CP/RES. 899 (1531/06)

DATE AND PLACE OF THE SIXTH MEETING OF MINISTERS OF JUSTICE OR OF MINISTERS
OR ATTORNEYS GENERAL OF THE AMERICAS (REMJA-VI)

 (Adopted at its session held on February 22, 2006)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

HAVING SEEN the recommendation of the Fifth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA-V) to the General Assembly that REMJA-VI take place in 2006 and that the OAS Permanent Council be charged with setting the date and site;

CONSIDERING:

That, in resolution AG/RES. 2068 (XXXV-O/05), the General Assembly, in response to the recommendation of REMJA-V, convened the Sixth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA-VI) and provided that it be held in 2006, within resources assigned in the program-budget of the Organization and other resources; and

That the aforementioned resolution instructed the Permanent Council, with technical support from the General Secretariat, to carry out the preparatory work and set the date and place for the meeting;

RECOGNIZING the level of progress toward compliance with REMJA-V mandates, in particular the efforts to bring about adoption of a hemispheric plan of action against transnational organized crime, the work and increased membership of the Working Group on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition, the holding of a Meeting of Central Authorities and Other Experts on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition in Brasilia in September 2005, and the progress made toward convocation of the Fourth Meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts on Cyber-Crime and the First Meeting of National Authorities on Trafficking in Persons;

RECALLING that still pending is the mandate to hold periodic meetings of authorities responsible for the penitentiary and prison policies of the OAS member states, so as to create an Internet information system on those policies, promote penitentiary strategies and policies based on respect for human rights, relieve the overcrowding of prisons, seek modernization of prison infrastructure, and extend the functions of rehabilitation and social reintegration of the individual, by improving conditions of detention and studying new penitentiary standards, according to the recommendations of REMJA-V; and

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the note from the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic offering to host the Sixth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA-VI) and proposing that it be held from April 24 to 26, 2006 (CP/INF.5266/05 and add. 1),

RESOLVES:

1. To thank the Government of the Dominican Republic for its offer to host the Sixth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA-VI) and to accept that offer.

2. To set April 24, 25, and 26, 2006 as the dates for the Sixth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA-VI), and the city of Santo Domingo as the venue for that Meeting.

3. To instruct that resources be allocated from subprogram 21E of the 2006 program-budget to finance REMJA-VI.