Tomorrow is OAS Day

On Saturday, April 30, 2011, member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) will mark OAS Day.{{more}}

OAS Day was established in 1998, through a Resolution of the OAS Permanent Council, to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the Organization of American States on April 30th, 1948, in Bogotá, Colombia. By marking the anniversary of the signing each year, the OAS seeks to draw the attention of the peoples of the hemisphere to the aims and achievements of the Organization and to gain support for its work.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with which the OAS has been engaged since December 3, 1981, the Organization has been instrumental in the initiation and/or execution of a plethora of projects and initiatives which have contributed significantly to the social, economic and political development of this country. OAS projects have facilitated agricultural sector planning and land reform; development of the tourism sector; training and small business start-ups for vulnerable youth and unemployed women with families; training for educators; satellite technology and equipment for the Community College; drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation at Her Majesty’s Prison, and technical assistance and training in the critical area of national security, among others.

Multiple sectoral studies conducted in this country – on soils, land capabilities, landslide hazards, tourism development, and education, to name a few – have made significant contributions to the knowledge within and development of those sectors, and continue to be major points of reference for researchers.

The OAS academic scholarship program, one of the leading scholarship programs in the hemisphere, has provided some 142 undergraduate and graduate scholarships to citizens of St. Vincent and the Grenadines since 1984.

In the area of democracy, the OAS has deployed Electoral Observer Missions for the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general elections, and for the 2009 Referendum on Constitutional Reform, as well as providing funding for Constitutional Reform and funding and technical assistance for the modernization of the Civil Registry and the Electoral Department.

And these are only the broadest brush strokes of the Organization’s involvement with St. Vincent and the Grenadines over the years. In this, its 30th year of membership of the OAS, the Organization continues to work closely with the Government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to ensure that this impact is maintained.

In a hemisphere which boasts a diversity of peoples, cultures, languages, religions and geography, shaped by diverse political beliefs and influenced by varied national social and economic concerns and interests, the OAS has achieved remarkable successes in hemispheric collaboration in many areas, deriving from a strong spirit of cooperation, commitment and shared responsibility, engendered by the active and permanent collaboration of its member states in its various Organs and institutions.

In the areas of democracy, good governance, economic, social and cultural development, security, the promotion and protection of human rights, and the eradication of extreme poverty, OAS member states have worked and collaborated consistently over the past six decades to secure a better future for the next generations and to meet the challenge of turning the high expectations of all citizens into reality.

As the OAS marks 63 years of service to the hemisphere, it will continue to meet those challenges promptly and effectively as it works to build this hemisphere and its peoples.