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OAS to Hold its 51st General Assembly from November 10 to 12

The Organization of America States (OAS) will hold, in virtual format with Guatemala as the host country, the 51st Regular Session of its General Assembly between November 10 to 12 under the theme “Towards Renewal in the Americas”.

This meeting, to which all the foreign ministers of the Hemisphere are invited, is the highest political body of the OAS and its decisions will serve as a guide for the activities and priorities of the regional body during the coming year. The Assembly is in charge of defining the policies and mandates of the OAS, as well as the structure and functions of its organs.

The General Assembly has as its principal powers, in addition to such others as are assigned to it by the OAS Charter, to decide the general action and policies of the Organization, determine the structure and functions of its organs and consider any matter relating to friendly relations among the American states; establish measures for coordinating the activities of the organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization among themselves, and such activities with those of the other institutions of the inter-American system; strengthen and coordinate cooperation with the United Nations and its specialized agencies, and to approve the program-budget of the Organization and determine the quotas of the member states, among others.

During discussions, each member state has the right to cast a vote. The decisions of the Assembly are usually adopted by majority, but in certain cases the rules require a two-thirds vote. The tradition of the OAS is to adopt resolutions by consensus.

During this Assembly, member states will elect members of the decentralized and autonomous organizations of the OAS such as the IACHR, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Juridical Committee, the Justice Center of the Americas, the Administrative Tribunal and the Board of External Auditors.

The 51st Assembly will be the seventh of the mandate of Secretary General Luis Almagro.

The topics to be discussed can be found here and the documents will be available on the OAS 51st General Assembly page.

The FACT SHEET of the 51st OAS General Assembly is available here.

Prior to the Assembly, on Tuesday, November 9 at 08:30 EST (13:30 GMT), the Private Sector Forum of the Americas will be held, followed at 14:00 EST (19:00 GMT) by the “Dialogue of representatives of civil society organizations and other actors with heads of delegation, Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General,” an event during which the highest authorities of the OAS will exchange points of view on human rights, democracy, and security -among other issues- with representatives of civil society organizations from the Hemisphere, the private sector and other social actors. Also on Wednesday, November 10 at 09:00 EST (14:00 GMT) the “Dialogue of the heads of delegation, the Secretary General, and the Assistant Secretary General with the heads of delegation of the permanent observers” will take place.

The General Assembly will be broadcast live - with interpretation in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese- on the OAS Website, Facebook and YouTube.

Press Contact: Mónica Reyes ([email protected]).

WHAT: 51st Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly

WHEN: November 10-12

WHERE: OAS website, Facebook and YouTube

Reference: AVI-137/21