About the OAS

• Who We Are
• What We Do
• Our Structure
  • General Assembly
  • Meetings of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs
  • Councils
  • Inter-American Juridical Committee
  • Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
  • General Secretariat
  • Specialized Conferences
  • Specialized Organizations
• Our Locations
• Offices in Member States
• Our History
• Logo
• Authorities

Our Structure

The Organization of American States accomplishes its purposes by means of the following:

• The General Assembly;
• the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs;
• the Councils (the Permanent Council and the Inter-American Council for Integral Development);
• the Inter-American Juridical Committee;
• the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;
• the General Secretariat;
• the specialized conferences;
• the specialized organizations; and
• other entities established by the General Assembly.

The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization of American States and comprises the delegations of all the member states. All member states are represented at the General Assembly and have the right to one vote.

The Permanent Council attends to the matters entrusted to it by the General Assembly or the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs; monitors the maintenance of friendly relations among the member states and the observance of the standards governing General Secretariat operations; and acts provisionally as Organ of Consultation under the Rio Treaty.