Organization of American States

The Organization of American States (OAS) was established by the Charter of the OAS, signed in Bogotá in 1948 and entered into force in 1951. It is the oldest regional organization in the world, succeeding the Pan-American Union, which traced its origins to the 1890 First International Conference of American States. All 35 independent countries of the Americas are member states, though Cuba's participation in OAS activities was suspended in 1962 and the suspension was lifted in 2009 (Cuba has declined to rejoin). Venezuela's status has been disputed since 2017–2019 following its announced withdrawal.

The OAS rests on four pillars: democracy, human rights, security, and development. Its principal organs include the General Assembly (the supreme body, meeting annually), the Permanent Council (composed of ambassadors in Washington), the General Secretariat, and specialized bodies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, based in Washington) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (based in San José, Costa Rica). The Court and Commission operate under the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José, 1969).

A central instrument is the Inter-American Democratic Charter, adopted on 11 September 2001 in Lima, which allows the OAS to respond to "an unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order" in a member state, potentially through suspension under Article 21. The Charter has been invoked in cases involving Honduras (2009), and the organization has issued findings on elections in Bolivia (2019) and Nicaragua, among others.

The OAS also administers election-observation missions, anti-corruption mechanisms (such as MESICIC under the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption), and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD). Its working languages are Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French. The Secretary General is elected for a five-year term by the General Assembly.