OEA/Ser.P
AG/RES. 1704 (XXX-O/00)
5 June 2000
Original: Spanish 

RESOLUTION

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE

(Resolution adopted at the first plenary session, held on June 5, 2000)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) (CP/doc.3312/00) and the presentation of the report given by the Chair of the CJI, Dr. Keith Highet; and

CONSIDERING:

That Article 54.f of the Charter of the Organization of American States includes among the functions of the General Assembly that of considering the observations and recommendations presented by the Permanent Council, in accordance with Article 91.f of the Charter, on the reports of the organs and entities of the Organization;

That Article 53 of the OAS Charter establishes the CJI as one of the organs of the Organization; and

That the CJI has presented its annual report to the Permanent Council, which has submitted its observations and recommendations thereon to the General Assembly,

RESOLVES:

1. To accept and forward to the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) the observations and recommendations made by the Permanent Council of the Organization on that Committee's annual report.

2. To express its satisfaction with the work of the CJI in dealing with the priority concerns of the Organization in the area of law and, especially, to recognize the support the CJI provides to the General Assembly, the Permanent Council, and that Council’s Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs in preparing draft conventions, model legislation, and other studies requested of it.

3. To thank the CJI for preparing document CJI/doc.21/99, which, with its annexes, consolidates the final reports on illicit enrichment and transnational bribery.

4. To request the CJI to continue studying the different aspects of the enhancement of the administration of justice in the Americas, maintaining the necessary coordination and the highest possible degree of cooperation with other organs of the Organization that work in this area, especially with the Justice Studies Center of the Americas.

5. To request the CJI to continue its studies on inter-American cooperation against terrorism, in particular with respect to strengthening mechanisms for legal and judicial cooperation, especially in the area of extradition, and to cooperate with the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) when CICTE so requests.

6. To note that the CJI has included the topic of human rights and biomedicine on its agenda, and to ask that it continue its studies in this area, with the initial focus on determining, in coordination with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the current status of international law and the principal trends of legal thought on the subject.

7. To note that the CJI has included on its agenda the topic of application by the states in the Hemisphere of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to ask it to continue its studies and to send document CJI/doc.48/99, "Rights and Duties of States under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982," to the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea for comment.

8. To note that the CJI has included on its agenda the topic of the legal aspects of hemispheric security, and to ask it to continue its studies, with a focus on examining the current status of the OAS Charter, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty), and the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement (Pact of Bogotá).

9. To request the CJI to issue in due course the opinion requested by the General Assembly through resolution AG/RES. 1691 (XXIX-O/99), "International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents."

10. To welcome the decision of the CJI to hold its 56th regular meeting at OAS headquarters between March 20 and March 31, 2000, and to consider the holding of future regular meetings in special cases in other member states, in keeping with Article 105 of the OAS Charter, in order to disseminate information on and awareness of the CJI’s work more widely, bearing in mind that any regular meetings the CJI decides to hold away from its headquarters must be funded through its regular budget.

11. To reiterate the need for closer ties between the CJI and the political organs of the OAS, especially the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Permanent Council.

12. To thank the CJI for holding the Fourth Joint Meeting with Legal Advisers of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of OAS Member States on March 23 and 24, 2000, in the framework of its 56th regular meeting, at OAS headquarters, and to encourage the CJI to continue holding meetings of this type.

13. To underscore yet again the importance of holding the Course on International Law, organized each year by the CJI in cooperation with the OAS General Secretariat, as a contribution to better understanding and dissemination of legal topics of concern to the inter-American system, and to support every effort made to include more professors in the Course and increase the number of fellowship-holders attending, urging member states to take steps to encourage horizontal cooperation for this purpose.

14. To take note of the agenda adopted by the CJI for its next regular meeting, and to recommend that it eliminate or not include topics that may not reflect the priorities of the Organization.

15. To emphasize the need to extend the necessary administrative and budgetary support to enable the CJI to address properly the topics on the current inter-American legal agenda and issue recommendations thereon.