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AG/RES. 1556 (XXVIII-O/98)

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE

(Resolution adopted at the third plenary session, held on June 2, 1998)

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.3637/98) and the presentation of the report given by the Chair of the CJI, Dr. Eduardo Vío Grossi; and

CONSIDERING:

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

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

That the CJI 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 transmit to the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) the observations and recommendations made by the Permanent Council of the Organization on its annual report.

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

3. To thank the CJI for the observations contained in resolution CJI/RES.9/LI/97 on the draft Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination by Reason of Disability, presented in compliance with resolution AG/RES. 1487 (XXVII-O/97).

4. To request that the CJI continue studying the various legal topics related to integration and, particularly, that it identify those subjects it considers most important in terms of the current process of hemispheric integration; and, further, to recognize the importance of maintaining proper coordination, in this area, among the CJI, the Permanent Council, the Special Committee on Trade, and the General Secretariat through the Secretariat for Legal Affairs and the Trade Unit.

5. To request the CJI to continue studying the different topics related to enhancing the administration of justice in the Americas, maintaining the highest degree of cooperation with other organs of the Organization working in this area.

6. To urge the CJI to continue its study of democracy in the inter-American system, taking into account the latest developments and studies in this area.

7. To recommend to the CJI that it continue its studies on inter-American cooperation against terrorism, bearing in mind the decisions reached by the member states of the Organization at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism, held in Lima, Peru, in April 1996, and the findings of the Meeting of Government Experts on Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism, held in May 1997, in Washington, D.C.

8. To note the importance of holding the March 1998 session of the CJI in Santiago, Chile, and, to that end, to recommend that, in special cases, future sessions be held at the headquarters of the Organization or in member states, in keeping with Article 105 of the OAS Charter, the aim being to bring about a better understanding of its work and to publicize it more widely; and to recall that any regular sessions, which the CJI holds away from its headquarters, must be financed with the regular budget of that Committee.

9. To note with satisfaction and recognize the validity of holding meetings of the CJI with consultants and legal advisors from the foreign ministries of the member states of the Organization; and to support the CJI as it holds the third meeting of this type in August 1998, in Rio de Janeiro, in order to continue developing closer ties between the CJI and the legal consultants of the foreign ministries of the member states.

10. To emphasize the importance of holding the Course on International Law organized each year by the CJI, in cooperation with the General Secretariat; to request the Secretariat and the members of the Committee to publicize it as much as possible in all member states, especially in the English-speaking countries; and to support the Committee's efforts to make it possible for more professors to attend the course and to increase the number of fellowship students attending the course whose expenses are paid by member states.

11. To encourage the CJI to continue its cooperation activities with other international and national agencies, both governmental and non-governmental, to expand mutual understanding of present legal developments at the international level.

12. To take note of the agenda adopted by the CJI for its upcoming regular sessions; and to recommend elimination of agenda items that are not priority interests for the Organization and the incorporation into the agenda of the agreements and decisions adopted by the General Assembly that are related to its area of competence.

13. To underscore the need to give the CJI the necessary administrative and budgetary support to enable it to address the current inter-American agenda and make the corresponding recommendations.

14. To reiterate the need to continue to forge closer ties between the CJI and the political bodies of the Organization, especially the Permanent Council's Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs.

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