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OAS to Bring Together Ministers of Women's Policy of the Americas to Determine Inputs for VI Summit of the Americas

The Organization of American States (OAS) will host the Fourth Meeting of Ministers or of the Highest-Ranking Authorities Responsible for the Advancement of Women in the Member States (REMIM IV) in early November in San Salvador, in the framework of the preparatory events for the Sixth Summit of the Americas to be held in April 2012 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

Poverty and inequity reduction, security, natural disasters, access to and utilization of technology, solidarity in cooperation partnerships, and physical integration in the region will be the main themes for dialogue among the Ministers for Women, during the meeting to be held on November 1, 2011, in the capital of El Salvador. The meeting is organized periodically to ensure that women’s rights and gender equality concerns are a central part of the debate and discussions of the hemispheric agenda, in particular, in the Summits of the Americas process.

In this regard, the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, noted recently that "inequality and the low political representation of women in legislative, executive, and judiciary powers, as well as at the helm of political parties, are critical indicators of the shortcomings of our democracy and our rule of law." “Prejudice and resistance to the equality of women in political and state-level institutions represent serious obstacles to the construction of a citizen democracy that incorporates their proposals to create a solid and diverse citizenship at the ethnic and cultural level," he added.

The agenda for the event in San Salvador seeks to define agreements on the integration of the gender perspective in the final document of the Sixth Summit of the Americas, under the theme “Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity.”

In preparation for the Cartagena Summit, the OAS Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) has the responsibility to ensure that the discussion and the results of the presidential meeting reflect and respond to the rights and demands of women in the region. In this context, the OAS General Assembly proposed holding REMIM IV so that the conclusions of the debate can be taken into consideration in the negotiation process of the official document of the Sixth Summit of the Americas.

During the Fifth Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago on April of 2009, the Presidents and Prime Ministers committed to “strengthening the institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women” and to foster “the full and equal participation of women in the political life and decision-making structures of our countries.” This commitment was the direct result of a resolution adopted by the Ministers of Women at their meeting in November of 2008.

Additional information about the meeting is available here

Media inquiries can be directed to CIM Specialist Hilary Anderson at 1-202-458-3306, 1-202-290-5231 (mobile), [email protected]

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

Reference: E-915/11