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<br />00d344 <br /> <br />DRAFT-Not for distribution <br /> <br />and agreements may be multi- or bi-Iateral. Treaties are generally construed as contracts <br />between sovereigns. More particularly, U.S. treaties are usually construed pursuant to the <br />Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties20 which applies to all international agreements in <br />written form, whatever the formal designation of the document. The United States recognizes <br />the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties as a restatement of customary international law, <br />even though the U.S. is not a formal signator to the Convention?l <br /> <br />Under the Vienna Convention, treaties are interpreted contextually with the aid of <br />relevant international law rules and any subsequent agreement of the parties. Treaty <br />amendments are not implied and a material breach can be the basis for termination. Contested <br />claims of invalidity, termination or suspension require recourse to means of settlement under the <br />Charter of the United Nations, failing which the dispute may be submitted to a conciliation <br />commission or, if a so-called peremptory norm of international law (discussed below) is <br />involved, directly to the International Court of Justice (lCJ). (For expanded discussion of treaty <br />interpretation under the Vienna Convention and by the ICJ, see Appendix). <br /> <br />2. Relevant Treaties <br /> <br />In the U.S.-Mexican border and water context, noteworthy international treaties and <br />agreements include the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848,22 the Gadsden Treaty (1854),23 the <br />Rio Grande Treaty (1906),24 the Migratory Birds Treaty (1936),25 the U.S. Mexican Water <br />Treaty (1944),26 the La paz Agreement (1983)/7 the North American Free Trade Agreement <br />(NAFTA) (1992),28 and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (1992i9 <br />(the "Side Agreement" to NAFTA between the governments of United States, Canada and <br />Mexico.) The United States and Mexico are also parties to the CITES Agreement (1983io and <br />the Ramsar Convention (1986).31 <br /> <br />3. Treaties of Particular Significance <br /> <br />a. 1936 Migratory Bird Treaty <br /> <br />The 1936 Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals <br />identified 32 families of species of migratory birds that should be protected by the laws of the <br />two nations. The Presidential authority to determine additions to the list, with agreement, was <br />later delegated by the U.S. President to the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary <br />ofthe Interior.32 In 1972, the United States and Mexico adopted a Supplement to the 1936 <br />Convention.33 Since the Supplement identified an additional 31 families of species of migratory <br />birds, there are cumulatively 63 families of species identified as migrating between the two <br />countries. Congress has enacted several laws effectuating the Convention and Supplement, <br />including the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. <br /> <br />The North American Wetlands Conservation Act of 1989,34 provides matching grants to <br />carry out wetlands conservation projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico. One of the <br />Act's major purposes is "to sustain an abundance of waterfowl and other migratory birds <br />consistent with the goals ofthe North American Waterfowl Management Plan and the <br />international obligations contained in the migratory bird treaties and conventions and other <br /> <br />3 <br />