Organization of American States (OAS) –

A Organization of American States (OAS) is a regional body officially created in 1948, with headquarters in washington, in the United States. It currently comprises 35 countries, including Brazil. In its entire history, only two members have gone through the suspension process: Cuba and Honduras, who are now again part of the organization’s staff.

Between the goals of the OAS are cooperation among its members, the consolidation and promotion of representative democracy, as well as the development of the member countries, and the guarantee of sovereignty, peace and justice among the American States, as described in the OAS Charter. To do so, it rests on four pillars:

Read too: Mercosur – important economic bloc in South America

Topics of this article

Who is part of the OAS?

The Organization of American States is currently made up of 35 nationswhich are listed in alphabetical order in the table below.

It should be noted that Cuba, which today forms part of the organization’s staff, was suspended from the OAS on January 31, 1962, as a result of the adoption of the communist regime by the country after the Cuban Revolution (1959) and the consequent pressure imposed by the United States for its withdrawal. The Central American country had its Suspension revoked on June 3, 2009.

In the same year that Cuba became part of the OAS again, another Central American country was suspended: Honduras. The reason was the coup d’état that removed the then president Manuel Zelaya from power. The country was readmitted to the OAS in 2011upon the return of Zelaya to Honduran territory, from which he had been expelled in 2009.

In 2017, Nicolás Maduro announced the withdrawal of Venezuela from the OAS, and the body approved, the following year, a resolution to suspend the country. However, in 2019, Venezuela’s exit from the OAS was cancelled.

The OAS also has nations from other continents, who play the role of Permanent Observers.

Don’t stop now… There’s more after the publicity 😉

What is the role of the OAS?

As established by the Charter of the Organization of American States, a document dating from 1948, the OAS has various assignments, ranging from the guarantee of the national sovereignty of countries and the promotion of democracy to the mediation of possible conflicts of different natures between its members. In order to fulfill its objectives, the OAS is based on four pillars: democracy, human rights, security and development.

In this regard, highlights eight essential purposes in Article 2 of the OAS Charter|1|:

• ensuring peace and security on the continent;

• promotion and consolidation of representative democracy;

• resolution of impasses between members and prevention of causes of difficulties that may arise between them;

• organization of solidarity action by member countries in case of aggression;

• solution of political, legal and economic problems among its members;

• promotion of economic, cultural and social development through cooperation;

• eradication of critical poverty, considered an obstacle to democratic development;

• range of effective limitation of conventional weapons for the dedication of resources to the economic and social development of Member States.

It should be noted that the OAS can send, at the request of its members, electoral observation missions with the aim of monitor the conditions under which elections are held in the states. At the end, a report with data and information about the process is prepared and disseminated, also containing comments about the elections, criticisms and, when necessary, recommendations.

The weightings are made by OAS representatives, bearing in mind the objective of guaranteeing free and fair elections. However, they are not exempt from criticism and contestation, as was the case with the 2019 elections in Bolivia and the troubled electoral process that took place in the United States in the second half of 2020.

See too: How are presidential elections held in the United States?

History of the OAS

The OAS was founded on April 30, 1948, in Bogotá, capital of Colombia, within the framework of the Ninth International Conference of American States. At the time, 21 countries on the continent signed the Charter of the Organization of American States, which established the main guidelines to be followed by its members and its way of acting as a regional body. the official document entered into force in 1951. The headquarters of the OAS is in the US capital, Washington.

A first meeting of the countries of the American continent took place much earlier, between October 1889 and April from 1890, in Washington, USA. At this conference, in which 18 States participated, the International Union of American Republics.

The international conferences, which did not have a certain periodicity, gave way to the General Assembly in 1970, becoming annual. The first session of the OAS General Assembly brought together 22 countries in 1971.

It is noteworthy that two years earlier, in 1969, OAS members established the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), also referred to as the Pact of San José, Costa Rica, during the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Human Rights. The treaty entered into force in July 1978 and is one of the most important documents aimed at guaranteeing and respecting human rights.

In 2011, member countries of the OAS signsfrogma Inter-American Democratic Charterwhich aims to promote and defend representative democracy, describing it as essential for the political, economic and social development of nations|2|.

Structure of the OAS

The OAS is made up of the bodies listed below.

• general meeting: main organ of the OAS and that promotes annual meetings in which representatives of the member states and also the permanent observers are present.

• Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Described as a consultative body and also responsible for resolving urgent issues of common interest.

• two pieces of advice: Permanent and Inter-American Committee for Integral Development.

• two commissions: Inter-American Juridical Commission and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The organization is also made up of specialized organizations and conferences that focus on more specific issues.

The bodies deal with matters such as health policies, childhood, women’s rights and gender equity, research in the fields of geography and history, and agricultural cooperation. Conferences, in turn, are meetings defined by one of the other bodies or by their own determination.

OAS symbol

The OAS symbol is formed by a white circle, inside which are represented all the flags of the 35 countries that are currently part of the organization.

The organization’s logo bears, in addition to its name, its motto: “More rights for more people”.

solved exercises

Question 1 – (Fuvest 2010) The Organization of American States (OAS) revoked, through the Resolution of 06/03/2009, the decision, taken in 1962, which excluded Cuba from that organization. In relation to this topic, it is correct to state that:

A) Member countries imposed, as a condition for Cuba’s return to the OAS, compliance with the agreement to close the Guantánamo prison.

B) Cuba’s return to the OAS must result from a dialogue process at the request of the Cuban government itself.

C) the current decision of the OAS was criticized by countries in South America that are not part of that organization, such as Venezuela and Bolivia.

D) Brazil did not participate in the OAS decision, in June 2009, remaining outside the process of dialogue and negotiation with Cuba.

E) the US withdrew from the process of discussing the aforementioned resolution as they disagreed with Cuba’s readmission to the OAS.

Resolution

Alternative B. The lifting of Cuba’s suspension from the OAS, decided by the then 34 countries of the organization, was one of the first steps in a period that extends to the present in Cuba’s reintegration into the international political scene. In 2014, the Central American country participated in the Summit of the Americas, promoted by the OAS, a year that also marked the resumption of dialogue between Cuba and the United States.

Question 2 – The Organization of American States (OAS) is a regional body made up of 35 countries on the continent. Its foundation dates back to 1948, when the member countries signed the OAS Charter, a document that established the main objectives of this organization.

Check below which alternative does not correspond to the objectives described in the document:

A) development of member countries.

B) cooperation in the political, economic and social spheres among the American States.

C) regulation of a free trade zone that integrates member countries.

D) defense and guarantee of representative democracy.

E) peaceful resolution of impasses between member countries.

Resolution

Alternative C. Although the OAS values ​​economic cooperation as essential for the development of member States, the creation of a free trade zone is not part of the organization’s purposes.

Grades

|1| Text (topics) adapted from the official document: Charter of the Organization of American States (A-41). Available here.

|2| Inter-American Democratic Charter. Available here.

image credit

Joa Souza / Shutterstock

By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography Teacher