II. INTER-AMERICAN COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS
1. THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE
The Inter-American Juridical Committee is one of the organs through which the Organization of American States accomplishes its purposes (Article 52 of the Charter). Chapter IV of the Charter determines its composition, duties and responsibilities and functions. Its purpose is to serve the Organization as an advisory body on juridical matters, to promote the progressive development and codification of international law, and to study juridical problems related to the integration of the countries for the Hemisphere's development. The Committee has its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro and is composed of eleven jurists, nationals of the member states who are elected by the General Assembly.
In 1996, the Inter-American Juridical Committee held two sessions, the first in January and the second in August. Both took place at the Committee's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, which was also the venue of the Twenty-third Course on International Law, organized in cooperation with the Secretariat for Legal Affairs of the OAS General Secretariat.
The agenda for the Committee's first regular session included the following topics, resulting from mandates from the General Assembly and the Permanent Council: democracy in the inter-American system; the legal dimension of integration; procedures for preparing and adopting inter-American legal instruments within the framework of the Organization of American States; freedom of information, and inter-American cooperation to combat terrorism. The Committee approved reports and adopted resolutions on these issues as well as others having to do with studies and papers to be discussed at its next session.
During this first regular session, the Committee also took up the Secretary General's document titled The Law in a New Inter-American Order and began to discuss it. After this first review, it decided to reorder and reformulate its own agenda, eliminating from it those topics whose assigned objectives had already been accomplished and, on its own initiative, adding new and more current issues.
At its second regular session, the Committee's first priority was to consider the request made by the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth regular session (Panama, June 1996) seeking an advisory opinion. Through resolution AG/RES. 1364 (XXVI-O/96), titled Free Trade and Investment in the Hemisphere, the General Assembly instructed the Inter-American Juridical Committee "to examine and decide upon the validity under international law of the Helms-Burton Act at its next regular session, as a matter of priority, and to present its findings to the Permanent Council."
The Committee devoted the bulk of its second regular session to a discussion of this request and unanimously approved an opinion in which it found that "the principles and eventual application of the law to which this opinion refers, in the major areas described above, were inconsistent with international law".
The Twenty-third Course on International Law took place during the Committee's second session. It was organized by the Inter-American Juridical Committee in cooperation with and under the coordination of the Department of International Law of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs. Participating in the Course were fellowship recipients from almost all the member countries of the OAS.
The Course was given by university professors, diplomats and members of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, who spoke about the main theme of "Justice in International Law". The guest professors included, inter alia, Mr. Eduardo Valencia-Ospina, Secretary of the International Court of Justice; Professor Felipe Paolillo, of the University of Uruguay; Daniel Bardonnet, professor at the University of Paris and secretary of the International Law Academy; Antonio Augusto Cançado Trinidade, Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Jacob Dollinger, professor at the University of Rio de Janeiro; Didier Opertti, Minister of the Interior of Uruguay; Ambassador Beatriz Ramacciotti, Permanent Representative of Peru to the OAS, and Ambassador José Antonio Tijerino, Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the OAS; Drs. Jonathan Fried, Keith Highet and José Luis Siqueiros, members of the Inter-American Juridical Committee; and Mssrs. Enrique Lagos, Jean Michel Arrighi and Fernando Brito, from the OAS General Secretariat. The students, for their part, formed two working groups which, at the end of the Course, presented a research paper on several points examined over the course of the month.
2.INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), one of the organs of the OAS (Article 52 of the Charter), was created by resolution VI of the Fifth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Santiago, Chile, in 1959. It was formally established in 1960, when the then Council of the OAS approved its Statutes. The Commission represents all the member states of the Organization of American States and is made up of seven members, elected in their personal capacity by the General Assembly. The Commission's main function, under Article 115 of the Charter, is to promote the observance and protection of human rights and to serve as consultative organ of the Organization in these matters.
The Commission held two regular sessions: its eighty-eighth from February 6 to 17, and its ninetieth from September 11 to 22, 1995. The eighty-ninth session was a special session, held from April 13 through 17, 1995. The ninety-first regular session was from February 26 to March 8, 1996.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) met on four occasions. It held two regular sessions: the ninety-first session from February 26 to March 8, 1996, and the ninety-third regular session from September 30 to October 18, 1996. It also held two special sessions: the ninety-second special session from April 29 to May 3, 1996, and the ninety-fourth special session, on December 6, 1996.
