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OAS Highlights Work to Promote Sustainable Development and Citizen Security

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI) today held a joint session focused on the organization’s work toward “concrete effective and sustainable results” in human development and citizen security in the region.

The OAS Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Jorge Saggiante, and the OAS Secretary for Multidimensional Security, Adam Blackwell, pointed to the interdependence between development and security, emphasizing the joint work they’ve done on the issue. The two Secretariats “have worked together to guarantee the empowerment of youth as a central element of strategies of violence prevention and will continue to promote these initiatives with the aim of preventing the duplication of efforts and provide a better coordinated answer to the needs of security and development of the boys, girls, adolescents and migrants” of the region, said Saggiante.

For his part, Blackwell emphasized the work done by the bodies “to develop a program to improve security of the tourism sector.” He also stressed the attention they have focused on “crimes related to the use of technology, in particular cybercrime.” The Secretary for Multidimensional Security also highlighted the work by the Secretariats “to continue strengthening their ties of cooperation to promote training options for officials responsible for security and justice, thanks to the scholarship and virtual education programs offered by the Educational Portal of the Americas.” He went on to note the work they’ve done together to fight human trafficking, to prevent and mitigate natural disasters, and to promote technological development as a means to improve education.

Secretary Saggiante said the two Secretariats had worked to improve various factors seen as central to both human development and security. “We have supported the implementation of integral programs and projects aimed at reducing poverty and inequalities, promoting a culture of peace, preventing drug abuse, and promoting rehabilitation and re-insertion into society,” he added.

The Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) is an OAS body directly answerable to the General Assembly, with decision making power in matters of partnership for integral development. The Permanent Executive Committee (CEPCIDI) is the permanent executive body of CIDI which adopts decisions and makes recommendations for the planning, programming, budgeting, management control, follow-up and evaluation of cooperation projects and activities executed by CIDI.

The joint meeting of the OAS Permanent Council and CEPCIDI took place in the headquarters of the OAS in Washington, DC, and included the participation of the Chair of the Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Honduras to the OAS, Leónidas Rosa Bautista. Representatives of Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, Colombia, El Salvador and Jamaica addressed the meeting, at which delegates from all OAS Member States were in attendance.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-173/12