On April 20th, the Department of International Law (Secretariat for Legal Affairs) of the OAS, presented to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs (CAJP) of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) a report on the Department’s activities during the last 10 months on the implementation of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law, in fulfillment of resolution AG/RES. 2886 (XLVI-O/16), Section I.i, operative paragraph 1.

The Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law (the “Program”) was adopted by the OAS General Assembly in 1997 and, 14 years later, was updated by resolution AG/RES. 2660 (XLI-O/11) in recognition of its relevance, the importance of the results obtained during its implementation, the validity of its principles, the need for its content to be renewed and its context within the Organization.

The Charter of the OAS itself, in Article 3, reaffirms international law as the standard of conduct of States in their reciprocal relations; hence, the relevance of and continuing commitment to the Program by OAS member states over the 20 years of its operations.

The Program constitutes the Organization’s main instrument for promoting and disseminating international law within the inter-American legal system by means of a variety of dissemination and cooperation activities for the development, dissemination, and teaching of international law in the Hemisphere, and assigns to the Department of International Law primary responsibility for its implementation.

In his presentation to the CAJP, the Director of the Department of International Law, Dr. Dante Negro, pointed out some of the achievements during the Program’s most recent implementation period, July 2016 through April 2017. He indicated that the department he leads has worked on 13 substantive topics, provided legal assistance to both the political organs and the Secretary General, served as the Technical Secretariat of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, prepared eight thematic studies, implemented two programs of action, and organized and participated in 17 technical cooperation activities through which training was provided to over 1,000 individuals. The Department has also prepared eight publications and three videos, and updated some 2,000 web pages visited on average 50,000 times per month.  These figures are indicative of the ongoing relevance and effectiveness of the Program.

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