During its 1996 sessions, the Commission had meetings and hearings with permanent representatives of the governments of the member states of the OAS, and with high-ranking dignitaries of those states. It also received the attorneys for the petitioners, spokesmen for nongovernmental organizations and other persons to discuss matters related to human rights. Some spoke about the general human rights situation in their respective countries, while others spoke about individual cases.
During the Commission's ninety-first regular session, the Permanent Representative of Honduras to the OAS informed the Commission that, in Tegucigalpa on February 7, 1996, the President of Honduras, Dr. Carlos Roberto Reina, had presented the families of Manfredo Velásquez Rodríguez and Saúl Godínez Cruz with the checks corresponding to the outstanding installment on the compensatory damages that, under the judgments handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on July 21, 1989, and December 27, 1990, had been awarded to the families of the victims in the cases involving the latters' disappearance and death. It is important to note that the current President of Honduras was himself one of the first judges of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The action he has taken on behalf of the Government of Honduras to comply with the first judgments in which the Court found a state responsible for human rights violations is an historic step in the strengthening of the inter-American system.
Tribute was paid to recently deceased Venezuelan jurist, Dr. Andrés Aguilar, former Chairman of the IACHR and a Commission member from 1972 to 1985.
The Commission held 40 hearings during which it heard important testimony relating to individual cases now in process and statements by representatives of governments and nongovernmental organizations about the general situation of human rights in various member states of the OAS. The Inter-American Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons entered into force when, on February 28, 1996, Argentina and Panama deposited their instruments of ratification. In the Commission's view, this was a major achievement in the area of protection of human rights in the Hemisphere.
After conferring with the IACHR, the OAS Secretary General appointed Ambassador Jorge E. Taiana as its new Executive Secretary, who replaced Ambassador Edith Márquez Rodríguez.
The Commission decided to convene a Meeting of Experts to discuss what the experience of the various human rights systems has been in order to identify those areas in need of improvement. The Commission also considered and approved the Annual Report to be presented to the General Assembly in Panama and decided to include a study of the progress made in improving prison conditions in various countries. In this connection, the Commission accepted an invitation from the Government of Venezuela to conduct a visit to examine prison conditions in that country. It also accepted another invitation to visit prison facilities in the United States.
The Commission met with Mr. Francis Deng, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, to discuss the issue of persons displaced and uprooted within their countries. Recognizing the serious predicament of displaced persons in a number of countries of the Hemisphere, the Commission named Professor Robert Goldman as its Rapporteur on this subject. The Commission also named Commission members John Donaldson and Jean Joseph Exumé as Rapporteurs for the study on Prison Conditions in the Americas. Commission members Carlos Ayala and John Donaldson continued as Rapporteurs for the issue of indigenous peoples, while the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Claudio Grossman, will continue to be Rapporteur for the topic of women's rights.
At its ninety-third regular session, the Commission held 63 hearings and examined 38 reports on individual cases and various requests for provisional measures, thereby responding to the increasing demands made upon the system for the protection of human rights. The Commission was gratified to see that more and more cases are being resolved via friendly settlements.
During this session, the Commission examined the progress made in the consultations about the future Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, accomplished through meetings held in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Plans were made for further consultations by year's end. The Commission also examined the progress made on its report on cases involving discrimination against women, based on a detailed questionnaire sent to the member states.
As for the study being prepared on Detention Conditions in the Americas, the Commission examined the information obtained during its visit to Venezuela and accepted the United States Government's invitation to make a final visit to observe the situation of the "Marielitos" in the Louisiana prisons in December 1996. The Commission also decided to begin compiling information on the "Situation of Migrant Workers and Their Families in the Hemisphere", with a view to an eventual study on this issue.
During this session, the Commission met with Drs. Kisanga, Umozurike and Dankwa, members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, with whom it had an opportunity to share experiences and views.
The Commission began to examine the information obtained during its on-site visits to Brazil and Mexico.
