Meeting with the Civil Society to the OAS opens discussion on various topics, during the 44th General Assembly in Paraguay

With a huge turn-out, around 500 Civil Society’s organizations from the region participated, on June 2, in a dialogue with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, prior to the early works of the XLIV General Assembly of hemispheric entity in Asuncion, Paraguay, where institutions presented topics related to human rights, and particularly the problems of exclusion experienced by minorities, women, people of African
descent, people with different capabilities, among others.

The Secretary for External Relations of the OAS, Alfonso Quiñonez, served as moderator of the three hour long meeting, with the representatives of the Civil Society, that took place at the CONMEBOL Headquarters, in Asuncion.

Secretary General Insulza highlighted the fact that "the OAS is the organization that has the largest direct participation of representatives of the Civil Society," and emphasized the importance of the
contributions made to the institution by bringing into the meetings the issues that directly affect them and seek to present, so that their voices may be heard taken into consideration, as should be.

The main topic of the 44th General Assembly is the “Development with Social Inclusion", motivated by the concern on the inequality problem, which affects all countries of the Americas. He indicated that "there are still many people in vulnerable
conditions who, although have managed to overcome the poverty threshold, any crisis can place them back to their previous conditions."

The opinions expressed by the representatives of the Civil Society were linked to the problems of violence and discrimination against minorities in the continent; and also the attacks made to Human Rights activists in the region; views on abortion; rights of African descents; rights of indigenous communities; rights of the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transvestite, Transgender, and Intersexual (LGBTTTI) community; the criminalization of various sexual acts in some countries of the Americas; and women rights.

Other representatives of the Civil Society expressed their concern over the lack of acknowledgement of the rights of people with disabilities; the violence suffered by children and adolescents; lack of access to justice and the need for impartial judicial systems; the situation
in Venezuela; and uncertainty of the Colombian peace process.

Among the main requests presented by the various representatives of the Civil Society who attended the meeting was the creation of additional panel discussions on women, indigenous communities, Afro descendants and holding a convention on sexual and reproductive rights.

Participation GFDD
GFDD has been participating in these meetings for over 8 years, and this time it was
represented by the Director of the New York office, Yamile Eusebio, who highlighted the importance for the institution to be part of these discussions and to have the opportunity to exchange views on issues affecting the Civil Society organizations of the countries that belong to the OAS.