About the OAS

• Who We Are
• What We Do
• Our Structure
  • General Assembly
  • Meetings of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs
  • Councils
  • Inter-American Juridical Committee
  • Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
  • General Secretariat
    • Secretary General
    • Assistant Secretary General
    • Secretariats
    • Other Autonomous and/or Decentralized Organs, Agencies, Entities, and Dependencies
  • Specialized Conferences
  • Specialized Organizations
• Our Locations
• Contact Us
• Offices in the Member States
• Our History
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• Authorities

Specialized Organizations

OAS Chapter XVIII of the Charter defines the specialized organizations as intergovernmental organizations established by multilateral agreements and having specific functions with respect to technical matters of common interest to the American states. They enjoy the fullest technical autonomy, but are to take into account the recommendations of the General Assembly and the Councils.

• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
  Established in 1902 by the Second International Conference of American States, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is the inter-American system’s specialized organization in health matters and the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Americas (AMRO/WHO). Its mission is to “lead strategic collaborative efforts among member states and other partners to promote equity in health, to combat disease, and to improve the quality of and lengthen the lives of the peoples of the Americas.”
• The Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN)
  The Institute is a specialized organization that helps create public policy on children in the Americas, promotes the partnership between the State and civil society, and cultivates a critical awareness of the problems affecting children and adolescents in the region.
• The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
  Created by the Sixth International Conference of American States (Havana, 1928), the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) is the OAS’ advisory body on issues related to women in the Hemisphere and the principal forum generating hemispheric policy to promote the rights of women and gender equality and equity. Its objective is to work to have the gender perspective mainstreamed into the Organization’s projects, programs and policies and to lobby governments to craft public policies and programs with a gender perspective so that men and women may enjoy equal opportunity in every realm of society
• The Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH)
  Established by the Sixth International Conference of American States (Havana, 1928), the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) offers technical cooperation, provides training at research centers, issues publications, and organizes technical meetings in the fields of cartography, geography, history, and geophysics.
  
  With the support of the system of national sections and with the participation of the interested scientific community in the hemisphere, the PAIGH is answering the growing demand from the international scientific community in its mission of interpreting the territory, using geographic and historical analysis and an authentically hemispheric vision. It is also cultivating effective and timely mechanisms for specialists to communicate with one another, based on specific parameters.
• The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
  Founded in 1942, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is the inter-American system’s organization specializing in the agricultural sector and rural territories. As such, it stimulates, promotes, and supports the member States’ efforts to achieve sustainable development of agriculture and to enable rural communities to prosper.