Organization of the American States

The Organization of the American States ( OAS °) or Organization off American States, Organización of los Estados Americanos, Organização back Estados Americanos in the three other official languages of this organization, is an organization which gathers all the governments of the States of America. The Member States set important policies and objectives within the framework of the General meeting, which brings together the Ministers for the Foreign affairs once continent per annum.

Its seat is with Washington, cd. with the the United States.

History

The April 30th 1948, at the time of the 9th Pan-American conference of Bogota, 21 nations of the America signed the charter of the OAS, affirming by there their engagement towards the realization of common goals and their respect of the sovereignty of each nation. They also adopted the American Déclaration of the rights and duties of the man, the first international declaration in its kind. In practice, the Organization will be as of the beginning directed against the communist penetration , leading other than Cuba in 1962.

Objectives

The goal of the organization is to defend the Démocratie and the Human rights, to reinforce the Sécurité territory, to fight against the traffics of Drogue and the Corruption, like helping with the exchanges between the various countries of America.

Operation

With its four official languages (the English, the Spanish , the Portuguese and the French), the OAS reflects the diversity of the people and the cultures of the whole of Americas. Countries of the whole world have the statute of permanent observers and follow closely the questions which are of a vital importance in America; they often provide an important financial support to the programs of the OAS.

The permanent Council, composed of Ambassador S named by the Member States, holds of the regular meetings with the head office of the OAS in Washington to direct the continuous policies and actions. The presidency of the permanent Council knows a rotation every three months, in the alphabetical order of the countries. Each Member State has an equal voice, and the majority of the decisions are caught by consensus.

One also finds, within the framework of the OAS, several specialized companies which enjoy a considerable autonomy, in particular the Pan-American Organization of the health (OPS), based in Washington, the inter-American Institute of the childhood (IIN), whose seat is with Montevideo (Uruguay); the inter-American Institute of co-operation for agriculture (IICA), with San Jose (Costa Rica), as well as the Pan-American Institute of geography and of history (IPGH) and the inter-American Institute of the indigenous businesses inter-American (III), both sitting at Mexico City.

General secretaries

Alberto Lleras Camargo (1948 - 1954), Colombia
Carlos Dávila (1954 - 1955), Chile (deceased during its mandate)
Jose A. Mora (1956 - 1968), Uruguay
Gallo Plaza (1968 - 1975),
Alejandro Orfila (1975 - 1984), Argentinian
João Lenient Baena Soares (1984 - 1994),
César Gaviria (1994 - 2004), Colombia (re-elected in 1999 for a second mandate)
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (September 2004 - October 15th 2004), Costa Rica (resigned)
Luigi R. Einaudi (October 2004 - May 26th 2005), the United States (secretary by interim)
Jose Miguel Insulza (since May 26th, 2004), Chile

Member States

Cuba

Cuba belonged to the Member States of the OAS, but following a vote during the eighth consultation of the Foreign Ministers, it was excluded the January 31st 1962. The reason of its exclusion is that the establishment of a communist system was regarded as incompatible with the inter-American system, because it broke the unit and the solidarity of the continent.

Since, several States are declared for the rehabilitation of Cuba. It is in particular the case of the Mexico which made a demand for this direction the February 4th 1998.

See too

List of international alliances of the Cold war
Charter of the Organization of the American States

References

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