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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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The International Association for Water Law, referred to as AIDA from its Spanish acronym, was created in Washington, D.C., the United States of America, on 30 May 1967 during the Water for Peace Conference when the need for an NGO to provide a forum for questions concerning water law became evident. The purpose of the Association is to foster the evolution, study, knowledge, understanding and application of water law, national and international, with a view to raising awareness, and the knowledge and practice, of this field of the law of natural resources.

The Association is a private, non-profit, international organization comprised of lawyers specialized in water law and of non-lawyers directly involved in the management of water resources. The Headquarters of the Secretariat are currently located in the offices of the Chairman of the Executive Council in Italy.

The founding members of the Association were those who participated in its Constitutive Session on 30 May 1967 in Washington. They were:

  1. Regular Members: Charles Campet, Guillermo J. Cano, Dante A. Caponera, Vicente Giner, Robert D. Hayton, Armaldo Merino, G.W. Putto, José Rojas Garcidueñas, Isidoro Zanotti, Rafael Tasso; and
  2. Associate Members: Luis Cabrera, Mariano de la Hoz.

The Charter of the Association was unanimously underwritten in Valencia, Spain, on 24 March 1968 by the Interim Committee and was amended by the Council on 30 June 1997, on 31 October 2001, on 25 June 2003, and on 29 December 2008. The AIDA Charter was replaced by the Articles of Association and Bylaws on 31 May 2022 by a unanimous vote of the Executive Council

The Executive Council of the Association was institutionalized on 25 March 1968 when it held its first session in Valencia, Spain.

The Association has consultative status with the ECOSOC of the United Nations and with a number of its specialized agencies, as well as with the World Bank.

AIDA is registered under Italian law