As for the constitutional amendment process underway in El Salvador, intended to extend the death penalty to certain crimes that heretofore were not capital offenses under the Salvadorean legal system, the Commission decided to send a note to the Government expressing its concern over this matter since should it make other crimes capital offenses, El Salvador would be violating the international commitment it undertook when it ratified the American Convention.
During its ninety-second special session, the Commission sent a note to the President of Paraguay in which it expressed its condemnation of the attempts to destabilize the government and added that it was gratified to see that those attempts had been thwarted. It said that the final outcome had represented an important step forward in the consolidation of democracy in the Hemisphere. The Commission also sent a note to the Secretary General at the time of his brother's abduction, to convey to him its moral support and its readiness to cooperate with the Secretary General in any way it could in the face of this reprehensible act. It also decided to step up the consultations on the approved draft of the Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to send to the member states a "Questionnaire on the Status of Women in the Americas".
During its ninety-fourth special session, the Commission approved reports on a number of pending cases, discussed the possibility of bringing a number of other cases to the Court and examined the idea of closing several other cases.
On April 26, 1996, the Commission made a one-day trip to Allenwood, Pennsylvania, to evaluate the incarceration conditions of the "Mariel Cubans" being held in the federal penitentiary at Allenwood.
From May 13 to 17, the Commission's Working Group on Prisons and Prison Conditions visited Venezuela to observe the prison situation in that country. This visit was the first the Commission had ever made to Venezuela.
From July 15 through 24, the Commission visited Mexico to observe the human rights situation in that country. As in the case of Venezuela, this was the Commission's first visit to Mexico. It announced that the complex information compiled during the visit would have to be examined carefully in order to prepare a report on that country.
Following up on the study on Prison Conditions in the Americas, the Commission made an on-site visit to the Avoyelles Parish detention facilities in Marksville, Louisiana, and those in Orleans Parish in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 9 through 12, 1996.
The Commission attended two sessions of the Court: the twentieth special session, September 5 through 8, which dealt with matters related to applications filed against Nicaragua and Colombia for violations of human rights, and the twenty-fourth regular session, September 9 through 20, 1996, where a judgment on reparations and costs in a case related to Venezuela was read.
On March 29, 1996, the IACHR, the Inter-American Commission of Women, the Pan American Health Organization and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights co-sponsored a Conference titled "Women, Human Rights and the Inter-American System: A Program of Action". Among the topics that the experts discussed were violence against women, discrimination, the right to political participation and the steps that must be taken in order to meet the priorities set at the World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.
Since the Commission's approval in September 1995 of the draft Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, extensive direct consultations have been initiated with the governments, indigenous organizations and intergovernmental organizations. Officials from the Secretariat introduced the document at a number of technical meetings, among them a meeting in Arequipa, Peru, the General Kuna Congress in Panama, special meetings on the subject held in Montreal and Ottawa, in Guatemala (March 1996), and at the Sovereignty Symposium (Tulsa, Oklahoma), among others. Representatives of over 100 indigenous organizations in Canada and the United States prepared a proposed revision in Denver, Colorado, in May of 1996. Later, with the cooperation of the Indigenous Peoples' Fund, the Inter-American Indian Institute and the Unit for Democracy, national consultations were organized in 11 countries of South and Central America, which were well attended by organizations representing indigenous peoples. Their findings were presented and studied at two regional consultation meetings in November 1996, one in Guatemala (for indigenous representatives and governments in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean), and the other in Quito (for South America). To complete this phase, the draft was studied at the First Indigenous Forum of the Americas (Mexico, December 1996, organized by the Inter-American Indian Institute). Responses have also been received from a significant number of member states. Based on these, the Commission plans to review its draft at its next session.
From December 2 through 4, 1996, the Commission organized a Seminar on the Inter-American System for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Within the framework of the OAS, a process has been set in motion to consider the practice and evolution of the system's organs of protection —the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights— to identify those areas that are in need of improvement. The Seminar brought together representatives of the various human rights systems to exchange their experience and, on that basis, to enrich the dialogue now underway within the Hemisphere among those interested in the inter-American system.
3. INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter "the Inter-American Court" or "the Court") is an autonomous institution of the OAS whose purpose is to apply and interpret the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Convention"). The Court has both litigious jurisdiction and advisory competence and is made up of seven jurists elected in a personal capacity by the States Parties to the Convention, during the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.
