AG/RES. 1395 (XXVI-O/96)

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE

(Resolution adopted at the eighth plenary session, held on June 7, 1996)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee (AG/doc.3340/96 corr. 1) and the presentation made thereon by the Acting Chair of the Committee, Dr. Jonathan T. Fried; and

CONSIDERING:

That Article 53.f of the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) includes among the powers of the General Assembly that of considering the observations and recommendations presented by the Permanent Council with regard to the reports of the organs and entities of the Organization, in accordance with Article 90.f of the Charter;

That Article 52 of the Charter of the OAS establishes the Inter-American Juridical Committee as one of the organs of the Organization; and

That the Inter-American Juridical Committee presented its Annual Report to the Permanent Council, which, in turn, has transmitted its observations and recommendations thereon to the General Assembly,

RESOLVES:

1. To accept and transmit to the Inter-American Juridical Committee the observations and recommendations made by the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on the Committee's Annual Report.

2. To express satisfaction with the efforts of the Inter-American Juridical Committee to respond to the priorities of the Organization and, especially, to thank it for the major contribution it made to the adoption of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.

3. To request the Inter-American Juridical Committee to continue consideration of the document "The Law in a New Inter-American Order," presented by the Secretary General, and to note the preliminary statement by the Committee on this document, the establishment of priorities on its agenda, and the proposal by the Secretary General concerning the consolidation of its Secretariat.

4. To instruct the Inter-American Juridical Committee, as a follow-up to its contribution to the adoption of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, to develop model laws regarding illicit enrichment and transnational bribery, which member states may draw upon.

5. To instruct the Inter-American Juridical Committee to continue its studies concerning the legal dimension of integration and international trade and, in that regard, to recognize the importance of maintaining appropriate coordination between the Inter-American Juridical Committee and the Special Committee on Trade, the Permanent Council, and the General Secretariat.

6. To express its satisfaction with resolution CJI/RES. II-14/95 on the various methods for settlement of disputes in regional and subregional integration and free trade agreements.

7. To request the Inter-American Juridical Committee to continue its study of the various aspects of enhancement of the administration of justice in the Americas and to maintain maximum cooperation with other bodies of the Organization working on this subject and, in particular, to instruct the Permanent Council's Working Group on Enhancement of the Administration of Justice to consider and give appropriate follow-up to reports that the Committee has already presented to the Permanent Council.

8. To emphasize the major contribution which resolution CJI/RES. I-3/95, "Democracy in the Inter-American System," represents for the development of international law, in that it notes observance by the OAS and by its member states of principles and norms concerning the exercise of representative democracy, which distinguishes the region in a positive way from other regions, and to request the Committee, in accordance with that resolution, to conduct a seminar to analyze this important subject from a legal standpoint, in coordination with the Secretariat for Legal Affairs and the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, to the extent that the necessary funds are available.

9. To urge the Inter-American Juridical Committee, as a matter of priority at its next meeting, to consider the comments made on the study prepared by the General Secretariat on guidelines for the preparation and approval of inter-American legal instruments within the framework of the Organization of American States and to submit its results to the Permanent Council.

10. To recommend to the Inter-American Juridical Committee that it proceed with its studies on inter-American cooperation against terrorism, taking into account, in particular, 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.

11. To request the Inter-American Juridical Committee, in its consideration of the right to information, to give special attention to matters concerning access to information and the protection of personal data, including data entered into mail and computerized electronic transmission systems.

12. To state that the relationship between the Inter-American Juridical Committee and the political bodies of the Organization and, especially, the Permanent Council's Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs, needs to be intensified and, to that effect, to recommend holding meetings in Washington, when deemed necessary, to explore the most appropriate means for strengthening this cooperation with a view to enlisting more active participation by the Committee in the legal activities of the Organization.

13. To note with satisfaction and to recognize the importance of holding a second meeting of the Inter-American Juridical Committee with legal consultants and advisers from the ministries of foreign affairs of the member states of the Organization, and to instruct the Juridical Committee to convene, when it deems it appropriate, a third meeting of this type for the purpose of maintaining ties between the Juridical Committee and the legal consultants of the ministries of foreign affairs of the member states.

14. To underscore the importance of holding the Course on International Law, which is organized annually by the Inter-American Juridical Committee in cooperation with the General Secretariat, and to express its support for focusing its program on a central theme.

15. To recognize the need to give the Inter-American Juridical Committee the necessary administrative and budgetary support to enable it to address appropriately the topics on the current inter-American legal agenda and make the corresponding recommendations.

16. To urge the Inter-American Juridical Committee to continue and strengthen cooperation efforts with other international and national governmental and nongovernmental organizations to expand mutual knowledge of current legal developments in the international sphere.

17. To take note of the agenda adopted by the Inter-American Juridical Committee for its next regular meeting and to call on the Committee to include on its agenda the agreements and decisions adopted by the General Assembly that relate to its sphere of competence.