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Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The Department of State is primarily responsible for the formulation and carrying out of United States policy in connection with the work of the Commission. The Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor is also actively concerned with the Commission's work.

Participation. The United States proposed the resolution adopted by the Eighth International Conference of American States at Lima making the Inter-American Commission a permanent body and supported the resolution of the Ninth Conference approving the new organic statute.

Since 1948 the President has appointed the United States Delegate to the Commission.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Inter-American Commission of Women is attached to the general secretariat of the Oas in the Pan American Union, which houses the offices of the Commission and exercises general supervision over its work. Resolutions approved at the meetings of the Inter-American Commission of Women may be acted upon by the Council of the Oas. The Council also requests the governments concerned to designate their respective delegates whenever a vacancy occurs on the Commission. The Commission exchanges observers and information with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and cooperates with the American International Institute for the Protection of Childhood, the International Labor Organization, and similar groups interested in promoting the economic and social welfare of women and children.

BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

U.S. Department of State. Ninth International Conference of American States, Bogota, Colombia, March 30-May 2, 1948: Report of the Delegation of the United States of America with Related Documents. Pub. 3263. International Organization and Conference Series II, American Republics 3. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1948. 317 pp. (The Organic Statute of the Inter-American Commission of Women appears on p. 243).

Report of the Delegation of United States of America to the Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, Peru, December 9-27, 1938. Pub. 11624. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1941. 229 pp. Nationality of Women-Convention Between the United States of America and Other American Republics Signed at Montevideo December 26, 1933. Treaty Series 875, (49 Stat. 2957). Inter-American Commission of Women. Report of the Inter-American Commission of Women to the Eighth International Conference of American States, on the Political and Civil Rights of Women. Lima, Peru, 1938. 237 pp.

Informe de la Comisión Interamericana de Mujeres a la Novena Conferencia Internacional Americana sobre derechos civiles y políticos de la mujer. Washington, 1948. 257 pp.

The Commission prepares reports based upon studies undertaken in the different States for consideration by the International Conference of American States. It also publishes at irregular intervals a bulletin giving information concerning developments in the major fields of women's interests.

Inter-American Conference on Social
Security

Care of International Labor Office, rue de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
Permanent Committee, Social Security Board, Washington, D.C.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

As the result of discussion among representatives of several social security agencies of American states and of the International Labor Organization (ILO) which took place at Lima, Peru, in December 1940, the Inter-American Committee to Promote Social Security was established to lay the foundation for a permanent inter-American organization in this field. Acting jointly with the Committee, the Chilean Government convoked the first session of the Inter-American Conference on Social Security, which was held at Santiago in September 1942. The United States and Canada were among 20 Western Hemisphere states represented at this Conference, which was also attended by representatives of the ILO and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau. The statute which provided for the establishment of the InterAmerican Conference on Social Security and its permanent committee was drawn up and adopted as a resolution at this session.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the Conference is open to the representatives of the national central administrations and ministerial departments located in the American states interested in the purposes of the Conference; social security and social insurance institutions and central advisory and technical councils concerned with social security and social insurance. All such institutions are invited to send representatives to the sessions of the Conference. (For the states represented at the Conference which adopted the organization's statute and for which annual quotas have been established, see section on Finances, p. 211.) At the Second Inter-American Conference on Social Security, Rio de Janeiro, November 1947, six international organizations, and institutions and ministries of 17 American countries were represented.

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PURPOSE, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

The purpose of the Conference is "to facilitate and develop the cooperation of social security administration and institutions" of the American states.

STRUCTURE

The statute of the Conference established a Permanent InterAmerican Committee on Social Security to give effect to the resolutions and recommendations adopted by the Conference; prepare for the sessions of the Conference and fix their agenda; and contribute by every other means to the attainment of the purposes of the Conference. The Committee, with headquarters in Washington, consists of one regular member and at least one substitute member from each country represented in the Conference, who are appointed by their respective governments. There is a chairman of the Committee and a Secretary General who is appointed by the Director General of the ILO from the staff of that organization and who uses the facilities of the ILO to service the Committee. The present Secretary General is A. Flores Zorilla.

The Committee, at its second session, appointed an Executive Body composed of six members, including a chairman and vice chairman. The chairman of the Executive Body is also chairman of the Permanent Committee.

