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.
Statement of the OAS Secretary General on the Inter-American Day for Counteracting the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms
April 5, 2020
The OAS has been a pioneer in the issue of arms and ammunition control. In 1997, member states approved the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and other Related Materials, known as CIFTA. This was the first binding international instrument against illegal arms trafficking.
The proliferation of small arms, light weapons, and illicit ammunition contributes to high levels of violence, and threatens the security and development of our countries.
Unfortunately, some of the countries in the Hemisphere have the highest homicide rates worldwide.
A U.N. study published in 2019 with 2017 figures indicates that our region continues to report high levels of homicides: more than 173,000 a year, 37 percent of the global total, in a region that barely represents 13 percent of the world population. Firearms were involved in 54 percent of these killings.
The situation is aggravated when considering the actions of organized crime under the modality of trafficking in firearms, whose illicit profits in the millions put small arms and assault rifles in the hands of criminals and gangs. This concludes a perverse process: more weapons in criminal hands mean more deaths in our societies and at the same time more money for organized crime.
For this reason, starting a year ago, the General Secretariat has focused its operational efforts within the framework of the project "Countering the Proliferation and Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons and their Ammunition in Latin America and the Caribbean."
This initiative, financed by the European Union, focuses on the control of arms and ammunition, as it includes the strengthening of national capacities in physical security and stockpile management, marking and registration; destruction of weapons, transfer mechanisms; and legal assistance; it also contains a prevention component that seeks to reduce the local incidence of violent crime.
This Inter-American Day for Counteracting the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, we salute the commitment of the States that comply with the international instruments adopted to reduce armed violence. They have our commitment to continue working with the countries of the region to build more peaceful and sustainable societies in the Americas.