43 OAS General Assembly Comes to an End

CEJIL participated in the 43rd OAS General Assembly, held June 4-6, 2013 in Antigua, Guatemala.  The Assembly approved a total of 50 Resolutions, among them the Declaration of Antigua: “For a Comprehensive Policy against the World Drug Problem in the Americas.”

In parallel, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Myrna Mack Foundation, and the Convergence for Human Rights in Guatemala held a Public Event on “Contributions for an Integral Security Policy,” as well as an event with the International Coalition of Human Rights Organizations in the Americas on “The Responsibility of the States to Assure the Adequate Functioning and Validity of the Inter-American System of Human Rights.”

Additionally, CEJIL, along with FAMDEGUA and H.I.J.O.S. of Guatemala and other Guatemalan organizations, held a vigil against impunity in Guatemala and in solidarity with the victims.

In this session, the General Assembly closed the negotiation and redaction process of the “Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance” and the “Inter-American Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance”, which were open to signing and later ratification by Member States.  Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Uruguay were the first States to sign the conventions.

Within the scope of negotiations at the Assembly, the Delegation from Ecuador presented a “Follow-Up on Resolution AG/RES. 1 (XLIV-E/13) corr. 1 ‘Results of the Process of Reflection on the Workings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with a view to Strengthening the Inter-American Human Rights System,’” which did not obtain a plenary consensus of the General Assembly.

Similarly, elections were held during the General Assembly for the authorities of organs, bodies, and entities of the organization, among them 3 members of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights: Jose de Jesus Orozco Henriquez (Mexico), who was re-elected, James L. Cavallaro (United States), and Paulo De Tarso Vannuchi (Brazil).  Their posts will last from January 2014 to December 2017.