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Civil Society Representatives of the Hemisphere Present their Recommendations on the Central Subject of the OAS General Assembly

Civil society representatives of the hemisphere who met at the Organization of American States (OAS) today presented to the Member States of the Organization their recommendations involving the central theme of the XL OAS General Assembly: “Peace, Security and Cooperation in the Americas.”

During the closing session of the Civil Society Hemispheric Forum, held May 5 and 6 at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC., OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza addressed the 65 representatives of 55 organizations of civil society from more than 20 countries in the hemisphere. “Without your work, our work of seeing the implementation in all its forms of the Inter-American Democratic Charter would not be possible,” he said.

Secretary General Insulza also recalled that the participation and contributions of civil society to the work of the OAS “is a great patrimony of our organization that has become richer with time.” “I hope that all of you and more are present at our meeting in Lima and I am sure that your contributions will be as disinterested and enthusiastic as always,” he concluded.

During the closing session of the event, organized by the OAS Department for International Affairs, representatives of civil society presented their recommendations, the result of two days of deliberations in three parallel workshops covering the subjects of multidimensional security in the Americas, the strengthening of human rights and democracy (prevention, handling and resolution of crises and conflicts), and cooperation for development.

Among the recommendations are specific proposals involving the Declaration of Lima, to be made during the XL OAS General Assembly from June 6 to 8. For example, to encourage “the Member States to avoid expressions of militarization, the arms race, interference, military treatment or by the use of force to solve conflicts and existing territorial or other disputes.” Similarly, to “avoid any call to war and consolidate a climate of cooperation for peace in the region.”

The complete text of the recommendations is found here

The Permanent Representative of Colombia to the OAS, Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos Aristizabal, and the Director of the OAS Department for International Affairs, Irene Klinger, also participated at the closing session.

The recommendations formulated by representatives of civil society during the workshops will be presented to the Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities (CISC) of the Permanent Council, where civil society representatives will have the opportunity to exchange ideas on the subjects of the Inter-American agenda.

Currently, the OAS relies on 326 registered non-governmental organizations and a great number of other specialized organizations to offer ideas, to collaborate and follow up on the Organization’s programs. All of them contribute their recommendations to the deliberations of the Member States in the Summits of the Americas, ministerial meetings, specialized conferences and General Assemblies of the Organization.

Photographs of the event will be posted here

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

Reference: E-162/10