OEA/Ser.P AG/RES. 1772 (XXXI-O/01) 5 June 2001 Original: Spanish ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE (Resolution adopted at the third plenary session, held on June 5, 2001; subject to review by the Style Committee) THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee (AG/doc.3463/01) and the presentation of the report by the Chair of the Juridical Committee, Dr. João Grandino Rodas; and CONSIDERING: That Article 54.f of the Charter of the Organization of American States establishes that one of the powers of the General Assembly is to consider the observations and recommendations presented by the Permanent Council, in accordance with Article 91.f of the Charter, on the reports of the organs and entities of the Organization; That Article 53 of the OAS Charter establishes the Inter-American Juridical Committee as one of the organs of the Organization; and That the Inter-American Juridical Committee presented its annual report to the Permanent Council, which has submitted its observations and recommendations thereon to the General Assembly, RESOLVES: 1. To welcome the report from the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) and to forward to the Committee the observations and recommendations made by the Permanent Council of the Organization on its annual report. 2. To express its satisfaction with the work of the Inter-American Juridical Committee in dealing with the priority concerns of the Organization in the area of law and, especially, to recognize the support the Committee provides to the General Assembly, the Permanent Council, and that Council's Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs in preparing the studies requested of it. 3. To thank the Inter-American Juridical Committee for presenting document CJI/RES. 18, "Draft Legislative Guide on Medical-Assisted Fertility," and to request that it further study all human rights and biomedicine-related aspects, with a view to presenting a report on the status of international law governing the matter. 4. To thank the Inter-American Juridical Committee for presenting the document "Study of the Rights and Duties of the States under the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention: an unofficial guide" (CJI/doc.48/99 rev. 3). 5. To take note of the decision by the Inter-American Juridical Committee to make democracy in the inter-American system one of its priorities and, in particular, its decision to verify the existence of international legal provisions in the Americas that stipulate that democracy is a right and an obligation and, in this context, to request that the Committee prepare a report on the matter. 6. To request the Inter-American Juridical Committee to initiate studies for the design of the agenda and topics of the next Inter-American Specialized Conferences on Private International Law (CIDIP) in order to promote the development of private international law in the inter-American system and to present its proposal during the next Specialized Conference (CIDIP-VI) to be held in Guatemala in November 2001. 7. To request the Inter-American Juridical Committee to continue studying the different aspects of the enhancement of the administration of justice in the Americas, focusing its efforts at this time on the subject of the access of individuals to justice, maintaining the necessary coordination and the highest possible degree of cooperation with other organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization that work in this area, especially with the Justice Studies Center of the Americas, based in Santiago, Chile. 8. To take note of the studies conducted by the Inter-American Juridical Committee on legal aspects of hemispheric security and to request that it continue to contribute to the work of the Permanent Council Committee on Hemispheric Security, as requested. 9. To request the Inter-American Juridical Committee to pursue its studies on the subject of the legal dimension of integration and of international trade, to limit that study to the subject of competition law and the different forms of protectionism in the Americas, and to conduct a preliminary comparative analysis of existing laws and regulations on competition or protectionism in member states, in such a way as to include a document on the subject in its next annual report, bearing in mind the efforts already under way in the Organization and in other international institutions. 10. To welcome the decision of the Inter-American Juridical Committee to hold its 58th regular meeting in Ottawa, Canada, from March 12 through 23, 2001, and to recommend holding future regular meetings in other member states, in accordance with Article 105 of the Charter, so as to publicize more widely and bring about a greater awareness of the work of the Committee, bearing in mind that any regular meetings that the Inter-American Juridical Committee decides to hold away from its headquarters must be funded by that Committee's regular budget. 11. To reiterate that it is necessary to bring the Inter-American Juridical Committee into closer rapport with the political bodies of the Organization, especially with the Permanent Council's Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs and, in this regard, to call upon the Chair of the Juridical Committee and the rapporteurs of the various topics that have been included on its agenda, to meet with that Committee whenever it so requests. 12. To encourage the Inter-American Juridical Committee to continue to promote regularly the holding of joint meetings with the legal advisors at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of OAS member states, especially on the occasion of the holding of their meetings at the Organization's headquarters. 13. To underscore once again the importance of holding the course in international law organized each year by the Inter-American Juridical Committee and the OAS General Secretariat as a contribution to a better understanding and increased publicity of legal topics in the inter-American system, and to support all efforts to make possible the increased presence of professors and a greater number of students receiving fellowships from all of the subregions in the course, and to urge member states to bear in mind the possibility of defraying the costs of participation by national students and professors in it. 14. To support an information system through which the Organization may disseminate to the region's universities its expertise in the area of international law. 15. To take note of the agenda adopted by the Inter-American Juridical Committee for its next regular meeting and recommend that it focus its efforts on the topics indicated to be of priority interest to the Organization, bearing in mind the observations made by the member states on the presentation of its report, and include the agreements and decisions adopted by the General Assembly that are related to its area of competence. 16. To underscore the need to provide the Inter-American Juridical Committee with the administrative and budgetary support required to address adequately the current inter-American legal agenda and to make the appropriate recommendations.