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April 26, 2018 | During the Organization of States (OAS) 48th General Assembly, representatives of Indigenous Peoples and Communities will not need to go through the registration process for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Indigenous Peoples representatives will only need to send an email to the OAS Secretary General indicating their interest in attending, and specifying the names of up to two representatives per People or Community. If you are part of an indigenous organization or a CSO that is already registered with the OAS, you will also need to submit an email specifying the names of up to two representatives and a report on the activities of the organization for 2017. In case your organization is not registered with the OAS, you will need to submit additional documentation. Details on the registration process are available below. Please feel free to contact mmiranda@indianlaw.org should you have any questions or concerns.
This year, the organization of work will provide space for Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples to contribute through an interactive dialogue with Member States; participants will have to organize in coalitions. Once we receive the information on the format of the Dialogue and the coalitions, we will share this information with you. If you wish to form part of an Indigenous Peoples and Nations Thematic Coalition, please share your contact information with us via e-mail as soon as possible. During the 47th General Assembly, participants who did not join a coalition were only able to participate as observers. This year’s Assembly will be an important opportunity for Indigenous Peoples and organizations to get the OAS and Member States to make firm commitments to advance implementation of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (ADRIP) and not let the Plan of Action languish. Under the Plan of Action, Member States committed to reviewing “the possibility of creating an institutional monitoring mechanism within the framework of the OAS…to monitor implementation of the ADRIP at the hemispheric level” and to hold a special annual meeting of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs open to participation by Indigenous Peoples in order to “share information on progress, experience, lessons learned, and challenges in the implementation of the ADRIP.”
Resources
Registration Process
Civil Society Organizations:
There are two modalities:
Civil society organizations registered with the OAS and who wish to attend the 48< regular session of the OAS General Assembly must send the following documents regarding their organizations:
A communication (letter or email) to the OAS Secretary General, indicating their interest in attending the OAS General Assembly, and specifying the names ofup to two representativesfrom their organization who will attend the event.
A report on the activities of the organization for 2017.
Civil society organizations who are not registered with the OAS who wish to attend the 48th regular session of the OAS General Assembly must send the following documents regarding their organizations: A communication (letter or email) to the OAS Secretary General, indicating their interest in attending the OAS General Assembly, and specifying the names of up to two representatives from their organization who will attend the event.
• Charter, constitution or articles of incorporation
• Statutes
• Institutional Mission
• A report on the activity of the organization for 2017
Representatives from Indigenous Peoples and communities of African descent (other than those participating as part of civil society organizations)
• Representatives from Indigenous Peoples and communities of African descent (with the exception of persons who ask to attend as part of a civil society organization) must send a communication (letter or email) to the OAS Secretary General, indicating their interest in attending the OAS General Assembly, and specifying the names of up to two representatives per People or Community, who will attend the event.
NOTE: we thank persons with special accessibility needs to inform us. The OAS will do its utmost, within its possibilities, to attend these requests. Persons who need to travel with a personal assistant must indicate the name of the assistant, in the letter or communication requesting participation in the General Assembly. Please note that travel costs are the persons‘ responsibility.
Deadline to send the requests
The complete applications must be sent to the Section of Relations with Civil Society via email at civilsociety@oas.org, with a copy to oassociedadcivil@gmail.com, by Friday, May 4th, 2018 at 5:30pm Washington D.C. time, at the latest. The requested documents must be attached to the email. Documents sent through a link or a “cloud” will not be accepted, nor will incomplete and/or late applications.
In order to avoid mix-ups and speed up the process of application to attend the General Assembly, we wish to inform you that the process of registration is an individual process by organization, people or community that is: each organization, People or community will be responsible to send a communication, through its email, to register up to two representatives.
Accreditations
Once the participation of your organization to the General Assembly has been approved by the OAS Permanent Council, you will receive an email with instructions to fill out an individual online accreditation form which will be the basis for the printing and delivery of your accreditation.
The delivery of accreditations will begin on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. More information will be provided on this process in the Information Bulletin.
Participation of civil society organizations in the areas of the General Assembly
The space constraints in the rooms where the different activities of the General Assembly will take place are as follow:
• Dialogue of Heads of Delegation, the Secretary General, the Assistant Secretary General and Representatives of Civil Society Organizations, Workers, the Private Sector and Other Social Actors: the maximum room capacity is 350 people.
• General Assembly Plenary Sessions: the maximum room capacity is 350 people.
• General Committee Meetings: the maximum room capacity is 150 people.