OAS members states negotiated text for the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism in November 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  The final text was adopted at the OAS General Assembly meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 3, 2002.

The Convention commits state parties to endeavor to become party to 10 international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism (listed in the Convention), consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 1373. The Convention also commits state parties to take certain measures to prevent, combat, and eradicate the financing of terrorism and to deny safe haven to suspected terrorists. The Treaty further requires that the terrorist acts covered under the specified international conventions and protocols be criminalized as predicate crimes to money laundering. The Convention provides for enhanced cooperation in a number of areas, including exchanges of information, border control measures, and law enforcement actions.

On November 12, the President Submitted the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism to the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification. Opened for signature in June 2002, the OAS convention entered into force internationally on July 10, 2003, 30 days after the sixth signatory deposited its instrument of ratification. The Convention entered into force internationally on July 10, 2003, after six countries became party. On October 7, 2005, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to the President’s ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism. On November 2, 2005, President Bush signed the instrument of ratification.

The United States deposited the instrument of ratification at the Organization of American States headquarters in Washington, DC in a ceremony on November 15, 2005, and became party to the Convention 30 days thereafter in accordance with the Convention’s terms.

The Convention is a powerful indication of this region’s resolve to fight terrorism in all its forms, enhancing hemispheric security by improving regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism, denying safe haven to terrorists, and by facilitating the exchange of information, technical assistance, and training in a wide number of complex areas, including the prevention and eradication of terrorist financing, the improvement of border and customs controls, and the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of terrorist acts.

In 2002-03, OAS member states undertook a comprehensive review of the hemispheric security architecture, culminating in a Special Conference on Security that took place in Mexico in October 2003. The Declaration on Security in the Americas provides a practical guide for resolving interstate border tensions, lowering pressure for arms spending, promoting democratic norms, and fostering a climate of confidence, trust, transparency, and cooperation in our Hemisphere.

In addition, the OAS has been active in preventive diplomacy. The OAS, with technical support from the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH), has provided cartographers, facilitators, conciliators, offered its good offices, and brokered agreements to resolve disputes between Belize and Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and El Salvador and Honduras.

The OAS has been involved in many conflict resolution and national reconciliation activities, such as disarmament and demobilization in Colombia.

Public Security is one of the major concerns of the Americas.  In April 2008, the OAS Permanent Council convened the First Inter-American Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Public Security (MISPA), which was held on October 7-8, 2008, in Mexico City, Mexico. The Department of Public Security (DPS) initiated a preparatory process with the participation of the institutions of the inter-American system, international and subregional development agencies, academics, and civil society organizations. The purpose of the meeting is to share successful experiences and exchange information as a basis for examining recommendations regarding public security management, the management of police forces, crime and violence prevention, citizen participation in public security, and international cooperation on security issues.

The OAS narcotics program was launched at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Traffic in Narcotic Drugs in April 1986—the first Western Hemisphere meeting to deal with all aspects of the drug problem. In accordance with the program of action adopted at that meeting, the OAS General Assembly in November 1986 created the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), which meets twice a year to direct the program and assess the drug situation in the hemisphere. Originally composed of 11 member governments, the commission has been expanded to 34 because of growing interest in the program and concern about the drug problem. The first projects were implemented in 1988. The program has identified five priority lines of action: development of domestic and international law, establishment of an inter-American drug information system, demand reduction, alternative development, and strengthening national drug commissions.

In 1996, the OAS produced a counter-narcotics strategy that will guide collective actions in the 21st century, and in 1999, it established a Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM), as mandated by the Santiago Summit of the Americas. Under the MEM, experts evaluate individual country submissions documenting efforts to combat drug abuse and trafficking; the first full round of evaluations was published in January 2003. The OAS also has produced internationally acclaimed model legislation on precursor chemicals and money laundering control.

Fact Sheet: The Inter-American Convention against Corruption and its Follow-Up Mechanism

The Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC)

This Convention was adopted in the framework of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1996. It was the first international legal instrument to address corruption and is the most ratified treaty in the Hemisphere following the OAS Charter. Its preamble includes recognition of the international impact of corruption and the need for an instrument to promote and facilitate cooperation between states to confront it effectively. The IACAC emphasizes the importance of the actions of individual states, the private sector, civil society, and the international community.

It is also the principal Inter-American legal instrument for extradition in corruption-related cases; for inter-state cooperation and assistance in securing evidence and pursuing other formalities necessary to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of acts of corruption; and for identifying, tracking, securing, seizing, and confiscating assets obtained or derived from the commission of crimes of corruption and assets used to commit such offenses or produced thereby. The Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC)

This Mechanism is an intergovernmental body that affords broad scope for civil society participation. Established in the framework of the OAS on June 4, 2001, MESICIC supports its States Parties in the implementation of the provisions of the IACAC through a process of reciprocal evaluation based on conditions of equality among the states. After the evaluation, reports are adopted that include specific recommendations for improving and strengthening the legal and institutional instruments of the states.

MESICIC’s objectives are to: 1) Promote the implementation of the IACAC and contribute to the achievement of its goals; 2) Follow up on the commitments assumed by States Party to the IACAC and review the how IACAC commitments are being implemented; and 3) Facilitate activities of technical cooperation, the exchange of information, experiences and best practices, and the harmonization of States Parties’ legislation.

MESICIC is composed of the Conference of States Parties, the political body, as well as the Committee of Experts, the technical body, and supported by the OAS Department of Legal Cooperation which serves as Technical Secretariat. Examples of concrete results and activities that have taken place within the framework of MESICIC include:

• The completion of five Rounds of Review analyzing implementation by States Parties of various aspects covered in the IACAC. The Sixth Round of Review is currently underway (began March 2020). On average, each MESICIC review round takes approximately four year to complete, resulting in four to six country reports per year.

 

• Adoption of five Hemispheric Reports, which synthesize recommendations that MESICIC has formulated to each of the States individually; the activities carried by the MESICIC Technical Secretariat to assist countries in implementing the IACAC; and measures implemented by the countries.

 

• Development of a set of legal cooperation tools by the MESICIC Technical Secretariat to support states in their implementation of the IACAC, and to improve the effectiveness of their laws, policies, and institutions involved with fighting corruption:

 

• • The Anticorruption Portal of the Americas, which facilitates access to the developments taking place in the areas of transparency and anticorruption cooperation.
• • The systematization of national laws entailing the classification, by topic and by country, of the domestic legal provisions submitted by the states for consideration by MESICIC.
• •  A series of legislative guidelines to support states in identifying the basic elements that should be included in their domestic legal framework applicable to the topics analyzed by MESICIC.
• • A set of model laws that offers a legal reference framework to support states in drafting, reviewing, and amending their domestic laws and regulations related to the provisions of the Convention, in topics such as systems for registering the income, assets and liabilities of persons and for protecting those who report acts of corruption.

The Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) is an entity of the Organization of American States of the OAS. The Board’s central role is to provide the OAS and its member states with technical, educational and consultancy services on matters related to military and defense issues in the hemisphere in order to contribute to the fulfillment of the OAS Charter.

The IADB has as one of its principal organizations the Inter-American Defense College, established in 1962. The College is the preeminent hemispheric institution dedicated to developing and providing opportunities to military officers and civilian officials from OAS member states for advanced academic courses related to military and defense issues, the inter-American system and related disciplines. Instruction is based on distinguished speakers from throughout the hemisphere who are experts on matters of defense in the Americas.

Visit the site of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs office of hemispheric security at: www.state.gov/p/wha/hs/index.htm