Each year the OAS Secretary General publishes a proposed Program-Budget for the coming calendar year. The OAS General Assembly meets in a Special Session to approve the Program-Budget. Find these documents from 1998-2013 here.
Each year in April, the OAS Board of External Auditors publishes a report covering the previous calendar year’s financial results. Reports covering 1996-2016 may be found here.
Approximately six weeks after the end of each semester, the OAS publishes a Semiannual Management and Performance Report, which since 2013 includes reporting on programmatic results. The full texts may be found here.
Here you will find data on the Human Resources of the OAS, including its organizational structure, each organizational unit’s staffing, vacant posts, and performance contracts.
The OAS executes a variety of projects funded by donors. Evaluation reports are commissioned by donors. Reports of these evaluations may be found here.
The Inspector General provides the Secretary General with reports on the audits, investigations, and inspections conducted. These reports are made available to the Permanent Council. More information may be found here.
The OAS has discussed for several years the real estate issue, the funding required for maintenance and repairs, as well as the deferred maintenance of its historic buildings. The General Secretariat has provided a series of options for funding it. The most recent document, reflecting the current status of the Strategy, is CP/CAAP-3211/13 rev. 4.
Here you will find information related to the GS/OAS Procurement Operations, including a list of procurement notices for formal bids, links to the performance contract and travel control measure reports, the applicable procurement rules and regulations, and the training and qualifications of its staff.
The OAS Treasurer certifies the financial statements of all funds managed or administered by the GS/OAS. Here you will find the latest general purpose financial reports for the main OAS funds, as well as OAS Quarterly Financial Reports (QFRs).
Every year the GS/OAS publishes the annual operating plans for all areas of the Organization, used to aid in the formulation of the annual budget and as a way to provide follow-up on institutional mandates.
Here you will find information related to the OAS Strategic Plan 2016-2020, including its design, preparation and approval.
During the opening session yesterday, IACHR President José Zalaquett called for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Haiti, which has claimed dozens of lives, and stressed the need to overcome, in accordance with international law, the deepening humanitarian crisis in that country. Zalaquett said the Commission will also discuss its advisory role in the recently announced OAS mission to support the peace process in Colombia.
Although the main responsibility for institutional crises falls to the political bodies of the OAS, Zalaquett said, the Commission on Human Rights has the tools to act “for the sake of protecting people in the Americas when their rights are violated.” He noted that during its 119th regular session, the Commission will undertake a thorough review of how to strengthen the inter-American human rights system.
Zalaquett said that new human rights challenges in the hemisphere include ensuring that the rule of law is in effect and that economic, social and cultural rights are protected. In a region that is “so unequal,” such as the Americas, “the exclusion from the benefits of progress, as well as the lack of access to basic needs and education, make large social sectors especially vulnerable,” he said.
Both Zalaquett and the OAS Permanent Council Chairman, Ambassador Paul Durand of Canada, noted the serious budgetary restraints the IACHR faces as it tries to comply with the growing number of mandates from the region’s political authorities.
For his part, Enrique Lagos, OAS Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs, welcomed the four new members of the Commission – Florentín Meléndez, of El Salvador; Evilio Fernández Arévalo, of Paraguay; Freddy Gutiérrez, of Venezuela; and Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, of Brazil – who were elected during the 2003 General Assembly in Chile. Lagos stressed that OAS Secretary General César Gaviria, whose second term ends this year, has consistently supported the IACHR and respected its independence.
During its current session, the Commission will devote the bulk of its time to considering reports on petitions and individual cases which are in different processing stages, such as admissibility, friendly settlement, merits or consideration for referral to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Commission has scheduled more than 60 hearings on cases and petitions received from individuals, organizations and representatives of OAS member countries who will present information on the general human rights situation in the or on particular issues within the purview of the Commission.