Remarks by Secretary General, Albert R. Ramdin, at the Opening Session of the 56th Regular Session of OAS General Assembly

Background

Remarks by Secretary General, Albert R. Ramdin, at the Opening Session of the 56th Regular Session of OAS General Assembly

(As prepared check against delivery)

Distinguished President of the Republic of Panama, José Raúl Mulino,
President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo,
President of Honduras, Nasry Asfura,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Javier Martínez-Acha,
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of member states,
Permanent Representatives,
Permanent Observers,
Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Laura Gil,
Colleagues from international and regional organizations,
Staff members of the Organization of American States,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Two centuries ago, on this same ground, the leaders of a newly independent Hemisphere met around a conviction that nations that share a geography also share a future. Dialogue, solidarity, cooperation and collaboration were envisioned as essential to shaping the region's future.

Simón Bolívar's call for the Amphictyonic Congress was the first deliberate attempt to give structure to solidarity among the nations of the Americas, to give form to cooperation, to give discipline to freedom, to replace isolation with coordination and suspicion with dialogue. Its ambition was extraordinary.

And while that effort was incomplete, it succeeded in something far more enduring: it proved that the nations of the Americas could think beyond themselves. That they could imagine not domination, but association. Not power over one another, but responsibility and solidarity toward one another.

In 1948, those values took institutional form with the creation of the Organization of American States (OAS). So what was once aspiration became architecture. What was once vision became commitment.

I thank President Mulino and the Government of Panama for hosting the Americas at this historical event.

Honorable Ministers, we live in a complex and changing world. Rapid technological changes, strains in the global economy, inequality, natural disasters, and organized crime test the resilience of our societies and our capacity to respond. In many cases, these developments have an adverse effect on our societies and economies, making governance more challenging.

Yet, the premise of 200 years ago still holds: multilateral action is not just one option; it is a requirement for our survival. And through our hemispheric multilateral system, we possess not only the expertise and collective resolve, but also the institutional architecture to effectively respond to these challenges. Multilateralism enables us to pursue common interests, manage shared risks, and establish rules that make international relations more stable and predictable, with respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-intervention, as prescribed in our Charter.

Ladies and gentlemen, the OAS as promised, has embarked on an intense process of institutional reform. We have eliminated silos and favored cohesion. We established three inter-departmental working groups, on Haiti, Youth, and the Private Sector to coordinate joint initiatives.

Alongside these initiatives, in order to ensure that our work remains focused, we have completed a thorough review of our mandates. At the start of this year, we carried more than 360 active mandates, now reduced to 77. Each of these has now been tied to a goal and an objective under the new Strategic Plan.

And our Strategic Plan is linked to the budget. Our 2027 Program-budget, which is up for adoption during this session of the General Assembly, sets a zero nominal growth in quota levels. This effectively sets a $93 million ceiling. Because mandatory costs keep increasing, the Organization continues to be under strain. And while we appreciate the increase to $94.3 million authorized in expenditures, relying on reserve subfunds to partially cover those costs, if necessary, is not sustainable in the long term.

At the same time, the General Secretariat is doing its part by working to achieve greater effectiveness with the resources we have. In-person work has been implemented. Internal processes are being streamlined or updated. We have a new Code of Conduct and have refocused the role of our cultural binding vehicle, the Columbus Memorial Library and the Art Museum of the Americas. We have also adopted a new real estate strategy and recently established an integrated correspondence system to improve response times to member states' inquiries.

To enhance transparency and accountability, the Office of the Executive Director (OED) is also leading the publication of a new suite of interactive dashboards.

Ladies and gentlemen, our achievements over the past year on each of the OAS Pillars are too many to recount here. For the full record across each Secretariat, I refer you to page 55 of our Annual Report, presented to this General Assembly in compliance with article 91 of the Charter. Allow me here to share some concrete results along our four pillars:

In the last 12 months, we deployed 16 electoral observation missions and 698 observers across the Hemisphere, lending credibility to electoral processes and upholding the principle of participatory democracy.

But we must continue working towards expanding the democratic space in areas of the region where it is absent or insufficient, particularly in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. For all these cases, the OAS stands ready to assist in all possible ways, upon request of our member states.

We have also expressed our readiness to assist Bolivia in addressing the domestic crisis they are currently facing. The Elections in Peru and Colombia also require our attention, because peace and stability must prevail.

In Haiti, we have taken on a coordinating role. I thank our partners, including, of course, Haiti, the United Nations, and CARICOM, for the excellent collaboration. We actively supported the Security Council resolution that established the Gang Suppression Force. We have initiated a Special Mission and appointed its Special Representative. Through our Universal Civil Identity Program in the Americas, we are supporting Haiti's Identification Office, where in the last 12 months we distributed more than 600,000 identification cards.

I would like to thank the member states and permanent observers for their important contributions. Haiti requires hemispheric solidarity, just as when Simón Bolívar's and other independent movements needed assistance, and Haiti readily provided that critical help.

We are expanding another flagship program in the Adjacency Zone between Belize and Guatemala, and continue dialogue with the leaders of both countries, who have reaffirmed their commitment to respecting the ruling of the International Court of Justice.

In Colombia, we resumed demining activities, and our teams verified more than four hundred thousand square meters of cleared land, while our Mission to Support the Peace Process contributed this year to the release of 87 people.
We have also established a Special Mission to Guatemala, which has played a crucial role in supporting the appointment of the judicial authorities.

