating Authorities, or both.
(2) The seat of Council shall be at Paris.
(3) The Council shall meet once each year in ordinary session at a place to be decided at its previous meeting.
(4) An extraordinary session of the Council may be convened by the Secretary-General at the demand of any one of the Contracting Governments.
(5) Each Government represented on the Council shall have on the Council a number of votes proportionate to its contribution as established under Article VI (2). The votes at the disposal of each Government may be either accorded to a single representative or distributed amongst the members representing its Participating Authorities.
(6) The Council shall adopt its own rules of procedure. It shall nominate an Executive Committee and determine its composition and competence.
(7) The Council shall elect a President from among its members. He shall hold office for three years and may be re-elected.
(8) The Council shall at its annual meeting examine the Secretary-General's report and accounts and adopt plans and estimates for operations in the coming year.
(9) The Council shall have the right to invite the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to appoint observers to attend the meetings of the Council.
(10) The Council shall have the right to invite to attend its meetings in a consultative capacity any persons whose presence is deemed useful. Such an invitation shall in any case be addressed to representatives of the Office national antiacridien français and of the Anti-Locust Research Centre of London.
Article III
(1) The Council shall undertake research on the African migratory locust and determine adequate methods for its control; for these purposes it may employ such persons or organizations as it may choose.
(2) The Council shall exercise supervision and preventive control in outbreak areas already recognized or which will be recognized; for this purpose one or more International Services for the control of the African migratory locust (hereinafter referred to as the "Services") shall be created under the direction of the Council.
(3) At the request of any Participating Authority whose territory is affected by the spreading beyond the outbreak areas of an invasion of the African migratory locust, the Council shall assist in any measures that may become necessary for the destruction of swarms at the earliest possible stage.
(4) The Council shall appoint the Director of each Service, with the prior approval of the Contracting Government responsible for the international relations of the territory where the Service is established.
(5) The prior approval of the Council shall be required for all appointments of directing staff of the Services and of scientific personnel. The Council shall establish the conditions of employment of the personnel of the Services and shall at all times be entitled to review these conditions and, if they think fit, to terminate the employment of any members of the Services.
(6) The functions of the Services shall be:
(a) permanent supervision of the African migratory locust in order to observe and to record variations in the density and phase characters of locust populations, breeding periods, migrations of solitary locusts, and formation and migrations of incipient bands or swarms;
(b) destruction of all concentrations of locusts which threaten to develop into gregarious bands and swarms;
(c) investigation of the conditions of life and of the habits of the African migratory locust, in order to define the factors determining the multiplication and phase transformations.
Article IV
(1) The Council shall have a Secretariat which shall consist of a Secretary- General and such technical and clerical staff as may be required for the working of the Council.
(2) The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the Council.
(3) The Secretary-General shall be responsible, under the direction of the Council, for:
(a) the nomination, appointment and dismissal of the staff of the Secretariat;
(b) the organisation of research work and of the Services;
(c) the transmission by means of periodic reports to Contracting Governments and Participating Authorities, to the Office national antiacridien français and to the Anti-Locust Research Centre in London of full information on the progress of research and of the operations of the Services;
(d) the maintenance of permanent contact and co-operation with other organizations concerned with the locust problem;
(e) the collection of the contributions of Contracting Governments;
(f) the maintenance of the accounts of the Council and the Secretariat, as well as the centralisation and control of the expenditure and the accounts referring to research and to the Services.
(4) The Secretary-General shall submit to the Council a report for the past year as well as the programmes of work and estimates for the next year. He shall submit annually to the Council duly verified accounts.
(5) Copies of the documents mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be communicated to the Contracting Governments and Participating Authorities not later than a month before the annual meeting of the Council.
(6) As soon as the report for the past year, referred to in paragraph (4) of this article, has been considered by the Council, copies shall be sent to the Secretary-General of the C.C.T.A.
Article V
(1) The Council shall have the right to nominate persons to inspect the work of the Services wherever such work is being carried out.
(2) Each Participating Authority will have the right to make similar inspections, after having informed the Secretary-General in writing. The expenses in this connection shall be borne by the interest Authority.
Article VI
(1) Each Participating Authority shall bear the cost of the construction in its territory of the buildings required for the Services.
(2) Each of the Participating Authorities shall contribute in money, supplies or services to the initial expenses of establishing and equipping the Services, other than the cost of buildings, and to the current expenses of the Council, Secretariat, research, and Services, within the following total proportions for each Signatory Government: Belgium 20%, France 40%, the United Kingdom 40%. Any accession to the present Convention by a new Government shall involve a revision of the percentages stipulated in this paragraph, with a view to a redistribution of the charges incumbent on each of the Contracting Governments.
(3) Each Contracting Government shall be responsible for the allocation of its contribution as between the Participating Authorities of the territories for whose international relations it is responsible and for the payment of the contributions due from each of the latter.
Article VII
(1) The Contracting Governments as well as the Participating Authorities shall accord the same facilities as those accorded to their own nationals and agents to any agent appointed by the Council to operate in their territories, under the plans annually adopted by the Council or under the provisions of Article V, and in particular, they shall accord all such facilities as are necessary for the performance by the said agents of their official duties.
(2) The Participating Authorities shall, when necessary, give every possible assistance requested by the Services for the destruction of incipient swarms.
(3) The Participating Authorities shall bear the cost of their delegations' attendance at the Council.
Article VIII
(1) The present Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited in the Archives of the Government of the French Republic.
(2) The present Convention shall enter into force on receipt by the Government of the French Republic of the instruments of ratification of the three Signatory Governments and shall thereafter remain in force for a period of ten years both in respect of those three Governments and of any other Government which later becomes a party to the present Convention under Article I (2).
(3) At least one year before the expiration of the period stipulated in paragraph (2) above, the Contracting Governments shall consult together in order to decide whether the present Convention shall remain in force, and, if so, whether any modifications are desirable.
(4) If the present Convention is continued in force in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (3) of this article, then at any time after the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in paragraph (2) of this article:
(a) Any Contracting Government may denounce the present Convention by written notification to the Government of the French Republic. Such denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification by that Government.
(b) Any Contracting Government may give notice that the Authorities of any territory for whose international relations it is responsible shall cease to be a Participating Authority. Such notice shall be addressed to the Government of the French Republic and shall take effect one year after the date of receipt thereof by that Government.
(c) The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan shall, if it has become a Participating Authority by virtue of paragraph (1) (b) of article I of the present Convention, cease to be such an authority at the expiration of one year from the date of receipt by the Government of the French Republic of a notice to that effect in such manner and form as may be agreed between the Government of Egypt and the Government of the United Kingdom.
(5) The Government of the French Republic shall notify all Contracting Governments of any denunciations or notices made under paragraph (4) of this article.
(6) The present Convention shall be registered by the Government of the French Republic with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned being duly authorized by their respective Governments have signed the present Convention and have affixed thereto their seals.
DONE at Paris this fiftheenth day of May 1952 in the French and English languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the French Republic. The Government of the French Republic shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to the other Signatory Governments.
