Organization of American States (OAS)

Organisation des Etats Américains

Organização dos Estados Americanos

Organización de los Estados Americanos

(OEA)

Established: By charter signed April 30, 1948, in Bogotá, Colombia, effective December 13, 1951.

Purpose: To achieve “an order of peace and justice, promoting solidarity among the American states; [to strengthen] their collaboration and [defend] their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence… as well as to establish… new objectives and standards for the promotion of the economic, social, and cultural development of the peoples of the Hemisphere, and to speed the process of economic integration.”

Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States.

Principal Organs: General Assembly, Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Council, Inter-American Council for Integral Development, Inter-American Juridical Committee (11 jurists from member states), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (seven members), Inter-American Court of ...