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OAS Assistant Secretary General Commends Positive Outcomes of Ministers of Justice Meeting

During the closing ceremony of the VIII Meeting of Ministers of Justice or other Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA VIII), the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, emphasized that the REMJA process “reflects one of the comparative advantages of the OAS, providing a forum that allows our authorities to increase their knowledge in different fields, build mutual confidence, and strengthen the exchange of information and mutual cooperation.”

The Meeting of Ministers of Justice of the Americas that took place in Brasilia February 24 to 26 adopted conclusions and recommendations that aim to strengthen legal and judicial cooperation in the Americas, foster mutual assistance and information exchange on criminal matters and extradition, promote measures for victims and witness protection, and adopt specific measures to combat cybercrime and human trafficking, among other issues.

In that sense, Ambassador Ramdin commended the positive outcomes of the meeting and underscored the importance of a hemispheric forum on matters relating to justice and legal and judicial cooperation. “We are convinced that the cooperation process now in place can generate concrete measures to jointly confront a range of issues that directly affect the citizens of our countries,” he stated.

Ambassador Ramdin also mentioned that REMJA “has consolidated into becoming not only the principle hemispheric forum on matters relating to justice and legal and judicial cooperation, but also as a cooperation process that generates practical and concrete measures to confront together problems, such as those that originate from transnational organized crime, which directly affects the ordinary citizens of our countries.”

Highlighting one of the key issues discussed at the Brasilia meeting, the OAS Assistant Secretary General said that the OAS hopes to continue strengthening the process of hemispheric cooperation on assistance in criminal matters and extradition, the development of new inter-American legal instruments to strengthen cooperation on extradition, and the use of new communication technologies in the area of mutual assistance in criminal matters and extradition. “I would like to commend this forum for considering advancing with the preparation of model agreements for joint or coordinated investigations and to facilitate progress in the area of arrest warrants and simplified extradition procedures.”

Likewise, he remarked that one important recommendation adopted in this meeting was the initiative to further foster and enhance cooperation in areas other than criminal matters, such as those relating to family and child law. “These recommendations will allow us to strengthen mutual cooperation on aspects such as adoption and return of minors. We hope that this is the first step in a process that will enable us to continue to consolidate cooperation on other legal matters that are also a part of your very important responsibilities.”

The REMJA VIII closing ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Justice of Brazil, Luiz Paulo Teles Ferreira Barreiro, as well as by ministers, attorneys general or high-level judicial authorities from more than 25 OAS member states.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org

Reference: E-055/10