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.
FIRST-EVER MEETING OF PRISON OFFICIALS DISCUSSING HOW
TO IMPROVE PENITENTIARY AND PRISON SYSTEMS
October 16, 2003
Without adequate investment to remedy problems in the hemisphere’s penitentiary and prison systems, societies “could squander already scarce resources putting criminals behind bars,” Secretary General César Gaviria of the Organization of American States (OAS) warned today as he opened the first-ever meeting of senior penitentiary and prison officials of the Americas.
The meeting was convened at OAS headquarters in Washington to share information and experience in formulating, implementing and evaluating penitentiary and prison policies. The delegates from OAS member states are also considering a proposal for a permanent Internet-based information exchange network.
“Penitentiary and prison policies deserve special attention, on humanitarian grounds and in order to fight crime more effectively and efficiently,” Gaviria stressed, noting how governments have tended to give priority to health, education and basic services or infrastructure when allocating scarce resources. He said several studies underscore “the heavy burden of recidivism and the growing phenomenon of organized crime inside prisons” and noted that “this reveals the flaws inherent in current approaches to reintegrating and rehabilitating prisoners and monitoring and controlling them.”
Pointing to Latin America’s rising crime rates, which several studies show to be “more than double the rate in any other region,” Gaviria described the absence of a hemispheric forum of senior prison and penitentiary officials as a “major oversight.” He commended the hemisphere’s justice ministers and attorneys general, however, for moving to remedy that situation by calling this meeting.
The OAS Secretary General also spoke about decisions often taken without the benefit of direct input and the valuable experience of officials engaged in the problems of penal systems.
The two-day meeting is discussing such issues as penitentiaries and prison systems; criminal policies and capacity problems; and treatment, reintegration into society and problems inside detention centers.