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OAS Permanent Council Courses Invitations to International Organizations and Civil Society Organizations to Participate in the Special General Assembly on Drugs in Guatemala

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today approved the invitations of more than 500 international organizations and civil society organizations to the Special General Assembly on drugs to be held in Guatemala on September 19, while at the same time agreed to convene the Fourth Meeting of National Authorities on Trafficking in Persons, to be held in Brasilia in December.

At a regular meeting held at the headquarters of the hemispheric institution in Washington, DC, the Council approved the report of the General Secretariat for invitations to the 46 Special Session of the General Assembly to be held in Guatemala City on September 19. Among the invited organizations, there are Inter-American regional or sub-regional governmental entities or agencies; specialized agencies related to the United Nations and other international organizations; and civil society organizations registered with the OAS.

The Council also agreed to convene the Fourth Meeting of National Authorities on Trafficking in Persons to be held in Brasilia, Brazil, on December 4 and 5, 2014. The Council approved to install the Working Group of the Committee on Hemispheric Security to prepare this Meeting of National Authorities.

The Council took note of the conclusion of the categorization of mandates of the Organization, as well the updating of the database of mandates, which includes those adopted by the recent General Assembly held in June in Asuncion, and the elimination of those obsolete and duplicates. The report was submitted by the Chairman of the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) and Permanent Representative of Chile, Juan Pablo Lira. The Council also approved the proposal of the President of the CAAP for this Committee to continue the process of prioritization of mandates, in close consultation with the other committees of the Permanent Council and the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI).
During the same meeting, the Council approved the report on the activities of the Office of the Inspector General for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2014 and agreed to implement the recommendations contained in the report.

At the beginning of the session, at the request of the President of the Council, the Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia, Sonia Johnny, a minute of silence was held for the recent passings of Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos and Santa Lucia Judge Suzie D 'Auvergne. Several delegations also expressed their condolences on the passings of Mexican diplomat Antonio de Icaza, father of the Director of the OAS Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation, Gerardo de Icaza; and the former President of the Peruvian Congress Henry Pease García.

Representatives from Colombia, United States, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago (on behalf of CARICOM), Paraguay, Chile, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Venezuela and St. Lucia, took the floor during today’s meeting.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video of the event will be available here.

The audio of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-344/14