IX OAS Private Sector Forum
On the Occasion of the XLIII Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly.
“Connecting Businesses as Partners for Prosperity with Security in the Americas”

Place: Hotel Westin Camino Real
           Guatemala City, Guatemala
Date:  May 31, 2013

For more information about private sector participation in the dialogue, please visit http://www.oas.org/psf.

See agenda.

Talent and Innovation Challenges of the Americas Finals 2013

Place: Hotel Soleil, Los Volcanes Room
           La Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
Date:  June 2-3, 2013

The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Government of Guatemala, are pleased to invite you to the Talent and Innovation Challenges of the Americas Finals 2013 (TIC Americas 2013), to be held in La Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala on June 2-3, 2013, within the framework of the XLIII OAS General Assembly.

TIC Americas, a program developed by YABT, is an international entrepreneurship support platform and business accelerator for young entrepreneurs in the Western Hemisphere. TIC Americas connects young talent with local and international support organizations, the government and the private sector. Young people showcase their talent through their innovative ideas and projects and a space for communication and integration of these young entrepreneurs is created in the region. Since its creation in 2007, TIC Americas Finals are being hosted within the framework of the OAS General Assembly.

TIC Americas focuses on young people under the age of 36, who have presented an innovative business idea or have developed a start-up and require further support to reach the implementation stage of their business. This year more then 1,700 teams participated in the competition and 32 were selected as finalists by an international committee of judges. TIC Americas 2013 awards projects in the following categories: Talent & Innovation, Eco-Challenge and Eco-Challenge Caribbean, and TIC Guatemala.

Please click here to view the detailed list of finalists.

The program is implemented by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) and is made possible thanks to the support from the Organization of American States, the Government of Guatemala, PepsiCo and CabCorp. YABT is a non-profit organization created in 1999 that works in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the OAS to promote youth social and economic development around the world.

For more information please visit www.ticamericas.net or contact Gerardo Robinson at [email protected] or +1 (202) 370 - 9756. For the preliminary agenda, click here.

“Women and Drugs in the Americas: A Working Analysis”

Place: Centro de Formación de la
           Cooperación Española en La Antigua
           Guatemala, Guatemala
Date:  June 3, 2013

The gender dimension of the issue of drugs has barely been addressed in research and recently- produced reports. Claims by the media, paired with the scarce data available, suggest that in recent years, the participation of women in the international drug industry has increased significantly.

The incorporation of differentiating criteria in the analysis of the situation of women and men in the drug industry is the starting point for strengthened institutional responses and public policies that aim to address and prevent this social problem.  Of particular importance in this sense is to understand why, and how, from a perspective of human rights and development, women get involved in the world of drugs and what interventions – in terms of both development and treatment – are necessary to ensure that they have safe and feasible alternatives.

Seeking to further analyze this topic, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), a specialized agency of the Organization of American States (OAS) that promotes and protects women’s rights and gender equality, will be holding a Roundtable entitled: “Women and Drugs in the Americas: A Working Analysis” in the framework of the XLIII OAS General Assembly.

The Roundtable, jointly organized with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), and the support of the Government of Spain, will be held in the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española in La Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala on June 3rd at 3:15pm. The discussion will include representatives from governmental and international bodies, academia and civil society in a multi-disciplinary dialogue on the nature and extent of women’s participation in the cultivation, production, distribution and utilization of drugs in the Americas. See agenda.

For more information, please send us an email to [email protected]

Regional Seminar on Legal Capacity of People with Psychosocial Disabilities

Place: Villas de Guatemala Hotel, Alameda
           del Calvario, Número 28, La Antigua
           Guatemala, Guatemala
Date:  June 5, 2013

On June 5, in Antigua, Guatemala, The Trust will host a one day seminar with experts and practitioners on disability rights from throughout the hemisphere. We expect the seminar to foster a discussion about best practices,  challenges and opportunities in the implementation of Article 12 of the UN Disability Convention, and its interplay with current OAS resolutions and conventions on disability. Particularly, we expect to her from a variety of experts from the medical and legal profession, as well as civil society advocates and representatives from the judiciary, on the issue of full legal capacity and changes in domestic laws and policies that still provide for interdiction and diminished recognition of rights for people with psychosocial disabilities.

The activity is carried within the Trust initiative to promote the full and unrestricted recognition of the legal capacity and human rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities (acronym, PWD PS), and by extension, of all PWD affected by lack of effective recognition of their legal capacity. This under article 12 of the UN Convention on People with Disabilities. Such project is financed by the Open Society Institute Foundation (OSI), and is implemented primarily in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

For the executive summary, agenda and contact information, click here.

For more information, please send us an email to [email protected] and/or [email protected].