For the period covered in this report, the members of the Court were as follows: Héctor Fix-Zamudio (Mexico), President; Hernán Salgado Pesantes (Ecuador), Vice President; Alejandro Montiel Argüello (Nicaragua); Máximo Pacheco Gómez (Chile); Oliver Jackman (Barbados); Alirio Abreu Burelli (Venezuela) and Antônio Cançado Trinidade (Brazil). Judge Rafael Nieto-Navia (Colombia) was a member of the Court for the Genie Lacayo case against Nicaragua. Judge ad hoc Rafael Nieto-Navia, appointed by Colombia in the Caballero Delgado and Santana case, Judge ad hoc Alfonso Novales Aguirre, appointed by Guatemala in the Blake case, Judgead hoc Jorge E. Orihuela Ibérico, appointed by Peru in the case of Neira Alegría and others, and Judge ad hoc Julio A. Barberis, appointed by Argentina in the Garrido and Baigorria case, also served on the Court. Present were the Secretary of the Court, Manuel E. Ventura Robles, and the Interim Assistant Secretary, Víctor Manuel Rodríguez Rescia.
From March 18 through 26, the President of the Court, Judge Héctor Fix-Zamudio, the Vice President, Judge Hernán Salgado Pesantes, and the Secretary, Manuel E. Ventura Robles, traveled to Washington, D.C. to present the Annual Report of the Court's 1995 activities to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the OAS Permanent Council. During that visit, they met with the Permanent Council and introduced the Court's proposed budget for 1997 to the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs.
The Court was represented at the twenty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly, held in Panama City, Panama. Through resolution AG/RES. 1394 (XXVI-O/96), the General Assembly approved the Court's Annual Report for 1995 as well as its budget for 1997. The Assembly reiterated to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court that they work together to harmonize, in their respective regulations, the rules on external advisors to the Commission in cases in which it appears before the Court.
On September 26, 1996, the second phase of the project involving cooperation between the Court and the European Union, called "Support to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights", was completed. It strengthened and consolidated the results achieved during the previous phase. As for printed materials, the Court put out seven reprints and three new publications. It also put 38 publications on a compact disk. An updated volume of resolutions on provisional measures was published, as were a catalogue, a manual of basic documents in Spanish and English, an informative brochure and the book titled Sistematización de la Jurisprudencia Contenciosa de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos 1981-1991, prepared by officials of the Court. Additions were made to the graphic production equipment and other office equipment. As for library services, the work being done to update and clean up the Court's databases continued, bibliographic and non-bibliographic materials were acquired in the field of human rights and related subjects.
At the invitation of the IACHR, the Court travelled to Washington, December 2 through 6, during which time it carried out the following activities. It participated in a seminar convened by the IACHR pursuant to the mandate contained in General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 1404 (XXVI-O/96) as part of a process to reflect upon the inter-American human rights system and ultimately enhance it. The full membership of the Court and its two secretaries met with the IACHR pursuant to the mandates contained in General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 1041 (XX-O/90) calling for coordination mechanisms to be established so that both organs may, within their respective spheres of competence, cooperate between themselves so as to better protect human rights, and AG/RES. 1333 (XXV-O/95) and AG/RES. 1417 (XXVI-O/96), entitled "Draft Rules Governing Conflicts of Interest Applicable to Members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, External Advisers of the Commission, and Students Rendering Unpaid Services to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as Part of Their Training". The full Court was also received by the Permanent Council's Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs pursuant to the General Assembly mandate contained in resolution AG/RES. 1404 (XXVI-O/96) instructing the Permanent Council to evaluate the workings of the inter-American system for the protection and promotion of human rights so as to initiate a process leading to its improvement. To collaborate in carrying out that mandate, at the request of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs, the Court presented a working paper titled "The Inter-American Court and the Inter-American System of Human Rights: Projections and Goals", which contains substantive, procedural and institutional information about the Inter-American Court. The full membership of the Court and its two secretaries held a private working meeting to plan their work for 1997.
