The United States Government Manual

Organization of American States

Seventeenth Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20006

202-370-5000
202-458-3967
http://www.oas.org/en



Secretary General	LUIS ALMAGRO LEMES

https://www.oas.org/en/about/secretary_general.asp



Assistant Secretary General	Nestor Mendez

http://www.oas.org/en/about/assistant_secretary_general.asp

The Organization of American States seeks an order of peace and justice among its member states, promotes their solidarity and strengthens their collaboration, and defends their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.

The Organization of American States (OAS) brings together the countries of the Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation and advance common interests. At the core of the OAS mission is a commitment to democracy. Building on this foundation, OAS works to promote good governance, strengthen human rights, foster peace and security, expand trade, and address the complex problems caused by poverty, drugs, and corruption. Through decisions made by its political bodies and programs carried out by its General Secretariat, OAS promotes greater inter-American cooperation and understanding.

OAS member states have intensified their cooperation since the end of the cold war, taking on new and important challenges. In 1994, the region's 34 democratically elected presidents and prime ministers met in Miami for the First Summit of the Americas, where they established broad political, economic, and social development goals. They have continued to meet periodically since then to examine common interests and priorities. Through the ongoing Summits of the Americas process, the region's leaders have entrusted the OAS with a growing number of responsibilities to help advance the countries' shared vision.

With four official languages—English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French—the OAS reflects the rich diversity of peoples and cultures across the Americas. The OAS has 35 member states: the independent nations of North, Central, and South America, and of the Caribbean. Since 1962, Cuba has been barred from participation by resolution of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Countries from all around the world are permanent observers, closely following the issues that are critical to the Americas and often providing key financial support for OAS programs.

Member states set major policies and goals through the General Assembly, which gathers the hemisphere's foreign ministers once a year in regular session. The Permanent Council, made up of ambassadors appointed by member states, meets regularly at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, to guide ongoing policies and actions. The chairmanship of the Permanent Council rotates every 3 months, in alphabetical order of countries. Each member state has an equal voice, and most decisions are made through consensus.

Also under the OAS umbrella are several specialized agencies that have considerable autonomy: the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, DC; the Inter-American Children's Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay; the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture in San Jose, Costa Rica; and the Pan American Institute of Geography and History and the Inter-American Indian Institute, both in Mexico City.

In 1948, at the Ninth International Conference of American States, 21 nations of the hemisphere signed the OAS Charter: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba (barred from participation), Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Subsequently, 14 other countries joined the OAS by signing and ratifying the Charter. They were Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, Suriname, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Canada, Belize, and Guyana. This brings the number of member states to 35.

http://www.oas.org/en/about/who_we_are.asp

Sources of Information

A–Z Index

The "Topics" web page presents a collection of popular topics in alphabetical order.

http://www.oas.org/en/topics/default.asp

Career Opportunities

Information on employment, consultancies, and internships is available online.

http://www.oas.org/dhrs/dhr/employment_opportunities.asp

Climate Change

In 2016, the OAS's Department of Sustainable Development published the report "Climate change: A comparative overview of the rights based approach in the Americas." In the report's forward, Michael Burger described it as giving "readers a comparative overview that may serve as an important reference for governments, judges, NGOs, business actors and anybody else involved in shaping the global post-2030 agenda."

https://www.oas.org/en/sedi/dsd/docs/climate_change.pdf

Conferences

A calendar of conferences is available online.

http://www.apps.oas.org/oasmeetings/default.aspx?Lang=EN

Contact Information

Phone and fax numbers and the OAS postal and street address are available on the "Contact Us" web page.

https://www.oas.org/en/contactus.asp

Documents

The most important OAS documents, including its founding Charter and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, are available on its website. Along with these essential documents, links to other key reference material—such as annual reports of the Secretary General, OAS resolutions, agreements, and treaties—are also available.

http://www.oas.org/en/information_center/default.asp

History

A short history of the OAS is available.

http://www.oas.org/en/about/our_history.asp

Language Assistance

The OAS maintains English and Spanish versions of its website. Some web pages are also available in French and Portuguese. Language tags appear above the search box in the top right corner of most of the site's pages.

http://www.oas.org/en

Media Center

Newsletters, press releases, and speeches by OAS leaders are posted in the media center.

http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_releases.asp

Members States

Information on the 35 independent states of the Americas—all of which have ratified the OAS Charter and are member states—is available on the OAS website.

http://www.oas.org/en/member_states/default.asp