CP/RES. 942 (1662/08)


80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION OF WOMEN (CIM)

(Approved by the Permanent Council at its meeting of September 24, 2008)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

BEARING IN MIND that the Inter-American Commission of Women was established 80 years ago, at the Sixth International Conference of American States, held in Havana, Cuba, in 1928; and

CONSIDERING:

That the CIM is the first intergovernmental agency in the world founded to ensure recognition of the civil and political rights of women in the Americas and that it took the form of a permanent body that has been attached to the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) since its creation in 1948;

That during its productive and successful period of existence, it has been the voice for the concerns of women in the Americas and has played a key role in promoting women’s human rights;

That many of the initiatives within its framework – such as its unprecedented inter-American conventions for the protection of women’s rights – have been promoted even beyond the inter-American sphere;

That it has remained at the forefront of the guiding principles on human rights and the consolidation of democracy that underpin the OAS, successfully including on its agenda essential topics for the maintenance of peace and development; and

That it has made important efforts to enable the member states to further enhance measures to incorporate gender equality and equity into their national plans, projects, and policies, as a way to bring about more just societies in which men and women may have equal access to the benefits of development,

RESOLVES:

1. To congratulate the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) on the initiatives taken during its 80 years of existence to promote and protect women’s rights and to encourage it to continue working and supporting member states in the implementation of its mandates as the principal forum for generating hemispheric policy to advance women’s rights and gender equality.

2. To recognize that the CIM, through the promotion and protection of women’s rights and gender equality, serves as a means of contributing to social and economic development and to the elimination of poverty and discrimination in the Hemisphere