(E-216/01)
October 18, 2001

 

COSTA RICA, MEXICO, NICARAGUA AND PERU AMBASSADORS
CHAIR OAS WORKING GROUPS

 

The Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs, a subsidiary body of the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council, today elected by acclamation the chairs of its working groups that will handle issues related to representative democracy, probity and public ethics, indigenous peoples and terrorism.

Mexico's Ambassador to the OAS, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, will chair the Special Working Group on Terrorism, whose mandate involves drafting an Inter-American Convention against Terrorism for submission to the OAS General Assembly session slated for Barbados next June.

Ambassador Eduardo Ferrero Costa of Peru was elected as Chair of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, and Nicaragua's Permanent Representative, Lombardo Martínez, was elected as Chair of the Working Group on Probity and Public Ethics. Costa Rica's Alternate Representative, Ambassador Luis Guardia, meanwhile, will chair the Working Group on Representative Democracy.

The Committee on Juridical Affairs is chaired by Argentina's Ambassador, Raúl Ricardes; the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs is chaired by Chile's Ambassador, Esteban Tomic; and the Committee on Hemispheric Security is chaired by Panama's Ambassador, Juan Manuel Castulovich.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador Ellsworth John chairs the Committee on Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities, and Ambassador Paul Durand of Canada chairs the Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management.

The Permanent Council—the second highest decision-making body of the OAS—is being chaired (October to December 2001) by Dominica's Permanent Representative, Ambassador, Swinburne Lestrade.

 

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