II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3087 

To support revitalization and reform of the Organization of American States, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2010 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To support revitalization and reform of the Organization 

of American States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Organization of Amer5 ican States Revitalization and Reform Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Charter of the Organization of Amer9 ican States recognizes that— 


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1 (A) representative democracy is indispen2 sable for the stability, peace, and development 

3 of the Western Hemisphere; and 

4 (B) a purpose of the Organization of 

5 American States is to promote and consolidate 

6 representative democracy, with due respect for 

7 the principle of nonintervention; 

8 (2) The United States supports the purposes 

9 and principles enshrined in— 

10 (A) the Charter of the Organization of 

11 American States; 

12 (B) the Inter-American Democratic Char13 ter; and 

14 (C) the American Declaration on the 

15 Rights and Duties of Man. 

16 (3) The United States supports the Organiza17 tion of American States in its efforts with member 

18 states to meet their commitments under the docu19 ments set forth in paragraph (2). 

20 (4) Congress supports the Organization of 

21 American States as it operates in a manner con22 sistent with its Charter and Articles 1, 3, and 7 of 

23 the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which 

24 state— 


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1 (A) ‘‘[t]he peoples of the Americas have a 

2 right to democracy and their governments have 

3 an obligation to promote and defend it’’, and 

4 that ‘‘[d]emocracy is essential for the social, po5 litical, and economic development of the peoples 

6 of the Americas’’; 

7 (B) ‘‘[e]ssential elements of representative 

8 democracy include, inter alia, respect for human 

9 rights and fundamental freedoms, access to and 

10 the exercise of power in accordance with the 

11 rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and 

12 fair elections based on secret balloting and uni13 versal suffrage as an expression of the sov14 ereignty of the people, the pluralistic system of 

15 political parties and organizations, and the sep16 aration of powers and independence of the 

17 branches of government’’; and 

18 (C) ‘‘[d]emocracy is indispensable for the 

19 effective exercise of fundamental freedoms and 

20 human rights in their universality, indivisibility 

21 and interdependence, embodied in the respective 

22 constitutions of states and in inter-American 

23 and international human rights instruments’’. 

24 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

25 It is the policy of the United States— 


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1 (1) to promote democracy and the rule of law 

2 throughout the Western Hemisphere; 

3 (2) to promote and protect human rights and 

4 fundamental freedoms in the Western Hemisphere; 

5 and 

6 (3) to support the practices, purposes, and prin7 ciples expressed in the Charter of the Organization 

8 of American States, the American Declaration on 

9 the Rights and Duties of Man, the Inter-American 

10 Democratic Charter, and other fundamental instru11 ments of democracy. 

12 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) the Organization of American States (here15 after referred to as the ‘‘OAS’’) should be the pri16 mary multi-lateral diplomatic entity for regional dis17 pute resolution and promotion of democratic govern18 ance and institutions; 

19 (2) the Summit of the Americas institution and 

20 process embodies a valuable complement to regional 

21 dialogue and cooperation; 

22 (3) the Summit of the Americas process should 

23 be formally and more effectively integrated into the 

24 work of the OAS, and the OAS should play a central 


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1 role in overseeing and managing the Summit proc2 ess; 

3 (4) the OAS General Assembly and the Summit 

4 of the Americas events should be combined geo5 graphically and chronologically in the years in which 

6 they coincide; 

7 (5) all contributing member states to the OAS 

8 would benefit from and should adopt a transparent, 

9 results-based, and deliberative budget process that is 

10 guided by International Public Sector Accounting 

11 Standards; 

12 (6) to ensure an appropriate balance of prior13 ities, the OAS should review its core functions at 

14 least annually and seek opportunities to reduce the 

15 number of other mandates; 

16 (7) any changes to OAS mandates should only 

17 be accepted by the member states after the financial 

18 costs have been calculated and formally presented, 

19 and any new mandates should include a calculation 

20 of the financial costs and an identification of the 

21 source of funding, including if such funding is inter22 nal or external to the OAS; 

23 (8) key OAS strengths lie in strengthening 

24 peace and security, promoting and consolidating rep25 resentative democracy, regional dispute resolution, 


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1 election assistance and monitoring, development pro2 motion, and stewardship of the Inter-American 

3 Human Rights System; 

4 (9) the core competencies referred to in para5 graph (8) should remain central to the strategic 

6 planning process of the OAS and the consideration 

7 of future mandates; 

8 (10) OAS member states would benefit from 

9 the OAS Permanent Council’s implementation of a 

10 framework to establish— 

11 (A) standard reporting requirements for 

12 each project and grant agreement, such as 

13 measurable goals and clear roles and respon14 sibilities; and 

15 (B) a process to ensure that agreements 

16 adhere to such requirements; 

17 (11) all contributing OAS member states would 

18 benefit from the implementation of— 

19 (A) transparent and merit-based human 

20 resource standards and processes; and 

21 (B) transparent hiring standards and proc22 esses, including with respect to factors such as 

23 gender, national origin, and citizenship; 


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1 (12) the OAS is a valuable platform from which 

2 to launch initiatives aimed to benefit the countries 

3 of the Western Hemisphere; 

4 (13) multi-lateral diplomacy is a critical compo5 nent of United States foreign policy; and 

6 (14) in order to foster a corps of diplomats 

7 skilled in this environment, service in multilateral 

8 assignments should be encouraged for and sought 

9 after by the best talent possible at the Department 

10 of State. 

11 SEC. 5. ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES REVITALIZA12 TION AND REFORM STRATEGY. 

13 (a) STRATEGY.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of the Organization 

16 of the American States Revitalization and Reform 

17 Strategy, the Secretary of State shall submit a 

18 multiyear strategy to the Committee on Foreign Re19 lations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 

20 Affairs of the House of Representatives that— 

21 (A) outlines a recommended approach to 

22 the OAS to encourage the adoption of— 

23 (i) International Public Sector Ac24 counting Standards; 


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1 (ii) a results-based budgeting process 

2 in order to strategically prioritize current 

3 and future mandates; and 

4 (iii) transparent hiring practices; and 

5 (B) reflects the inputs and coordination 

6 from other Executive Branch agencies, as ap7 propriate. 

8 (2) NOTIFICATION AND COORDINATION.—The 

9 Secretary of State shall— 

10 (A) proactively inform Executive Branch 

11 agencies about the role and importance of the 

12 OAS and encourage increased use of the OAS 

13 as a forum through which to publicize hemi14 spheric initiatives and encourage increased use 

15 of the OAS as a forum through which to pub16 licize hemispheric initiatives; 

17 (B) promote donor coordination among 

18 OAS member states; and 

19 (C) help set priorities for the OAS. 

20 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

21 on which the strategy is submitted under subsection (a), 

22 the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the commit23 tees referred to in subsection (a)(1) that analyzes the 

24 progress made by the Organization of American States— 


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1 (1) to adopt and implement International Pub2 lic Sector Accounting Standards, a results-based 

3 budgeting process in order to strategically prioritize 

4 future mandates; 

5 (2) to adopt and implement transparent and 

6 merit-based human resource standards and practices 

7 and transparent hiring standards and processes, in8 cluding with respect to factors such as gender, na9 tional origin, and citizenship; and 

10 (3) to adopt the practice of soliciting member 

11 quotas to be paid on a quarterly basis, without dis12 counts, to improve the consistency of its operating 

13 budget. 

Æ 


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