Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; Spanish: Organización de los Estados Americanos; Portuguese: Organização dos Estados Americanos; French: Organisation des États américains) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Organization of American States
Spanish
Organización de los Estados Americanos
French
Organisation des États américains
Portuguese
Organização dos Estados Americanos
| Spanish | Organización de los Estados Americanos |
|---|---|
| French | Organisation des États américains |
| Portuguese | Organização dos Estados Americanos |
17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., U.S.
38°53′34″N 77°02′25″W / 38.8929138°N 77.0403734°W
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba (Non-participant)
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua (Formerly)
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela (Disputed)[Note 1]
30 April 1948
40,275,678 km2 (15,550,526 sq mi)
980,457,921
24/km2 (62.2/sq mi)
UTC−10 to +0
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is a "multilateral regional body focused on human rights, electoral oversight, social and economic development, and security in the Western Hemisphere", according to the Council on Foreign Relations.[1] As of November 2023, 32 states in the Americas are OAS members.[2][3]
Luis Almagro of Uruguay was inaugurated as OAS secretary general in 2015.[4][5]
In the words of Article 1 of the Charter, the goal of the member nations in creating the OAS was "to achieve an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence." Article 2 then defines eight essential purposes:
Over the course of the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, the return to democracy in Latin America, and the thrust toward globalization, the OAS made major efforts to reinvent itself to fit the new context. Its stated priorities now include the following:
The Organization of American States is composed of a General Secretariat, the Permanent Council, the Inter-American Council for Integral Development, and a number of committees.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States consists of six secretariats.
The various committees of the Organization of American States include:
The various commissions of the Organization of American States include:
Funding[edit]
The OAS has two funds, one for the General Secretariat, and one for specific programs and initiatives. The General Assembly asks for contributions from each member country based on its capacity to pay. In 2018 the General Secretariat's budget was $85 million of which the US contributed $50 million. In 2017 the US contributed $17 million to the fund for specific programs which was almost a third of the total contributions for that year.[37]
The OAS has five specialized agencies:[82]
