OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE
(Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 6, 2006)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) (AG/doc.4636/06);
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the mandates issued in resolution AG/RES. 2069 (XXXV-O/05), “Observations and Recommendations on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee”;
CONSIDERING:
That Article 53 of the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) establishes the CJI as one of the organs of the Organization;
That Article 54.f of the OAS Charter provides that it is a function of the General Assembly to consider, inter alia, the observations and recommendations presented by the Permanent Council on the reports of the organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization, in accordance with Article 91.f of the Charter; and
That the Chair and the other members of the CJI presented the Committee’s annual report (CP/doc.4080/06 corr. 1) to the Permanent Council, which has forwarded its observations and recommendations thereon to the General Assembly,
RESOLVES:
To endorse the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) (AG/doc.4636/06); and to forward them to the Juridical Committee.
To congratulate the CJI on the celebration of its centennial, in 2006; and to congratulate the Permanent Council on the meeting it held to commemorate that centennial, on March 29, 2006, which was attended by members of the CJI.
To note with satisfaction the inclusion in said annual report of document CJI/doc.199/05 rev. 1, “Legal Aspects of Compliance within the States with Decisions of International Courts or Tribunals or Other International Organs with Jurisdictional Functions,” appended to resolution CJI/RES. 96 (LXVII-O/05), pursuant to resolution AG/RES. 2069 (XXXV-O/05).
To note with satisfaction the report of the Juridical Committee on the topic “Joint Efforts of the Americas in the Struggle against Corruption and Impunity,” (CJI/doc.181/05 rev. 4), appended to resolution CJI/RES. 84 (LXVI-O/05), and the report of the Rapporteur on the topic, Dr. Ana Elizabeth Villalta (CJI/doc.177/05), all of which were forwarded to the Permanent Council and included in its annual report for 2005.
To note with satisfaction the report of the Juridical Committee on the topic “International Criminal Court” (CJI/doc.211/06), which was duly forwarded to the Permanent Council pursuant to resolution AG/RES. 2072 (XXXV-O/05) for submission to the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth regular session; and to request that it continue to address the topic.
To note with satisfaction the progress made on the topic “Legal aspects of the interdependence between democracy and economic and social development”; and to request the CJI to include a final report thereon in its next annual report, based on the guidelines set forth in resolution AG/RES. 2042 (XXXIV-O/04).
To request the CJI to continue to consider the subject of the codification and harmonization of international law in the Americas and collaborate on preparations for the next Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-VII); and to encourage the rapporteurs for this topic to participate in the consultation mechanisms that are to be established for work on the topics proposed for that Conference.
To note the importance of the topic “Right to information: Access to and protection of information and personal data”; and to request the CJI to include an updated report on the protection of personal data, based on comparative law, in its next annual report.
To underscore once again the importance of holding the Course on International Law, organized each year in Rio de Janeiro by the CJI and the International Law Office of the Department of International Legal Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS); to highlight the importance of increasing the amount of OAS scholarship awards; and to urge member states to consider the possibility of paying directly for the participation of students and professors from their own countries.
To recognize the work of the CJI and of the International Law Office in publishing the lectures given during the Course on International Law, and in publishing the topical series into which they have been arranged.
To reaffirm the importance of the close ties maintained by the CJI with the political bodies of the OAS, particularly the Permanent Council, taking into account the possibility, in special cases, of inviting the CJI rapporteurs to participate in meetings held at OAS headquarters to address topics on which they report; and to call attention to the holding of the 68th regular session of the Juridical Committee, at OAS headquarters, in Washington, D.C., in March 2006, which allowed a number of fruitful encounters between the CJI and the Permanent Council and its Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs.
To recommend to the CJI that it continue to focus its efforts on the matters which the competent organs identify as being of priority interest to the Organization.
To encourage member states to continue presenting qualified candidates for election to and participation in the CJI.
To emphasize the need to provide increased administrative and budgetary support to the CJI commensurate with its ability to provide studies and reports to the Organization so that it may continue to strengthen its capacity to address the current inter-American legal agenda and issue the corresponding recommendations.
To request the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh regular session on the implementation of this resolution, which will be carried out within the resources allocated in the program-budget of the Organization and other resources.
