After eight years of not occupying the seat, from July 1st Costa Rica holds again the presidency of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) with headquarters in Washington, United States.
Until September 30th, the country will be able to prioritize the agenda of this forum. The national ambassador to the OAS, Rita Hernández, explained that the country will be able to put topics such as social inclusion, gender equality, and environmental protection in the discussion table.
The last time the country occupied this position was in 2010, during the administration of Laura Chinchilla. Ambassador Enrique Castillo led the instance.
The Permanent Council of the OAS reports directly to the General Assembly and has the competence assigned to it by the Inter-American Charter and other instruments. It must also comply with the functions entrusted to it by the General Assembly and the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries that make up the regional forum.
Among these functions, the most important is to ensure the maintenance of friendly relations between the member states and to effectively help in the peaceful settlement of their disputes.
Given the current international situation, the country will have to deal with the crises in Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The Permanent Council also executes decisions of the General Assembly or the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, whose fulfillment has not been entrusted to any other entity. In this position, Costa Rica must also make recommendations to the General Assembly on the functioning of the Organization and the coordination of its subsidiary bodies, agencies and commissions.
The Permanent Council of the OAS is composed of a permanent representative for each member state, appointed especially by the respective government with ambassador status. The presidency is exercised successively by the permanent representatives in the Spanish alphabetical order of the names of their respective countries. The countries exercise their functions for a period of three months that begins on the first day of the months of January, April, July, and October.