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Message to the Senate Transmitting the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the Optional Protocol Concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes

May 05, 1969

To the Senate of the United States:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith a certified copy of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and a certified copy of the Optional Protocol Concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes, signed at Vienna under date of April 24, 1963. The Convention and Protocol entered into force on March 19, 1967.

I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report which the Secretary of State has addressed to me in regard to the matter, together with the enclosures thereto.

The convention is the first agreement envisaging the regulation of consular relations on a world-wide basis and represents the culmination of eight years of work. Based on a draft convention prepared by the International Law Commission, it was concluded at a United Nations Conference of 92 States, one of a series of Conferences having the aim, in the words of the United Nations Charter, of "encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification". A previous United Nations Conference in the series formulated the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which was approved by the Senate on September 14, 1965.

Account has been taken of the interests and views of new and old nations and of nations with varied political and economic systems in the codification and development of consular law as contained in the present Convention, and the Convention is considered to be an important contribution to friendly relations between States. I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the Convention and Protocol submitted herewith and give its advice and consent to their ratification.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

May 5, 1969

Note: The convention was favorably considered by the Senate on October 22, 1969, and after ratification entered into force on December 24, 1969• The texts of the convention and optional protocol, as well as the report of the Secretary of State, are printed in Senate Executive E (91st Cong., 1st sess.).

Richard Nixon, Message to the Senate Transmitting the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the Optional Protocol Concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239009

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