E-013/2000
January 20, 2000

OAS WOMEN’S COMMISSION OPENS
EXECUTIVE MEETING IN WASHINGTON

 

The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), a specialized agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), opened the third regular meeting of its Executive Committee today, with a draft "Inter-American Program to Promote the Rights of Women and Gender Equity" high on its agenda of topics.

Ambassador Christopher Thomas, the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, declared the meeting open as he lauded the agency’s efforts that had helped to bring about "significant strides" in the area of women’s rights.

He cited the recent adoption of the Convention of Belém do Pará—a hemispheric treaty to prevent, punish and eliminate violence against women—as a concrete milestone of the agency. CIM’s initiative behind the Convention as well as in the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, he said, "have also served to draw the Organization of American States and CIM into the center of the international arena of human rights issues."

In his remarks as the meeting opened, OAS Permanent Council Chairman, Belize Ambassador James Murphy, emphasized the commitment of the Permanent Council to "supporting CIM’s laudable aspirations."

Setting out the CIM agenda, the Commission’s President Dulce María Sauri Riancho of Mexico, stressed that CIM now had to embark on its 21^st century journey with the same vigor and enthusiasm as when it was founded over seventy years ago. She said that despite tremendous strides, women’s participation in decision-making along with enhancement of national laws "are areas on which we must continue working intensely."

Sauri also made mention of another important event on the agency’s agenda—a meeting of women ministers or top-level authorities responsible for women’s policies in OAS member states. That event, being coordinated by CIM, is scheduled to be held in April and will represent "a significant step towards systematically incorporating gender perspectives into all of the programs and project s of inter-American agencies and institutions," Sauri stated.

The two-day gathering of the CIM Executive Committee is considering an agenda of topics that also include preparations for Commission’s thirtieth Assembly of Delegates to be held in Nicaragua this year, follow-up on mandates from the last Assembly and on the Convention of Belém do Pará, as well as resolutions CIM intends to present to the next OAS General Assembly.

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