AG/RES. 1845 (XXXII-O/02)

INTER-AMERICAN PROGRAM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 

(Adopted at the fourth plenary session held on June 4, 2002) 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 

HAVING SEEN the report of the Permanent Council on the implementation of resolution AG/RES. 1766 (XXXI-O/01),”Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law” (CP/doc.3591/02);

CONSIDERING: 

            That the General Assembly, meeting in Panama in 1996, adopted the “Declaration of Panama on the Inter-American Contribution to the Development and Codification of International Law”  in which it affirmed, inter alia, its “commitment to continue promoting the progressive development and codification of inter-American international law in the framework of the OAS” and urged its organs to disseminate “the legal heritage developed in that framework”; 

That the General Assembly, in resolution AG/RES. 1471 (XXVII-O/97), adopted the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law, which calls for various activities by the Organization to promote continued progress in the areas of training, dissemination, application, and strengthening of international law developed in the context of the inter-American system; 

            That, at its last regular session, the General Assembly reaffirmed, in resolution AG/RES. 1766 (XXXI-O/01), the importance of said Program; 

            That the international legal norms developed in the context of the Organization of American States constitute a valuable legal heritage that must be preserved and disseminated widely with a view to promoting the study, discussion, negotiation, and development of new legal instruments within the framework of the inter-American system; 

            That the Permanent Council, at its meeting of September 26, 2001, transmitted to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs the study and follow-up on activities carried out by the General Secretariat in fulfillment of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law; 

NOTING the conclusions and recommendations of the Workshops on International Law held in Montevideo in October 1999, in Córdoba in December 2000, and in Mexico City in December 2001, respectively, which asserted the need for periodic meetings of a similar nature in order to ensure continuity in the valuable outcomes; 

RECOGNIZING the progress made with dissemination of the legal instruments and activities of the Organization through the “Inter-American System of Legal Information” on the Internet, the legal publications program, and subregional courses such as the one conducted in Rionegro, Colombia, in 2001. 

RESOLVES: 

1.                   To reaffirm the importance of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law for the dissemination, awareness, application, and strengthening of international law developed in the inter-American framework; and to support the activities of the Permanent Council of the Organization and the General Secretariat in pursuance of the Program. 

2.                   To instruct the General Secretariat to continue, through the Secretariat for Legal Affairs, to implement the aforesaid Program, according priority to the projects and activities relating to the teaching of inter-American international law and to dissemination of the legal instruments and activities developed in the OAS framework and the legal publications program, and to report thereon periodically to the Permanent Council. 

3.                   To request the General Secretariat to continue strengthening, pursuant to paragraph (a) of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law, the Inter-American System of Legal Information through the OAS Web page by incorporating and constantly updating information on the legal work and activities carried out in the framework of the Organization. 

4.                   To request the General Secretariat to continue to conduct Workshops on International Law, pursuant to paragraph (i) of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law, while congratulating it for organizing the workshops conducted in Mexico City in December 2001, and, in keeping with the conclusions and recommendations of those workshops, to facilitate exchanges among lecturers and professors and to analyze the application of inter-American legal standards. 

5.                   To strengthen, pursuant to paragraph (e) of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law, the annual Course on International Law organized by the Inter-American Juridical Committee and the General Secretariat in Río de Janeiro, by taking the necessary budgetary steps required for that purpose, especially with respect to simultaneous interpretation facilities and expansion of the number of fellowships, in order to enable larger numbers of candidates from all the subregions to participate.  

6.                   To congratulate the General Secretariat for having published the Course on International Law conducted in August 2000, the new series ordered according to subjects addressed in the Courses on International Law, the work entitled “Inter-American Treaties on Legal and Judicial Cooperation,” the new editions of the OAS Charter, and the most recent inter-American conventions adopted in the framework of the OAS. 

7.                   To request the Permanent Council and the General Secretariat to study ways to step up dissemination and distribution of the Organization's legal publications, and to make them available in all the official languages. 

8.                   To instruct the General Secretariat to continue, through the Secretariat for Legal Affairs, the regional courses on recent international law topics addressed at the OAS, pursuant to paragraphs (f), (g), and (j) of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law.  

9.                   To promote, pursuant to paragraph (o) of the Inter-American Program for the Development of International Law, agreements with various entities regarding the teaching and dissemination of inter-American law, and to facilitate closer ties with academic circles and universities, as well as the governments, Congresses, and media of the member states. 

10.               To request the Permanent Council to monitor the implementation of this resolution, which shall be carried out within the resources allocated in the program-budget and other resources; and to request the Council to report thereon to the General Assembly at its thirty-third regular session.