Number: RS22095
Title: Orgaization of American States: A Primer
Authors: Clare Ribando, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: The Organization of American States (OAS) is an international organization based in Washington, D.C., comprised of 35 Western Hemisphere states. The OAS works to promote democracy, protect human rights, preserve security, expand trade, and address cross-cutting issues of hemispheric concern. In 2001, OAS member-states adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and the organization has made significant efforts to deal with threats to democracy in Bolivia, Haiti, Venezuela, and, more recently, in Nicaragua and Ecuador. In October 2004, the new Secretary General, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who had proposed a number of reforms to solve the OAS's chronic budget shortfalls, resigned amid allegations of corruption from his tenure as president of Costa Rica. On May 2, 2005, José Miguel Insulza, the former Chilean minister of government, was elected as Secretary General of the OAS. Insulza faces the challenges of solving the organization's budget crisis, preventing further democratic crises in the hemisphere, and implementing the initiatives of the fourth Summit of the Americas held in Mar del Plata, Argentina in November 2005. The United States is the main contributor to the OAS. The FY2005 U.S. regular contribution to the OAS was $55.7 million; the FY2006 contribution is estimated at $65.9 million.
Pages: 6
Date: December 20, 2005