In this regard, on several instances, the Organization's good offices have helped Member States address tensions before they escalate, providing a trusted space for dialogue, offering discreet counsel, and facilitating constructive engagement. While these efforts often take place away from public view, they are guided by a single purpose: preserving peace and stability in the Hemisphere and strengthening democratic governance.

With that same approach, the General Secretariat is working with the legitimately elected authorities of Bolivia, and stands ready to support them, in favor of peaceful coexistence among their citizens.

Pertaining to hemispheric security, we joined with regional banks to launch a hemispheric observatory on organized crime, the first of its kind, and we carried out our first joint operation with INTERPOL against firearms trafficking.

On development, our Plan Trifinio project benefited more than 12,700 people across El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. And through the Americas Competitiveness Exchange we logged over three hundred and fifty cooperation opportunities, and an independent evaluation last year estimated a return of up to thirty dollars for every dollar invested.

On legal affairs, we hosted advanced training workshops for cybercrime prosecutors in partnership with national experts and firms, reaching more than 3,000 judges and prosecutors. The Inter-American Juridical Committee also worked on an addendum to the Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information, focusing on access to information within the judicial system.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received more petitions this year than in any year of its history, and it answered more than four out of five within the same year. Behind that number are people who had nowhere else to turn and who found an answer here.

I would therefore like to commend the IACHR and the Court for their work in protecting human rights through one of the most developed systems in the world, and to reaffirm that we will speak clearly about serious human rights violations in parts of this Hemisphere. Allow me to reiterate that, in all cases, OAS stands ready to support the necessary democratic processes.

Honorable Ministers, looking at the future, we are taking new initiatives to further modernize the OAS and improve our support to member states. We have launched a Task Force on artificial intelligence which will assess the landscape, align priorities, establish governance, define guardrails, and prepare the OAS for responsible AI adoption. Because responsible AI can help the OAS do more with existing resources, by improving efficiency and accelerating delivery to serve member states, while protecting security and accountability.

We have also presented a resource mobilization plan, and before the end of the year we will update the strategy to specifically engage the private sector and other potential revenue streams.

With the recently appointed Executive Secretary for Integral Development, we will be preparing a sustainable development strategy and work plan.

We are in the process of strengthening and reforming the Inter-American Emergency Aid Fund, with proposals which will be shared with member states after this General Assembly.

Some other topics under review are viable alternatives to reduce labor costs through regional hubs and outsourcing, as well as internal directives on the use of Contractors, and enhanced communication strategies and platforms.

Honorable Ministers, much of the Organization's work takes place outside the public spotlight, and we must do more to communicate its impact. I have made it a priority to bring the OAS closer to the people of the Hemisphere, particularly our youth. Through engagements at universities, legislative bodies, meetings with the private sector, outreach to the media, we have striven to communicate our work and the achievements of the OAS.

Our engagement does not stop at the General Secretariat. We continue to expand our collaboration and coordination with our inter-American partners, IDB, IICA, and PAHO. We recently signed an agreement with PAHO for the use of the OAS Administrative Tribunal, one practical example of how the institutions of the inter-American system can share what they have rather than each build it alone.

Beyond the region, we are building working relationships with the European Union and the Council of Europe, and other regional entities, to facilitate meaningful partnerships.

Honorable Ministers, all our initiatives are anchored in a vision of peace and prosperity in the Americas, with the private sector as a central partner in these efforts. Carrying out this agenda also requires unity and greater connectivity within this Hemisphere, between our countries and people.

That unity, in turn, rests on a shared commitment to common rules. My role as Secretary General is to speak for the principles we have all agreed to uphold, respecting the rules that we all have approved. We must live by a rules-based international order, respecting obligations in good faith and with justice, maintaining peaceful relations among nations, and ensuring conduct guided by principles. Choosing principle over power is a deliberate restraint, and it is what makes this Organization credible. A forum can command trust only if it is willing to abide by the very principles it asks others to uphold.

That is the approach I take in leading the General Secretariat. We make strides to deliver on the aspirations of the OAS as a neutral body and a forum for political dialogue, where differences can be settled and where we can engage and design policies that help our citizens live in a peaceful and prosperous region.

In closing, I would like to thank the staff of the General Secretariat for their dedication and commitment to advancing our path to Peace and Prosperity. Together we can and we will deliver to the people of the Americas.

Honorable Ministers, I ask this Assembly to safeguard the legacy entrusted to us two hundred years ago and to carry its promise forward for future generations. The challenges we face are significant, but they are not greater than our collective capacity to address them.

As Secretary General of this Organization, I say this today: The OAS is the necessary forum to ensure that cooperation is not episodic but sustained. The OAS is both a mandate and a responsibility to defend democracy when it is tested, to uphold the rule of law when it is strained, to protect human dignity when it is threatened. But its deepest charge is simpler than any of these. It is to ensure that the nations of this Hemisphere do not stand apart at the very moment they are needed together.

If the Congress of Panama gave us a vision, our task is to give it continuity. If it gave us principles, our duty is to make them effective. If it entrusted us with a shared destiny, our responsibility is to act as if we truly believe in it. Then let us meet that trust, together, with resolve, and without hesitation.

Thank you.

Reference: S-014/26