Organization of American States
international organization of states in the Americas
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; Spanish: Organización de los Estados Americanos; Portuguese: Organização dos Estados Americanos; French: Organisation des États américains) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is a voluntary "multilateral regional body focused on human rights, electoral oversight, social and economic development, and security in the Western Hemisphere", according to the Council on Foreign Relations. As of November 2023, 32 states in the Americas are OAS members.
Albert Ramdin of Suriname was inaugurated as OAS secretary general in May 2025, replacing Luis Almagro of Uruguay.
History
19th century
The notion of an international union in the American continent was first put forward during the liberation of America by José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar who, at the 1826 Congress of Panama, still being part of Colombia, proposed creating a league of American republics, with a common military, a mutual defense pact, and a supranational parliamentary assembly. The meeting was attended by representatives of Gran Colombia (comprising the present-day countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela), Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, the United Provinces of Central America, and Mexico but the grandly titled "Treaty of Union, League, and Perpetual Confederation" was ultimately ratified only by Gran Colombia. Bolívar's dream soon floundered with civil war in Gran Colombia, the disintegration of Central America, and the emergence of national rather than New World outlooks in the newly independent American republics. Bolívar's dream of inter-American unity was meant to unify Hispanic American nations against external powers.
Founding of the International Union of American Republics
The pursuit of regional solidarity and cooperation again came to the forefront in 1889–1890, at the First International Conference of American States. Gathered together in Washington, D.C., 18 nations resolved to found the International Union of American Republics, served by a permanent secretariat called the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics (renamed the International Commercial Bureau at the Second International Conference in 1901–1902).
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