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Haiti Presented at the OAS its Withdrawal as Host of the General Assembly

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) took note today of the notification of the withdrawal of its offer to host the XLV General Assembly of the Organization due to “financial and logistical constraints” currently experienced by the Government of Haiti, as expressed by the country´s Foreign Minister, Duly Brutus, in a letter sent to the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza.

The Chair of the Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Suriname to the Organization, Niermala Badrising, informed the representatives of the situation and reported that the discussion on the new site will be on the agenda of the next meeting of the Permanent Council.

Secretary General Insulza explained that the situation raised by the decision of Haiti “is foreseen both in the OAS Charter and the rules of the General Assembly,” which indicate that “if it cannot be held in the location previously chosen, it should be held at the headquarters of the Organization,” unless another member state offers to host the event at least three months ahead of time.

The letter from the Minister of Foreign Relations of Haiti, Duly Brutus, to the Secretary General explains that the withdrawal of the offer to host the event is due to “financial and logistical constraints that could affect organization of the forty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly and Haiti's ability to host a fruitful and outstanding General Assembly, given the electoral process that the Government of the Republic has set in motion.”

During the Council meeting, the Permanent Representative of Haiti to the OAS, Bocchit Edmond, added that “it has been a difficult decision for the Government of Haiti, because we wanted to host the event twenty years after the first time in Haiti. There are reasons beyond our control that have forced us to take this decision.”

The decision to name Haiti host of the XLV General Assembly had been taken by acclamation by the member states during the XLIV General Assembly, held last year in Asuncion, Paraguay.

At its regular meeting today, the Council continued to advance in the debate on the prioritization of the mandates of the Organization, also known as the debate on the Strategic Vision of the OAS. During the meeting, members approved the Methodology for Prioritization of Mandates (CP/CAAP-3344/15) received from member states, which was presented by Vice Chair of the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAJP) and Alternate Representative of Guatemala, Ana Juarez.

The Council also decided, by the drawing of lots, that the Permanent Representative of Guyana, Bayney R. Karran, will present his proposals to become the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization on the morning of Wednesday, March 4. Meanwhile, it was agreed that the Permanent Representative of Belize, Nestor Mendez, will make his presentation to occupy the position in the afternoon of the same day.

In addition, the body resolved to establish November 19 and 20, 2015 as the dates of the Fifth Meeting of Ministers responsible for Public Security in the Americas (MISPA V), to be held in Arequipa, Peru, and also agreed to establish April 23 and 24, 2015 as the dates for the Second Meeting of the Subsidiary Technical Working Group on Police Management to be held in Trujillo, Peru, after receiving a report from the Chair of the Committee on Hemispheric Security and Permanent Representative of Colombia, Andrés González.

Moreover, the Chair of the Council sent congratulation, on behalf of the body, to the Dominican Republic on the anniversary of its independence.

During the meeting, the delegations of Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Canada, Bolivia, Grenada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Dominica, Barbados, United States, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Venezuela took the floor.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The full video of the event will be available here.

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

Reference: E-059/15