On December 4, the members of the Court met with the OAS Secretary General to discuss the document "Towards a New Vision of the Inter-American System of Human Rights", whose subject matter is of vital importance to the Court. The talks included the OAS Secretary General's proposal that the Court be given complete administrative independence and budgetary autonomy. To achieve these ends, the Court needs to be strengthened. Therefore, at the upcoming session of the General Assembly, to be held in Lima, Peru, the Court will present a proposed budget covering the basics it must have to accomplish its lofty purposes.
On March 21, the Commission submitted the case of Benavides Cevallos against the Government of Ecuador; on August 8, the Cantoral Benavides and Durand and Ugarte cases against the Government of Peru; and on August 30, the Bámaca Velásquez case against the Government of Guatemala.
On March 15, the Commission requested provisional measures from Ecuador in the Rafael Iván Suárez Rosero case. On May 30, it requested provisional measures from the Government of Peru for María Loayza Tamayo; on March 28, the Commission requested provisional measures from the Government of Guatemala for Father Daniel Joseph Vogt, and on April 12, it presented another request for provisional measures from the Government of Guatemala in the Serech and Saquic case. On October 18, the Commission requested provisional measures from Colombia in the Giraldo Cardona case. The last three requests for provisional measures concern cases that are not yet before the Court.
On November 13, Chile asked the Court for an advisory opinion interpreting Articles 50 and 51 of the Convention.
On December 12, 1996, the Court received a note from the Executive Secretary of the IACHR remitting a brief in which "the victims' representatives and the Commission's Assistants in the El Amparo case request an interpretation of the judgment on reparations rendered by the Honorable Court on September 14, 1996."
During this same special session, the Court, in a solemn ceremony, signed an agreement with Costa Rica's Supreme Court for cooperation in the areas of computerization and documents. The Court also examined administrative affairs and approved its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.
By a decision of the President of the Court, dated February 11, 1997, a request filed by the Government of Peru seeking an interpretation of the Court's ruling on compensatory damages in the case of Neira Alegría et al was dismissed on the grounds that it was submitted after the deadline date had expired.
4. INTER-AMERICAN DRUG ABUSE CONTROL COMMISSION
The work of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), established by the General Assembly in 1986, is guided by the principles and objectives spelled out in the Inter-American Program of Action of Rio de Janeiro Against the Illicit Use and Production of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Traffic Therein, as well as by the provisions of the Anti-drug Strategy in the Hemisphere, approved in 1996. Its primary objectives are to expand and strengthen the member states' capacity to lower the demand for illegal drugs and prevent their use, to combat illicit production and traffic therein effectively, and to promote a suitable inter-American response by increasing regional activities involving research, information sharing, training of specialized personnel and reciprocal assistance.
In 1996, the Commission comprised 29 member states: Argentina, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. At its twentieth regular session, the General Assembly added Barbados and Grenada to CICAD's membership, effective January 1, 1997.
Until March, the Commission was chaired by Panama, with Ecuador as its Vice Chairman. During its nineteenth regular session, held in March 1996, the Commission elected Ecuador as its Chairman and Peru as its Vice Chairman. Both offices have one-year terms. In 1996, CICAD held two regular sessions, the first in Washington, D.C., in March, and the second in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October.
The new Anti-drug Strategy in the Hemisphere, approved at CICAD's twentieth regular session held in October 1996, represents a fresh commitment to international cooperation to combat the drug problem, based on the principle of shared responsibility and the need for a policy that balances preventive and law-enforcement measures. The Strategy was signed by representatives of some member states at a protocolary ceremony held in Montevideo, Uruguay, and by representatives of other member states at a similar ceremony in Washington, D.C. At that same session, the Commission agreed upon a draft amendment to its Statute, which will be submitted to the General Assembly for discussion and approval with a view to modernizing the workings of CICAD to conform to the new guidelines set by the Strategy.
In keeping with the Inter-American Program of Action of Rio de Janeiro, CICAD is conducting a number of activities to help the member states cut the supply of illegal drugs. Salient among these are alternative development, training in law enforcement, customs and maritime cooperation and control of chemical precursors. During the period covered by this report, the following activities were carried out:
IADIS is a network of 38 documentation and information centers in 20 member states. Linked to the center established at CICAD headquarters, these centers compile, classify and publish information and statistics on drugs, both legal and illegal.
