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
- Support
Member States, upon their request, in their compliance with their
respective international and inter-American commitments on women’s human
rights and gender equity and equality, including the implementation of
international and inter-American instruments, the provisions adopted by
specialized international or inter-American conferences, the General
Assembly of the Organization of American States (“the General Assembly”),
the Summits of the Americas and the Assembly of Delegates of the CIM (the
“Assembly”)
- Support
the efforts of Member States to promote full and equal access,
participation, representation, leadership and influence of women in the
civil, political, economic, social, and cultural spheres
- Promote
the participation and leadership of women in the planning and
implementation of public policies and programs
- Advise
the Organization in all matters related to women's rights and gender
equality
- Collaborate
with Member States, other international organizations, civil society
groups, academia and the private sector in support of women's rights and
gender equality in the hemisphere
- Report,
on an annual basis, to the General Assembly on the work of the CIM,
including relevant aspects of the status of women in the hemisphere, on
progress made in terms of women's human rights and gender equity and
equality and on specific issues of concern in these areas, and to elevate
concrete recommendations to the Member States in relation to the above
- Contribute
to the development of international and inter-American jurisprudence on
women’s human rights and gender equity and equality
- Foster
the formulation and adoption of inter-American instruments for the
recognition of women as rights holders and agents of democracy
- Promote
the adoption or adaptation of the necessary legal measures to eliminate
all forms of discrimination against women
____________________________________________________
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!