The executive head of the Conference is a president who holds office from the time of his election to the opening of the next session of the Conference.

The Inter-American Conference on Social Security meets on the call of the Permanent Committee. Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French are the official languages of the Conferences. There is no distinction between official and working language. Documents are printed in English and Spanish.

FINANCES

Budget. Article 12 of the statute states that "the expenses resulting from the decision of the Conference and the Committee may be financed by the subscriptions of the administrations and institutions which are members of the Conference as may be determined by members of the Committee." The Permanent Committee at its second session, held in 1945, devised a unit scale of contributions which provided for an annual budget of $30,000.

Members' Quotas. The plan of financial support adopted by the Permanent Committee in 1945 provided that the government of each participating country which was a member of the ILO should contribute the same number of units as it contributed to the ILO, and that countries

not members of the ILO should contribute one unit each. The number of units payable by each country under this plan has been as follows: Argentina (21); Bolivia (2); Brazil (24); Canada (35); Colombia (5); Chile (6); Costa Rica (1); Cuba (5); Dominican Republic (1); Ecuador (1); El Salvador (1); Guatemala (1); Mexico (11); Nicaragua (1); Panama (1); Paraguay (1); Peru (5); United States (108); Uruguay (4); Venezuela (4).

UNITED STATES RELATIONS

Authorization. United States participation in the Conference is pursuant to the Executive authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United States.

Payments. United States contributions are paid from funds appropriated to the Department of State. The United States contributed $13,613 for each of the calendar years 1946 and 1948. No contributions were required for the calendar years 1947 or 1949 since the organization did not adopt a budget for either of those years. The United States assessment is approximately 45 percent of total scheduled assessments.

Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The Federal Security Agency and the Department of State are the U.S. agencies primarily concerned with the work of the organization.

Participation. The United States has played a particularly significant role in the organization's activities. It was instrumental in the establishment of the organization, and the American Delegate has become chairman of the Permanent Committee and chairman of the Executive Body.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

No formal agreements exist between the Inter-American Conference on Social Security and other international agencies. However, the statute of the organization provides for a very close relationship with the ILO. The ILO furnishes the Secretary General of the Committee and provides incidental secretariat services.

Representatives of the ILO, the Pan American Union, and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau may be members of the Permanent Committee.

BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

Inter-American Committee on Social Security. Inter-American Handbook of Social Insurance Institutions. Published by the International Labor Office, Montreal, 1945. 187 pp.

Bulletin. Published by the International Labor Office, Montreal, 1947. Previous seven issues entitled Provisional Bulletin, 1942-47.

Inter-American Conference on Social Security. Report of the Secretary-General. Published by the International Labor Office, Montreal, 1947. Report to the Second Session.

Inter-American Indian Institute

Liverpool 2, Mexico City, Mexico

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

The Seventh and Eighth International Conferences of American States, held in 1933 and 1938 respectively, adopted resolutions looking toward the solution of inter-American Indian problems deemed to be of continental significance. The Eighth Conference recommended that the American governments send representatives to the First InterAmerican Conference on Indian Life to study the desirability of creating an Inter-American Indian Institute. The latter conference met in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, in 1940 and drafted a plan subsequently incorporated into a convention, the terms of which created the InterAmerican Indian Institute. The convention was opened for signature at Mexico City, November 1, 1940, and was signed for the United States on November 29 of the same year. The Second Inter-American Conference on Indian Life was held in Cuzco, Peru, June 24-July 4,

1949.

MEMBERSHIP

The governments of the American republics are eligible for membership in the Institute, which is obtained by ratification of or adherence to the convention. Instruments of ratification must be deposited with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Government of Mexico.

The following American states are members: Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and the United States.

PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

The Institute acts as the Permanent Committee of the Inter-American Conferences on Indian Life and cooperates in the implementation of resolutions adopted by these conferences; collects, edits, and distributes information and reports of scientific investigations on all phases of Indian life in the Americas; supplies information on legislation for and administration of Indian groups in the American republics and on the activities of institutions concerned with Indian groups; develops information of use to the American governments in planning economic, social, and political betterment of Indians; initiates, directs, and coordinates scientific investigations, the results of

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