Screening of General Assembly
Mandates
As mandated by the Permanent
Council
CP/doc.4687/12 rev.2
Background
In September 2008, the OAS General Assembly reiterated the mandates adopted at its
thirty-eighth regular session by resolution AG/RES. 2437 (XXXVIII-O/08) regarding the
process of preparing the program-budget and, at the same time, ordered an in-depth
examination of all the Organization’s revenue and expenditure in the context of its
current mandates in order to establish priorities and optimize the use of funds for
future program-budgets, within the capacity of the member states to finance them.
The first inventory of mandates (CP/CAAP-2968/08) was presented in 2008; however, its
scope was too limited as it only identified the 537 mandates issued by the General
Assembly session in Panama.
The report on that inventory (CP/CAAP-2977/08 add. 1 corr. 1) defined what constitutes
a mandate, and the first situation review of the Organization’s mandates was prepared.
The first list of mandates arranged by pillar and subpillar (CP/CAAP-3030/09 rev. 1) was
presented toward the end of 2009; it identified more than 1,700 mandates from 1935
to 2008.
In 2010 and 2011 a number of mandate reviews were conducted using different
schemes (active and inactive mandates, mandates classified by costing and with no
funding assigned, and mandates by pillar, by subpillar and by set of mandates).
The above reflects the complexity of the mandate issue at the OAS.
Near the end of 2011, the Working Group on the Review of OAS Programs established
an informal working group to analyze the mandates from a different perspective and
design a scheme for screening them.
In the Draft Procedure and Schedule of the Strategic Vision of the OAS, the Permanent
Council instructed the Working Group to finalize the scheme for screening the
mandates issued by the General Assembly over the past five years, with a view to
consolidating all current mandates in a single document.
This report (CP/CAAP-3175/12) and its addendums contain an analysis of the mandates
based on the scheme used by the Working Group on the Review of OAS Programs,
which were approved by the CAAP in accordance with the mandate of the Permanent
Council.
Inventory of
Mandates
Mandates Recorded
1935-2011
2,370
2007-2011
1,445
2007
328
2008
326
1935-2006
925
2009
255
2010
259
2011
277
Mandates 2007–2011
1,445
Mandates from other
legal instruments
General Assembly
mandates
96
1,349
Inter-American Programs
Plans of Action
Communiqués of Meetings of Ministers and High Authorities
Work Plans
Method
Expired
a) Mandates with expired deadlines for implementation
AG/RES. 2372
(XXXVIII-O/08)
Coordination of Volunteers in the Hemisphere in
response to Natural Disasters and the Fight against
Hunger and Poverty – White Helmets Initiative
No. 13
To request the General Secretariat to report to the General
Assembly at its fortieth regular session on the
implementation of this resolution, the execution of which
shall be subject to the availability of financial resources in the
program-budget of the Organization and other resources.
b) Mandates with currency solely during the budgetary cycle, under Art. 83 of the General
Standards
AG/RES. 2353
(XXXVII-O/07)
Program-budget of the Organization for 2008,
Quotas and Contributions to FEMCIDI for 2008
No. III,
B, 14
14. Honoraria
To maintain the sum of US$150 a day for the honoraria paid
to members of the following bodies entitled to such
payment: Administrative Tribunal, Board of External
Auditors, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
Inter-American Juridical Committee, and Inter-American
Court of Human Rights.
c) Mandates created for an event that has concluded
AG/RES. 2341
(XXXVII-O/07)
Inter-American Convention against the Illicit
Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms,
Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials
No. 4
To convene, in the framework of the Consultative Committee
of the CIFTA, the Third Meeting of the OAS Group of Experts
to Prepare Model Legislation in the Areas to Which the CIFTA
Refers, for October 15 and 16, 2007, to consider draft model
legislation on legislative measures, pursuant to Article IV of
the Convention.
d) Mandates corresponding to observations and recommendations on the
annual reports of autonomous and decentralized organs, such as the:
• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• Inter-American Juridical Committee
Duplicates
Mandates whose text repeats identically over several years
2007
AG/RES. 2271
(XXXVII-O/07)
Protecting Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms
while Countering Terrorism
No. 4
To request the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to continue
promoting respect for and the defense of human rights and facilitating efforts by
member states to comply appropriately with their international human rights
commitments when developing and executing counterterrorist measures, including
the rights of persons who might be at a disadvantage, subject to discrimination, or at
risk as a result of terrorist violence or counterterrorist initiatives, and to report to
the Permanent Council on the advisability of conducting a follow-up study.
