Strengthen Democracy
The mission is to help to strengthen political processes in the member states, in particular to support democracy as the best option for ensuring peace, security, and development. It focuses on strengthening the role of the Organization as the primary political forum in the inter-American system and on actively helping to maintain democracy in the member states.
In pursuit of its objectives, it acts to increase the legitimacy of institutions in political processes and to strengthen the means of maintaining those processes.
Suriname focus:
Support the Electoral process in Suriname. In 2015 Elections were observed by OAS Observers.
Youth Democracy training. Citizenship education with UWI Jamaica, the Bahamas and Suriname
Priority legislative agenda—electoral reform, political campaign finance and access to information
Integral Development
The purpose of the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) is to support, facilitate, and foster integral development in the member states in coordination with measures to strengthen democracy, multidimensional security, and the promotion of human rights. SEDI also promotes intersectoral dialogue, public-private partnerships, and consensus-building in the integration of government policies on sustainable human development. SEDI will also endeavor to mobilize resources for the formulation, promotion, and implementation of technical cooperation policies, programs, and projects in the area of integral development; for encouraging mechanisms and forums for the discussion of experiences and exchange of information among the member states in its area of competence; and for activities to strengthen human and institutional capacity to improve integral development and governance throughout the Hemisphere.
Suriname focus:
Support to OAS scholarship programs and PAHO-OAS scholarships in Mexico and Brazil in Health Policy Careers
Health in All Policies – with PAHO (methodology to be applied to zika emergency?)
International WG on Education (Secondary/Vocational)
Human Rights
The IACHR is a principal and autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (“OAS”) whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere. It is composed of seven independent members who serve in a personal capacity. Created by the OAS in 1959, the Commission has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Together with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“the Court” or “the I/A Court H.R.), installed in 1979, the Commission is one of the institutions within the inter-American system for the protection of human rights (“IAHRS”).
The formal beginning of the IAHRS was approval of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man at the Ninth International Conference of American States held in Bogota in 1948. There the OAS Charter (hereinafter “the Charter”) was adopted, which declares that one of the principles upon which the Organization is founded is the “fundamental rights of the individual.”
Suriname focus:
Indigenous Rights –Collective Land Rights and Mining (Environmental Health). Hemispheric Consultation on “Land Rights, Natural Resources, Development and Consultation: Experiences and Challenges” introduced by Suriname, to be held here possibly in 2016.
Support to women in parliament and pending gender legislative agenda (including maternity leave)
National Dialogue
National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI)
Multidimensional Security
The mission of the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security (SMS) is to promote and coordinate cooperation among the OAS member states and between them and the inter-American system and other bodies in the international system, in order to assess, prevent, confront, and respond effectively to threats to security, with a view to being the leading point of reference in the Hemisphere for developing cooperation and capacity-building in the OAS member states.
The sphere of activity of the SMS is defined by the Declaration on Security in the Americas and its new concept of hemispheric security as being multidimensional and comprising traditional threats and new threats, concerns, and challenges to the security of the states of the Hemisphere.
Suriname Focus:
Support to CICAD ( Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission), CICTE (Inter-American Committee against Terrorism) and MESICIC (Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Conventionagainst Corruption)