CP/RES. 839 (1359/03)

CONVOCATION OF TECHNICAL MEETINGS IN COMPLIANCE WITH resolution AG/RES. 1849 (XXXII-O/02) AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF MINISTERS OF JUSTICE OR OF MINISTERS OR ATTORNEYS GENERAL OF THE AMERICAS (REMJA-IV)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

RECALLING that, in the Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas, the Heads of State and Government decided that they would:

“Continue to support the work done in the context of the Meetings of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General of the Americas ... and the implementation of their conclusions and recommendations;

“Strengthen cooperation … to jointly combat emerging forms of transnational criminal activity, including … cybercrime;

“Develop an exchange of best practices and recommendations, through the Meetings of Ministers of Justice … [to] improve prison conditions throughout the Hemisphere”;

CONSIDERING that REMJA-IV, convened within the framework of the OAS, adopted, inter alia, the following recommendations:

That “the Group of Governmental Experts on Cyber-Crime be reconvened and given the following mandate: (a) To follow up on implementation of the recommendations prepared by that Group and adopted by REMJA-III, and (b) To consider the preparation of pertinent inter-American legal instruments and model legislation”;

That, “in the framework of the OAS, a meeting be convened of officials responsible for the penitentiary and prison policies of the OAS member states for the purpose, inter alia, of promoting the exchange of information and experiences among them ..., including the proposal to set up a permanent information exchange network in this area”;

MINDFUL that the General Assembly, in operative paragraph 2 of resolution AG/RES. 1849 (XXXII-O/02), instructed the Permanent Council to:

“Reconvene the Group of Government Experts on Cyber-Crime for the purpose of carrying out the mandates referred to in the REMJA-IV recommendations; and

“Convene a meeting of authorities responsible for penitentiary and prison policies in the OAS member states, pursuant to the REMJA-IV recommendation”; and

BEARING IN MIND that, in pursuit of the mandates of the Third Summit of the Americas and the recommendations of REMJA IV, in operative paragraph 3 of resolution AG/RES. 1849 (XXXII-O/02), the General Assembly decided “To support the holding of a meeting of the central authorities and other experts on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and accept the offer of the Government of Canada to host this meeting”; and that the aforementioned meeting will take place in the Ottawa area from April 30 to May 2, 2003, according to the information considered and noted by the Permanent Council at its regular meeting of November 6, 2002,

RESOLVES:

1.     To convene a meeting of the Group of Government Experts on Cybercrime for the purpose of carrying out the mandates referred to in the REMJA-IV recommendations and to hold that meeting at OAS headquarters on June 23 and 24, 2003.

2.     To convene a meeting of authorities responsible for penitentiary and prison policies in the OAS member states, pursuant to the REMJA-IV recommendation, and to hold that meeting on October 16 and 17, 2003.

3.     To instruct the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs to continue the preparatory work for the two aforementioned meetings and to request the General Secretariat to provide, through the Secretariat for Legal Affairs, all the technical support needed to that end.

4.     To direct that the technical meetings to which this resolution refers be carried out in accordance with resources allocated in the program-budget and other resources.