What is the OAS doing to promote gender equality?
The OAS Inter-American Commission of Women (known by its Spanish acronym, CIM) is the hemisphere’s principal forum for generating hemispheric policy to advance women’s rights and gender equality. It promotes the integration of a gender perspective in all OAS issues and areas. Since its creation in 1928, the CIM has worked to strengthen women’s human rights. One of its key initiatives led to the adoption of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, also known as the Convention of Belém do Pará. This international treaty, the only one of its kind in the world, was adopted in 1994 by the OAS General Assembly and has been ratified by 32 OAS member states. As part of an effort to implement a gender perspective in all OAS policies and programs, the CIM created a training program for staff members in the OAS General Secretariat. It provides advisory support to the units and offices of the OAS as part of this initiative. The CIM is a
