Newsletter - April 2010

76th Regular Session of the Inter-American Juridical Committee

The Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) held its 76th regular session in Lima, Peru, from March 15-24, 2010, at the invitation of the Government of Peru. Although the Committee has its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, in special cases it may decide to meet elsewhere.

The CJI is the principal advisory organ of the Organization of American States on legal matters. Its main functions are to promote the progressive development and codification of international law, to study legal problems related to the integration of the developing countries of the Hemisphere, and promote the process of attaining uniformity in the member states’ legislation.

At its latest session the Committee approved two final reports: a proposal with comments on the draft Inter-American Convention against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance and a report clarifying the Committee’s advisory capacity. It also approved a progress report on national legislation and training of personnel for cooperation with the International Criminal Court. Other topics addressed included, inter alia, the promotion and strengthening of democracy, access to justice in the Americas, freedom of thought and expression, and the implementation of international humanitarian law in the OAS member states.

In conjunction with the meeting, the members of the CJI held a series of meetings with Peruvian government officials, among them the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Ambassador Néstor Francisco Popolizio Bardales; the Under Secretary for Multilateral Affairs of the Peruvian foreign ministry, Luzmila Zanabria; the Chair of the Justice and Human Rights Committee of the Congress, Víctor Rolando Sousa Huanambal; the Attorney General, Gladys Margot Echaíz Ramos; and the President of the Constitutional Court, Juan Vergara Gotelli. They also held academic meetings with faculty and students of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and San Martín de Porres University. In addition, CJI members had meetings with representatives of international governmental and nongovernmental organizations based in Lima.

The next regular session of the Inter-American Juridical Committee will take place at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 2010. On that occasion the thirty-seventh course in the series of international law courses organized annually by the Committee and the OAS Department of International Law will take place.

The Committee is composed of 11 jurists: Guilllermo Fernández de Soto (Chair), João Clemente Baena Soares (Vice Chair), Freddy Castillo Castellanos, Mauricio Herdocia Sacasa, Jean-Paul Hubert, Hyacinth Evadne Lindsay, Fabián Novak Talavera, Jorge Palacios Treviño, Miguel Pichardo Olivier, David P. Stewart, and Ana Elizabeth Villalta Vizcarra. The Department of International Law of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs serves as the Committee’s technical secretariat.

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