Editing Organization of American States (section)

== Organizational structure ==
[[File:Secretary Pompeo Delivers Remarks at the Organization of American States Headquarters (46863388441).jpg|thumb|[[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Mike Pompeo]] speaks at the OAS Permanent Council in January 2019]]
The Organization of American States is composed of a General Secretariat, the [[Permanent Council of the Organization of American States|Permanent Council]], the Inter-American Council for Integral Development, and a number of committees.

The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States consists of six [[Secretariat (administrative office)|secretariats]].
*[[Organization of American States Secretariat for Political Affairs|Secretariat for Political Affairs]]
*[[Executive Secretary for Integral Development|Executive Secretariat for Integral Development]]
*[[Organization of American States Secretariat for Multidimensional Security|Secretariat for Multidimensional Security]]
*Secretariat for Administration and Finance
*Secretariat for Legal Affairs
*Secretariat for External Relations

The various committees of the Organization of American States include:
* The Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs
* The Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs
* The Committee on Hemispheric Security
* The Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities

The various commissions of the Organization of American States include: 
* [[Inter-American Commission of Women]] (CIM)
* [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] (CIDH)
* [[Inter-American Telecommunication Commission]] (CITEL)

=== General Assembly ===
{{main|General Assembly of the Organization of American States}}
[[File:Organization of American States General Assembly.jpg|thumb|A session of the OAS's 35th General Assembly in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]], in June 2005]]
The [[General Assembly of the Organization of American States|General Assembly]] is the supreme decision-making body of OAS. It convenes once every year in a regular session. In special circumstances, and with the approval of two-thirds of the member states, the [[Permanent Council of the Organization of American States|Permanent Council]] can convene special sessions.

The Organization's member states take turns hosting the General Assembly on a rotating basis. The states are represented at its sessions by their chosen delegates: generally, their ministers of foreign affairs, or their appointed deputies. Each state has one vote, and most matters are settled by a majority vote, except for those for which the Charter or the General Assembly's own rules of procedure specifically require a two-thirds majority.

The General Assembly's powers include setting the OAS's general course and policies by means of resolutions and declarations; approving its budget and determining the contributions payable by the member states; approving the reports and previous year's actions of the OAS's specialized agencies; and electing members to serve on those agencies.

=== Specialized agencies ===
The OAS has five specialized agencies:<ref name="OAS - Organization of American States 1996">{{cite web | title=OAS :: Our Structure : Specialized Organizations | website=OAS - Organization of American States | date=29 January 1996 | url=http://www.oas.org/en/about/specialized_organizations.asp | access-date=18 October 2021}}</ref>
*[[Pan American Health Organization]] (PAHO)
*{{ill|Inter-American Children's Institute|es|Instituto Interamericano del Niño}} (IIN)
*[[Inter-American Commission of Women]] (CIM)
*[[Pan-American Institute of Geography and History]] (PAIGH)
*{{ill|Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture|es|Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura}} (IICA)

=== Official languages ===
[[File:Socha Izabely I Katolickej.JPG|thumb|Statue of [[Isabella I of Castile]], the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] Queen in front of the seat of the OAS headquarters in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
The Organization's [[official languages]] are [[Spanish language in the Americas|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language in the Americas|Portuguese]], [[American French|French]], and [[American English|English]]. The Charter, the basic instrument governing OAS, makes no reference to the use of official languages. These references are to be found in the Rules of Procedure governing the various OAS bodies. Article 51 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly,<ref>General Assembly of the OAS, [http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/agres_1737_xxxo00.htm Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly], 5 June 2000</ref> the supreme body of the OAS, which meets once a year, states that English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish are the four official languages. Article 28 stipulates that a Style Committee shall be set up with representatives of the four official languages to review the General Assembly resolutions and declarations. Article 53 states that proposals shall be presented in the four official languages. The Rules of Procedure and Statutes of other bodies, such as the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI), the [[Inter-American Commission of Women]] (CIM), the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] (IACHR) and the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI), technical bodies of the OAS, also mention the four official languages in which their meetings are to be conducted. Policy is therefore dictated through these instruments that require use of the four official languages at meetings.<ref>Marguerite Groves (Coordinator, Division of Language Services, OAS), [http://www.cslf.gouv.qc.ca/Seminaire/Conferences/MargueriteGroves.doc Information on the use of language at the OAS: multilingualism] {{webarchive |url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070203222344/http://www.cslf.gouv.qc.ca/Seminaire/Conferences/MargueriteGroves.doc |date=3 February 2007 }}, ''Inter-American Languages Management Seminar'', [[Conseil supérieur de la langue française (Quebec)|Conseil supérieur de la langue française]] ([[Quebec]]), [[Quebec City]], 20 to 22 August  2002</ref>

Although a number of other languages have official status in one or more member states of OAS ([[Surinamese Dutch|Dutch]] in Suriname; [[Haitian Creole language|Haitian Creole]] alongside French in Haiti; [[Quechua language|Quechua]] and [[Aymara language|Aymara]] in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia; [[Guaraní language|Guaraní]] in Paraguay), they are not official languages of the Organization.

=== Funding and accountability ===
The OAS has two funds, one for the General Secretariat, and one for specific programs and initiatives. The General Assembly asks for contributions from each member country based on its capacity to pay. In 2018 the General Secretariat's budget was $85 million of which the US contributed $50 million. In 2017 the US contributed $17 million to the fund for specific programs which was almost a third of the total contributions for that year.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Organization of American States |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/organization-american-states |website=Council on Foreign Relations |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref>

==== OAS Office of the Inspector General audits ====
The OAS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducts [[Forensic accounting|forensic]] [[internal audit|internal]] [[performance audit]]s, to assess the General Secretariat in achieving the objectives recommended in administration and operations of the OAS and its safeguarding of resources used to undertake programs across [[Latin America]] and the [[Caribbean]]. The OIG's internal audit reports<ref>[https://www.oas.org/en/oig/activityreports.asp Annual Internal audits]</ref> are presented to the OAS Audit Committee, and the Secretary General as well as member states of the OAS upon request. The OIG maintains [[whistleblower]] provisions to report irregular activity to the OIG for review.<ref>[https://www.oas.org/en/oig/hotline.asp OIG's whistleblower hotline]</ref>

==== Financial audits ====
Under General Assembly Resolution 123, adopted on April 14, 1973 [[Financial audit]]s of the accounts of the OAS are published annually.<ref>[https://www.oas.org/en/saf/accountability/external_audit.asp Annual External Audits]</ref> The annual reports are presented to the General Secretariat by The Audit Committee (formerly The OAS Board of External Auditors.) The Committee members are composed of three members elected by the OAS's General Assembly.