WUNRN
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES -
OAS
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION OF WOMEN
Established
in 1928, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) was the first
inter-governmental agency established to ensure recognition of women's human
rights.
CIM is made up of 34 Delegates, one for each OAS Member State, and has become the principal forum for debating and formulating policy on women's rights and gender equality in the Americas.
CIM Delegates are designated by their respective governments. These representatives meet every three years during the Assembly of Delegates. The Assembly is CIM's highest authority - it established the policies and program of work of the Commission.
The Assembly also elects a nine-member Executive Committee, which meets once or twice a year in order to address and resolve more routine matters.
Functions of the CIM
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Message
from the President of the OAS CIM 2013-2015
Maureen Clarke Clarke
Minister
for the Status of Women
Executive
President of the National
Costa Rica
From the Presidency
of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM, we have committed to closing
the gaps in equality between women and men.
In order to achieve this, we will focus our efforts on three priority
issues: violence against women as a matter of citizen security; care policies
and systems as a necessary precondition of economic autonomy; and finally,
women’s political participation.
These are very broad themes, but we are
sure that they are fundamental to achieving gender equity and equality.
In the area of violence against women, our
work will build on the idea of violence as a risk to physical, sexual,
emotional and patrimonial integrity and thus as a limitation to the citizen
security of millions of women in the Americas.
In terms of the social and economic return
on investment in care infrastructure, we will generate the necessary reflection
and debate on care as a public good, a right and a responsibility that involves
numerous social actors, both public and private, and benefits societies in general
and women’s labour participation and economic autonomy in particular.
Finally, in spite of important advances in
the legal and constitutional framework on the recognition of the equality of
rights and non-discrimination, the daily practice of women’s political
participation still suffers from the absence of equality and the full exercise
of women’s political rights. Democracy
with parity and strengthening women’s leaderships are some of the current
challenges.
As President of the CIM, I am convinced that
together we will advance down the path that leads to gender equality and equity
– for only thus can we guarantee a better life for that half of the population
that is women!