OEA - CP - Resolución CP CAJP SA 818 rev 1

PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE OEA/Ser.G

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES CP/CAJP/SA.818/26 rev. 1 26 March 2026

COMMITTEE ON JURIDICAL AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS Original: Spanish Summary of the regular meeting of the CAJP held on January 29, 20261 / This regular meeting of the CAJP was held in a hybrid format, i.e., in the Simón Bolívar Room with the option of virtual participation, due to problems triggered by snow and ice from Winter Storm Fern. Permanent Representative of Uruguay Ambassador Edison Lanza presided over the meeting in his capacity as Chair of the CAJP. The meeting was called to order at 2:39 p.m. The statutory quorum was established Assistance presence of representatives of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, United States, and Uruguay. Besides the individuals included on the order of business for this meeting, also seated at the head table were the Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary General, Ms. Gloria Uribe; and the Senior Legal Officer of the Department of International Law, Dr. Jaime Moreno-Valle. The audio recording of the meeting may be obtained from the following link: http://scm.oas.org/audios/2026/CAJP_01-29-2026.mp3

1. Consideration and adoption of the order of business of the meeting (CP/CAJP-3882/26 rev.2) The order of business was adopted as submitted.

2. Follow-up on mandates from resolution AG/RES. 3029 (LIV-O/24)”: “Strengthening

Democracy”

1. Section i: “Follow-up on the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” operative paragraph 6: Proposals from the Voluntary Follow-up Group of the Inter-American Democratic Charter The mandate contained in General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 3029 (LIV-O/24), “Strengthening Democracy,” section i., “Follow-up on the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” states as follows: To invite the Voluntary Follow-up Group of the Inter Democratic Charter to submit to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs (CAJP ) proposals to strengthen democracy in the hemisphere, in line with the OAS Charter and the Inter-American

1 . Summaries of CAJP meetings are available in the four languages and are classified by year, on the following website: OAS>>>Summary of meetings2 Democratic Charter, which should be reviewed by the Permanent Council and submitted for consideration by the fifty-fifth session General Assembly. Consideration of this item began with a presentation by Ambassador Claudia Escobar Mejía, Permanent Representative of Guatemala, in her capacity as Chair of the Voluntary Follow-up Group of the IADC (link) This was followed by comments from the delegations of the following member states:

1. Chile

2. Mexico

3. Brazil

4. United States (items 2.i and 2.ii)

5. Peru

6. Uruguay

7. Colombia

8. Canada Having concluded its consideration of this item, the CAJP took note of the presentation given by Ambassador Claudia Escobar Mejía, Permanent Representative of Guatemala, in her capacity as Chair of the Voluntary Follow-up Group of the Inter Democratic Charter, regarding the mandate contained in paragraph 6, section i, of resolution AG/RES. 3029 (LIV-O/24)”: “Strengthening Democracy.” The CAJP also took note of the comments made by member state

delegations. The Chair noted as well that it would continue to monitor further progress made by the Voluntary Group for presentation to this Committee. ii. Section i: “Follow-up on the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” operative paragraph 7: Proposal for a mechanism that integrates and systematizes the qualitative and quantitative information of relevant actions, programs, and activities carried out by the Organization, related to the six chapters of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Before beginning the consideration of this item, the Chair reminded the Committee that its December 11, 2025 meeting had considered a New Proposal for a New Proposed Mechanism for the Systematization of Information Within the Framework of the revised version of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) (prepared by the Secretariat for the Strengthening of Democracy) and classified as document CP/CAJP 3880/25. Responding to comments made by delegations at that meeting, the Secretary for Strengthening Democracy said he would submit a revised version of the Proposed Mechanism3 that had been distributed on January 22 in preparation for this CAJP meeting ( CP/CAJP3880/26 rev. 1). The mandate contained in General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 3029 (LIV-O/24), “Strengthening Democracy,” section i., “Follow-up on the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” states as follows in operative paragraph 7: To instruct the General Secretariat to present, for the review of the CAJP and for further consideration and approval by the member states through the Permanent Council, a proposal for a mechanism that integrates and systematizes the qualitative and quantitative information of relevant actions, programs, and activities carried out by the Organization related to the six chapters of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, using existing resources and voluntary contributions, in order to enable the member states to examine and evaluate these actions, as well as to consult and

cooperate on an ongoing basis on shared priorities. The Consideration of the New Proposed Mechanism for the Systematization of Information Within the Framework of the revised version of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) (CP/CAJP-3880/26 rev. 1) began with the presentation by the Secretary for Strengthening Democracy, Ambassador Sebastián Kraljevich. This was followed by comments from the delegations of the following member states:

1. Colombia

2. Mexico

3. Costa Rica: (items 2.i and 2.ii)

4. Uruguay

5. Brazil

6. El Salvador

7. Chile

8. Peru After concluding its consideration of this item, the CAJP took note of both the presentation on the revised version of the “New Proposal for a Mechanism for the Systematization of Information within the Framework of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC),” given by the Secretary for Strengthening Democracy, Ambassador Sebastián Kraljevich, and of the statements made by the member states.

Likewise, having completed its review of the New Proposed Mechanism, the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs will submit the document, under cover of a note4 from the Chair, for consideration and approval by the member states through the Permanent Council.

