[Senate Executive Report 107-7]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
107th Congress Exec. Rpt.
SENATE
2d Session 107-7
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AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING THE SOUTH PACIFIC REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT
PROGRAMME
August 1, 2002.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Biden, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany Treaty Doc. 105-32]
The Committee on Foreign Relations, to which was referred
the Agreement Establishing the South Pacific Regional
Environment Programme, done at Apia on June 16, 1993, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon with one
declaration, and recommends that the Senate give its advice and
consent to the ratification thereof as set forth in this report
and the accompanying resolution of advice and consent to
ratification.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose..........................................................1
II. Background.......................................................1
III. Summary of Treaty Provisions.....................................3
IV. Entry into Force.................................................3
V. Withdrawal.......................................................3
VI. Committee Action.................................................4
VII. Text of Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification.........4
I. Purpose
The purpose of the Agreement is to promote cooperation in
the South Pacific region, to protect and improve the South
Pacific environment and to ensure sustainable development for
present and future generations.
II. Background
The Agreement is fully explained in the Letter of Submittal
from the Secretary of State to the President, dated October 21,
1997, which is set forth in Treaty Document 105-32. What
follows is a brief summary.
After World War II, a number of regional organizations came
into being in the South Pacific, including the South Pacific
Commission (SPC), established in 1948 by the governments of
Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, and the United States. The SPC was to serve as a
``consultative and advisory body to the participating
Governments in matters affecting the economic and social
development of the non-self-governing territories (in the South
Pacific) and the welfare and advancement of their peoples.''
The SPC has been periodically amended to provide, inter alia,
for the accession to the agreement of newly independent states
in the South Pacific and of territories associated with fully
independent states. As a consequence, the parties to the
agreement now include all 22 of the island states and
territories of the region and five of the six states cited
above (the Netherlands withdrew in 1974; the United Kingdom
withdrew in 1995 but rejoined in 1998).
The South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP)
was an outgrowth of a conservation program established by the
SPC in the 1970s. Specifically, it came into being as a result
of the 1982 Conference on the Human Environment in the South
Pacific held in the Cook Islands. The SPC, the United Nations
Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific, the
United Nations Environmental Programme, the South Pacific
Forum, and the South Pacific Conference all supported the
creation of SPREP as a means of fostering research and
cooperation on environmental problems in the region.
SPREP was initially established as an informal entity
within the SPC. Among its major accomplishments during its time
as an entity within the SPC were the negotiation and entry into
force of three multilateral agreements protecting the
environment in the South Pacific--the Convention for the
Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the
South Pacific, the Protocol for the Prevention of Pollution of
the South Pacific Region by Dumping, and the Protocol
Concerning Cooperation in Combating Pollution Emergencies in
the South Pacific Region. These agreements created general
legal obligations to protect the marine environment of the
South Pacific region from pollution from various sources,
including ships, seabed activities, and nuclear testing.
In 1991, the members of SPREP agreed to negotiate a treaty
establishing SPREP as an autonomous intergovernmental
organization, which was concluded at a conference in June 1993.
The Agreement entered into force in August 1995. Nearly every
nation, except the United States, that has participated in
SPREP and in the negotiation of the Agreement is now party to
the Agreement. The United States currrently participates as an
observer.
SPREP now participates in, and has initiated, a wide
variety of environmental projects. Its range of concerns
include natural resource conservation, the prevention and
control of pollution, the protection of endangered species,
waste management, climate change, environmental education,
protection of the stratospheric ozone layer, and preservation
of coral reefs. Its funding has come from many sources,
including the United States, the European Union, Australia, New
Zealand, France, Denmark, Canada, Japan, and China. Funding
also comes from the Global Environment Facility, as well as
from voluntary contributions by member island states.
III. Summary of Agreement Provisions
Article 1 of the Agreement establishes SPREP as ``an
intergovernmental organization,'' creates two organs--the SPREP
Meeting and the Secretariat, and provides that the Secretariat
is to be based in Apia, Western Samoa.
Article 2 states that the purposes of SPREP to be ``to
promote cooperation in the South Pacific region and to provide
assistance in order to protect and improve its environment and
to ensure sustainable development for present and future
generations'' and provides that these purposes are to be
achieved through Action Plans adopted from time to time by the
SPREP Meeting.
Article 3 establishes the SPREP Meeting as the ``plenary
body'' for SPREP and provides for participation by all the
Parties to the Agreement as well as by several territories.
Article 3 further defines the functions of the Meetings to
include the provision of a consultative forum for common
concerns, the approval and review of Action Plans, the adoption
of work programmes for SPREP, the adoption of a budget, and the
appointment of the Director of SPREP.
Article 4 provides for the meeting procedures.
Article 5 relates to the budget of the Programme.
Article 6 designates the Director as the administrative
head of SPREP and of the Secretariat.
Article 7 describes the functions of the Secretariat to
implement the activities of the Programme.
Article 8 confers on SPREP legal personality and contains a
provision on privileges and immunities.
Article 9 provides that nothing in the Agreement may be
interpreted as limiting the sovereignty of the Parties over
their territories or their sovereign rights in their exclusive
economic and fishing zones and over their continental shelves.
Article 10 contains the final clauses on ratification and
designates Western Samoa as the depositary of the treaty.
Article 11 provides that the Agreement may be amended by a
consensus of the Parties at a SPREP Meeting, subject to
ratification, acceptance, or approval by the Parties. It
further provides that any Party may withdraw from the Agreement
one year after giving written notice to that effect.
IV. Entry into Force
Under Article 10, the Agreement entered into force on
August 31, 1995, 30 days from the date of the deposit of the
tenth instrument of ratification. If the United States becomes
a party, it will enter into force 30 days after the deposit of
the instrument of ratification.
V. Withdrawal
Under Article 11, any party may withdraw by giving written
notice. The withdrawal takes effect one year after receipt of
the notice by the depositary.
VI. Committee action
The Committee held a hearing to review the Treaty on May 7,
2002.\1\ On July 25, 2002, the Committee considered the Treaty,
and ordered it favorably reported by voice vote, with the
recommendation that the Senate give its advice and consent to
the ratification of the Treaty.
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\1\S. Hrg. 107-594, ``Hearing to Consider 6 Treaties.''
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VII. Text of Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification
Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring
therein),
SECTION 1. ADVICE AND CONSENT TO RATIFICATION OF THE AGREEMENT
ESTABLISHING THE SOUTH PACIFIC REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME,
SUBJECT TO A DECLARATION.
The Senate advises and consents to the ratification of the
Agreement Establishing the South Pacific Regional Environment
Programme, done at Apia on June 16, 1993 (Treaty Doc. 105-32),
subject to the declaration in Section 2.
SECTION 2. DECLARATION.
The advice and consent of the Senate is subject to the
declaration that the ``no reservations'' provision in Article
10 of the Agreement has the effect of inhibiting the Senate in
its exercise of its constitutional duty to give advice and
consent to ratification of a treaty, and that the Senate's
approval of the Agreement should not be construed as a
precedent for acquiescence to future treaties containing such
provisions.