2008
AG/RES. 2415
(XXXVIII-O/08)
Protecting Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms
While Countering Terrorism
No. 9
To request the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to continue
promoting respect for and the defense of human rights and facilitating efforts by
member states to comply appropriately with their international human rights
commitments when developing and executing counterterrorist measures, including
the rights of persons who might be at a disadvantage, subject to discrimination, or at
risk as a result of terrorist violence or counterterrorist initiatives, and to report to
the Permanent Council on the advisability of conducting a follow-up study.
2009
AG/RES. 2512
(XXXIX-O/09)
Protecting Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms
While Countering Terrorism
No. 10
To request the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to continue
promoting respect for and the defense of human rights and facilitating efforts by
member states to comply appropriately with their international human rights
commitments when developing and executing counterterrorist measures, including
the rights of persons who might be at a disadvantage, subject to discrimination, or at
risk as a result of terrorist violence or counterterrorist initiatives, and to report to
the Permanent Council on the advisability of conducting a follow-up study.
2011
AG/RES. 2676
(XLI-O/11)
Protecting Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms
While Countering Terrorism
No. 13
To request the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to continue
promoting respect for and the defense of human rights and facilitating efforts by
member states to comply appropriately with their international human rights
commitments when developing and executing counterterrorist measures, including
the rights of persons who might be at a disadvantage, subject to discrimination, or at
risk as a result of terrorist violence or counterterrorist initiatives, and to report to
the Permanent Council on the advisability of conducting a follow-up study.
Procedure
Mandates whose actions for implementation have been as incorporated as working or
reporting methods in areas of the General Secretariat.
AG/RES. 2514
(XXXIX-O/09)
Access to Public Information:
Strengthening Democracy
No. 12
To instruct the Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression of the
IACHR to continue to include in the Commission’s Annual Report a report on
the situation regarding access to public information in the region.
AG/RES. 2338
(XXXVII-O/07
Support for and Follow-up to
the Summits of the Americas
Process
No. 10
To request the General Secretariat to submit to the Permanent Council
systematic and detailed information on the budgetary and financial
management of said Specific Fund.
Not mandates
Do not entail actions to be carried out by the Secretary General and do not meet the
terms of document CP/CAAP-2977/8 add. 1 defining a mandate “as a request for action by
the OAS General Secretariat, which originates in a resolution of the General Assembly.”
2010
AG/RES. 2535
(XL-O/10)
Inter-American Convention against
the Illicit Manufacturing of and
Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition,
Explosives, and Other Related
Materials
No. 3
To encourage the member states of the Organization
of American States (OAS) to implement, as
appropriate, the aforementioned model legislation,
and to request the assistance of the Technical
Secretariat, where appropriate, in the development
and enactment of this model legislation.
Organizational Pillars
Democracy and
Governance
Permanent Council Committees
CAJP
Human Rights
CSH
Multidimensional
Security
Integral
Development
CIDI
Policy Direction
CAAP
Support to member
states
CEAM
Administration
Infrastructure and
Common Costs
SUMMITS
Result
465
35%
649
48%
225
17%
5
0%
Vencidos
Expired
Duplicados
Duplicates
5
0%
No
NotMandatos
Mandates
1,349
mandates
Procedimiento
Procedure
Vigentes
Current
20
3%
21
3%
72
11%
207
32%
190
29%
139
22%
649
mandates
CAJP
CIDI
CSH
CAAP
CEAM
CUMBRES
Distribution of mandates by Permanent Council committee
MANDATES
Current
Expired
Duplicates
Not mandates
Procedure
TOTAL
CAJP
207
126
126
3
3
CSH
190
48
38
1
CIDI
139
53
20
1
1
465
277
214
COMMITTEE
CAAP
CEAM
72
21
228
2
2
302
23
SUMMITS TOTAL
20
649
8
465
39
225
5
1
5
68
1,349