3. Follow-up on the mandate from resolution AG/RES. 3028 (LIV-O/24), “Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,” section xviii. “Promotion and protection of human rights online”: operative paragraph 13

Operative paragraph 13 reads as follows: To recommend, resources permitting, that the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression advance – in coordination with the Inter-American Juridical Committee and other relevant organs of the Organization – studies on the impact of advancements in generative

artificial intelligence (AI) on human rights, as well as parameters for the legal, necessary, and proportional use of cyber vigilance in the Americas. To begin consideration of this item, the Committee received a presentation by the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (RELE/IACHR), on the topic “Preliminary progress on studies concerning the impact of artificial intelligence on human rights,” delivered by Special Rapporteur Dr. Pedro Vaca. In preparation for this CAJP meeting, a joint statement was distributed, on behalf of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative for Freedom of the Media, the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa: a. Declaración conjunta sobre IA, la Libertad de Expresión y la Libertad de los Medios de Comunicación b. Joint Declaration on AI, Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom This was followed by comments from the delegations of the following member states:

1. Chile

2. Costa Rica

3. Uruguay

4. Brazil

5. Mexico

6. Colombia

7. Ecuador

8. Peru5

9. Guatemala

10. United States Having concluded its consideration of this item, the CAJP took note of the presentation given by Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Pedro Vaca, regarding the follow-up report on the mandate contained in operative paragraph 13, section xviii. “Promotion and protection of human rights online,” of resolution AG/RES. 3028 (LIV-O/24), “Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The

Committee also took note of the comments made by member states.

4. Presentation on the Mandate Management System (SIGMA), by Mr. Luis Alberto del Castillo, Office of the Executive Director To begin consideration of this item, the Chair reminded the Committee that at its November 20, 2025 meeting, the CAJP had approved the proposal from the Office of the Executive Director on the CAJP mandates (see the Excel table contained in document CP/CAJP-3865/25 rev. 2 Table in

Spanish - Table in English). At that time, the CAJP Chair instructed Mr. del Castillo and his team to update the information on the CAJP mandates contained in the Mandate Management System (SIGMA) and to come back to this Committee on this date, to give a presentation on SIGMA. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Committee on this date heard a new presentation by Mr. Luis Alberto del Castillo (Office of the Executive Director) concerning the Mandate Management System (SIGMA).  https://www.oas.org/ext/en/tools/sigmandates During the presentation on the Mandate Management System, it was explained that the objective of SIGMA was to provide the member states, permanent observers, and other donors with real-time information on the status of General Assembly-approved mandates, including their situation, funding, and prioritization, in the interest of supporting informed decision-making. Mr. del Castrillo explained that SIGMA comprised three modules: mandate management; costing estimates for new mandates; and mandate prioritization. He further noted that, to date, the Organization had 367 active mandates, 112 of them pertaining to the CAJP and added that, in compliance with AG/RES.1 (LVIII-E/25), these 112 mandates will have to be analyzed from the perspective of the new definition of mandate:  Mandates that do not meet the definition will be reviewed by the General Secretariat and submitted to the CAJP for consideration with a view to removing them.  Mandates fitting the definition – and the implementation of which has not begun within two years of their approval, either due to lack of funding or because the General Secretariat

 Mandates that do not meet the definition will be reviewed by the General Secretariat and submitted to the CAJP for consideration with a view to removing them.  Mandates fitting the definition – and the implementation of which has not begun within two years of their approval, either due to lack of funding or because the General Secretariat has determined that it does not have the financial resources needed to implement them – will be classified as “pending” and will be submitted accordingly to the CAJP so that it6 may review each one and propose a course of action to the General Assembly to reclassify them as “current” or “obsolete,” as it deems appropriate. This provision applies to all mandates approved by the General Assembly from 2016 through to 2023. Mr. Del Castrillo stated that the Office of the Executive Director has already classified the 112 mandates into the aforementioned categories and would begin discussions with the Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy and the Secretariat for Legal Affairs to validate the information and submit it to the CAJP for consideration in February. Mr. Del Castrillo added that he would return in February with an analysis of the current mandates within the parameters of the latest budget resolution. This was followed by comments from the delegations of the following member states:

1. Brazil

2. Mexico

3. Chile

5. Other business To conclude, before offering the floor to the delegations, the Chair informed the meeting that only one delegation had submitted formal comments on the General Assembly draft resolution titled “Installation of the Credentials Committee of the Organization of American States,” submitted by the CAJP Chair on December 11 as document CAJP-3878 and for which, on that occasion, a January 16, 2026 deadline was set for comments to be sent in.

In that connection, the Chair announced that the deadline was being extended to Thursday, February 5, for delegations to submit comments on the draft resolution in question, so that it can be

considered at the February 12 and February 26 meetings and agreed upon by the CAJP at the February 26 meeting, for referral immediate thereafter to the Permanent Council, thus facilitating the further progress on the draft resolution leading up to the fifty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly, to be held in Panama. Lastly, the Chair invited all who took the floor at the meeting on this date to email the texts of their presentations or statements to the CAJP Committee Secretary, at aaristizabal@oas.org, so they can be included verbatim in the summary of the meeting.

Note: The next CAJP meeting will be on Thursday, February 12, 2026, at 2:30 p.m.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:27 p.m.