Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) - March 2013

Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) closed its 82nd regular session

This morning, the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) closed its 82nd regular session at its headquarters in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

During this period (11-15 March), the members of the Committee worked on a total of six mandates: general guidelines for border integration; electronic warehouse receipts for agricultural products; model legislation on protection of cultural property in cases of armed conflict; Inter-American judicial cooperation; sexual orientation, gender identity and expression; and immunity of the States. The Inter-American Juridical Committee ended the discussion on the theme “Model Legislation on Protection of Cultural Property in Case of Armed Conflict”, the respective report which will be presented to the Permanent Council. This document proposes, among other things, concrete measures concerning signaling, identifying and listing cultural property, besides presenting ways of promoting skill-building and diffusion of policies in this area. The document also addresses how to determine responsibility and aspects related to monitoring and enforcement of obligations. Mention should be made of the Committee’s decision to send to the Permanent Council a preliminary report on “sexual orientation, gender identity and expression”, a study that conceptualizes the various categories and explains the legal implications of these notions, while also consecrating respect for the principle of non-discrimination established in international, regional and universal instruments.

The Committee is made up of 11 jurists from Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, United States of America, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. On this occasion the Committee greeted the new member from Haiti, Dr Gélin Imanès Collot, who, along with the two members who were re-elected – Dr David P. Stewart from the United States of America and Fabián Novak Talavera from Peru – began his mandate on the 1st January this year.

The next meeting of the Inter-American Juridical Committee will be held at its headquarters in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 2013, which will coincide with the commemoration of the 40th edition of the Course in International Law which is organized each year by the Committee together with the OAS Department of International Law.

The primordial function of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, as the consultative branch of the Organization of American States on juridical matters, is to promote the progressive development and codification of international law, to study the juridical problems related to integration of the developing countries of the western hemisphere and to further the process of legislative standardization among the member States.

For additional information about the Committee, please visit our Website »