Each year the OAS Secretary General publishes a proposed Program-Budget for the coming calendar year. The OAS General Assembly meets in a Special Session to approve the Program-Budget. Find these documents from 1998-2013 here.
Each year in April, the OAS Board of External Auditors publishes a report covering the previous calendar year’s financial results. Reports covering 1996-2016 may be found here.
Approximately six weeks after the end of each semester, the OAS publishes a Semiannual Management and Performance Report, which since 2013 includes reporting on programmatic results. The full texts may be found here.
Here you will find data on the Human Resources of the OAS, including its organizational structure, each organizational unit’s staffing, vacant posts, and performance contracts.
The OAS executes a variety of projects funded by donors. Evaluation reports are commissioned by donors. Reports of these evaluations may be found here.
The Inspector General provides the Secretary General with reports on the audits, investigations, and inspections conducted. These reports are made available to the Permanent Council. More information may be found here.
The OAS has discussed for several years the real estate issue, the funding required for maintenance and repairs, as well as the deferred maintenance of its historic buildings. The General Secretariat has provided a series of options for funding it. The most recent document, reflecting the current status of the Strategy, is CP/CAAP-3211/13 rev. 4.
Here you will find information related to the GS/OAS Procurement Operations, including a list of procurement notices for formal bids, links to the performance contract and travel control measure reports, the applicable procurement rules and regulations, and the training and qualifications of its staff.
The OAS Treasurer certifies the financial statements of all funds managed or administered by the GS/OAS. Here you will find the latest general purpose financial reports for the main OAS funds, as well as OAS Quarterly Financial Reports (QFRs).
Every year the GS/OAS publishes the annual operating plans for all areas of the Organization, used to aid in the formulation of the annual budget and as a way to provide follow-up on institutional mandates.
Here you will find information related to the OAS Strategic Plan 2016-2020, including its design, preparation and approval.
OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONCERNED ABOUT DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF VENEZUELA UPHOLDING LAW REQUIRING JOURNALISTS TO JOIN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION
August 2, 2004
Washington, D.C.-The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed regret over the July 27 ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Court upholding a law requiring journalists to be licensed by an association prescribed by law in order to practice journalism. The decision declares a constitutional challenge ("recurso de nulidad") filed in 1995 against various articles of the Law on the Practice of Journalism of 1994 to be unfounded.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in its fifth consultative opinion of 1985 (known as OC5/85), determined that compulsory membership in an association prescribed by law for the practice of journalism is incompatible with Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Venezuela is a party. The Court noted that “a law licensing journalists, which does not allow those who are not members of the ‘colegio’ to practice journalism and limits access to the ‘colegio’ to university graduates who have specialized in certain fields, is not compatible with the Convention.” The Inter-American Court further added that this type of law “would contain restrictions to freedom of expression that are not authorized by Article 13(2) of the Convention and would consequently be in violation not only [of] the right of each individual to seek and impart information and ideas through any means of his choice, but also the right of the public at large to receive information without any interference.”
The principal idea clearly defined in this paragraph has been invoked repeatedly by the Office of the Special Rapporteur since its creation, and it was reiterated by the IACHR in 2000 in its approval of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression. The Declaration develops the guarantees to freedom of expression under Article 13 of the Convention in greater depth, with Principle 6 of the Declaration noting that “[c]ompulsory membership or the requirement of a university degree for the practice of journalism constitute unlawful restrictions of freedom of expression.” The same principle further notes that “[j]ournalistic activities must be guided by ethical conduct, which should in no case be imposed by the State.”
The Office of the Special Rapporteur regrets that the highest court of justice in Venezuela has upheld a law requiring journalists to be licensed by an association prescribed by law in order to practice journalism because of the implications that this decision could have for the exercise of freedom of expression and of the press in Venezuela.