Organization of American States (OAS)

Organisation des Etats Américains

Organizaçãodos Estados Americanos

Organizaciónde 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 Human Rights (seven jurists ...