Because drug abuse is on the rise in many member states, CICAD attaches particular importance to improving the training of therapists, teachers, social workers and others who work with recovering drug addicts and help them reassimilate into society.
CICAD is placing greater emphasis on studies about levels and patterns of drug use and on strengthening the member states' facilities for research and investigation.
Bearing in mind that the Program of Action of Rio de Janeiro recommends that a central agency be created at the national level within each country to prepare, organize and coordinate all aspects of the problem of legal and illegal drugs, the Commission conducted the following activities to help institutionally strengthen those agencies:
5. INTER-AMERICAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
The Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL), established by the General Assembly in 1993, has technical autonomy in the performance of its functions, within the limits set by the OAS Charter, its statutes and the mandates of the General Assembly. Its objectives include that of facilitating and promoting continuous development of telecommunications in the Hemisphere. It serves as the OAS' principal advisory body in matters related to telecommunications.
The following is a summation of its main activities.
The Steering Committee's third meeting was held in Washington, D.C., July 29 and 30, 1996. In attendance were the Chairman of COM/CITEL, the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Permanent Consultative Committees, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Working Group on the Development of Regional Telecommunications and the Executive Secretary. The meeting examined the activities in progress and then recommended the following to COM/CITEL: that methods be devised for ascertaining the electronic documents handling capacity; that methods be devised for increasing members' participation in the Commission's activities, while maintaining and strengthening the relationship between the public and private sectors; and that common CITEL positions and proposals be examined and prepared for the 1998 Conference of Plenipotentiaries.
During this meeting of CCP.II, the working group studying the incompatibilities in the 1981 AM Rio Plan met and is now preparing a document containing measures to correct the incompatibility problems on the AM band by means of bilateral and multilateral agreements.
The mandate of this CITEL Group is to look into the legal issues that arise with the CCP in order to provide advice and information on the issues in question. Among its chief priorities are those related to the mandate received from the Miami Summit to evaluate the regulatory and legal means of the countries of the region.
The GTCAL held two meetings: the first in St. George's, Grenada, February 26 through 28, 1996, and the second in Washington, D.C., August 27 and 28, 1996. The second meeting discussed a proposed survey of administrative procedures and the Group's future work program.
Pursuant to the Plan of Action of the Summit of the Americas and the Declaration of Montrouis, issued by the General Assembly at its session in Haiti, CITEL convened two meetings in preparation for the Meeting of AAT: the first from July 31 to August 1 and the second on September 23 and 24, 1996, both in Washington, D.C. At these meetings, the guidelines and structure of AAT were defined, and a follow-up done on what has been accomplished, such as: guidelines for value-added services, guidelines for equipment certification and the adoption or regionally coordinated documents on standards, such as the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Personal Communications Systems, etc.
The Meeting of High-ranking Telecommunications Authorities was held September 25 and 26, 1996. Participating were telecommunications officials from 32 member states of the OAS. During the event, the following were approved: a Declaration of Principles, a Plan of Action for the Americas, and a Report on the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure in the Americas, whose appendices contain detailed information on various countries and regions.
This Meeting laid the groundwork to further the development of telecommunications, to introduce flexible regulatory regimes, stimulate competition and help complete negotiation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas by the year 2005. The Meeting was also an opportunity for CITEL, the countries of the region and regional and international organizations to join forces to achieve the common objective of telecommunications development.
For CITEL, 1996 has been a year of enormous challenges and achievements. In response to what was requested by the Miami Summit of the Americas, CITEL succeeded in preparing and adopting: Guidelines for Value-Added Services, Guidelines for Equipment Certification, recommendations on frequency bands to be used for Personal Communications Services (PCS), the Fixed Wireless Access Services, coordinated documents on standards for an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), PCS, and common channel signalling systems via SS7 network, and preparation of the final version of the Blue Book on Telecommunications Policies in the Americas. The Meeting of High-ranking Telecommunications Authorities, at the ministerial level was also held and adopted a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action for Telecommunications.
Finally, it should be noted that CITEL's Assembly will be held in Quito, Ecuador, March 2 through 6, 1997, at the ministerial level. It will be of vital importance to the future of telecommunications in the Americas region.