Legal and Technical Review for AMERIPOL's Integration into the Inter-American System

1. LEGAL, TECHNICAL, AND BUDGETARY REVIEW TO CHART AND DEFINE A ROADMAP FOR THE AMERICAN POLICE COMMUNITY (AMERIPOL) TO BECOME PART OF THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM Prepared at the request of the Fourth Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Public Security in the Americas

2. BACKGROUND • The report was commissioned by the Ministers Responsible for Public Security in the Americas gathered together for MISPA-IV in Medellín in 2013: The OAS General Secretariat was instructed to conduct "... a legal, technical, and budgetary analysis to make it possible to identify and define a way for the American Police Community (AMERIPOL) to be part of the inter-American system and in this way strengthen its current police management and cooperation." • At its forty-fourth regular session (Asunción, 2014), the General Assembly adopted the resolution: "Advancing Hemispheric Security: A Multidimensional Approach", which states in the explanation to numbered paragraph 9: "Bearing in mind the decision of MISPA IV concerning the 'Instruction to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States regarding Cooperation with the American Police Community (AMERIPOL)', to request the Secretariat to report on the matter and to include additional aspects to be borne in mind, so that the member states can evaluate, within the framework of the Committee on Hemispheric Security, possible options for an OAS technical cooperation mechanism or program on police matters."

3. Structure of the report • Description of the American Police Community (AMERIPOL) • Analysis of the significance of pertaining to the inter-American system • Description of possible roadmaps for AMERIPOL to become part of the inter-American system • Legal, technical, and budgetary analysis of the possibility of incorporating AMERIPOL in the inter-American system

4. Police Community of the Americas (AMERIPOL) • Membership of AMERIPOL is voluntary. It currently comprises 30 national or federal police institutions pertaining to 27 States in the Americas and 18 permanent observer organizations. • Its Statute was is binding only upon the institutions that either signed it initially or subsequently decided to adhere to it; it is not a "Treaty" or covenant binding upon States or Governments. • its stated purpose is to help overcome the differences in level and other imbalances between police forces in the Americas. It engages in international cooperation activities relating to police management in: a) technical-scientific assistance; b) police education; c) information exchange and knowledge building; and d) police doctrine. • Its organizational structure comprises a Board of Directors, made up of Directors, Commanders, Heads or Delegates of National or Federal Police Institutions, a President elected from among the Members of that Board, and an Executive Secretariat. • Its headquarters consist of a three-floor, 512 square meter building in Bogotá, Colombia. The costs of the building and of the 13 staff working there are paid by the Colombian State via its National Police. Other expenses of the Community are defrayed directly by the police institutions taking part in its activities. • The Executive Secretariat, based in Bogotá, , Colombia, is the Executive Organ of AMERIPOL and is elected for a three-year term. • Each member institution of AMERIPOL establishes its own specialized organizational unit called "AMERIPOL National Unit," charged with implementing the Community's agreements and commitments.

5. Police Community of the Americas (AMERIPOL) AMERIPOL points out that it has achieved the following: • The formulation of a "Police Cooperation Model under a Regional Strategy focusing on Seven Strategic Challenges." • The professionalization, via police education and training courses, of more than 18,000 beneficiaries. • The design and implementation of an AMERIPOL Platform for secure information exchanges. • The preparation of more than 20 publications documenting and guiding police knowledge based on the understanding of phenomena that have an impact on public security. • Certification of its quality management system, based on implementation of the ISO 9001:2008. standard. • The holding of six Summit Meetings, establishing commitments and guidelines for the modernization, development, and professionalization of police management in the Americas. • Inter-institutional cooperation instruments with the OAS (Framework Agreement for Inter-Institutional Cooperation), the European Union (Memorandum of Understanding). • Technological tools, such as the Office Communicator, which allows direct specialized communication among the different national units of AMERIPOL and has 49 users.

6. Inter-American system: • The inter-American system is the name traditionally given to the set of conventions, rules, and institutions expressing, over the years, the drive for integration and cooperation felt by the states of the Americas. • Since the OAS was founded in 1948, all those conventions, rules, and institutions revolve around the Organization. • Nowadays, "being part" of the inter-American system must be construed as meaning being part of the OAS or as having been established by the OAS.

7. Ways to become part of the OAS • Chapter VIII, Articles 53 and 54. • Article 53. The Organization of American States accomplishes its purposes by means of: h) The Specialized Organizations ...There may be established, in addition to those provided for in the Charter, and in accordance with the provisions thereof, such subsidiary organs, agencies, and other entities as are considered necessary. 2. Article 54: The General Assembly has as its principal powers... a) "...to determine the structure and functions of its organs... • Chapter XI, Article 77 of the Charter. "With the prior approval of the General Assembly, the Councils may establish the subsidiary organs and the agencies that they consider advisable for the better performance of their duties."

8. Specialized organizations • Pan American Health Organization • Inter-American Children’s Institute • Pan American Institute of Geography and History • Inter-American Commission of Women • Inter-American Indian Institute • Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

9. Other organs, agencies, and entities • Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission • Inter-American Committee against Terrorism • Inter-American Telecommunication Commission; • Committee to Coordinate Cooperation Programs of the Inter-American System • Justice Studies Center of the Americas • Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction • Inter-American Defense Board • Retirement and Pension Committee of the OAS

10. Analysis from the standpoint of incorporating AMERIPOL in the OAS • The "specialized organizations" are organizations established prior to the founding of the OAS and have a special relationship with it. • The Committee to Coordinate Cooperation Programs" and the "Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction" coordinate among existing institutions. • The Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA) is limited to carrying out studies. • The Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) has suffered from ambiguities as regards its statutory functions. • The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission is a public-private forum. • The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) are geared to cooperation in specific areas and comprised of governmental delegates with technical autonomy to implement their mandates and projects.

11. Analysis from the standpoint of incorporating AMERIPOL in the OAS • A commission model meets the criteria of being comprehensive and subordinate to political authority, which are needed in order to incorporate AMERIPOL into the inter-American system. The condition of oversight by and subordination to political authority is reflected in the fact that its Executive Secretariat is designated by the General Secretariat of the Organization in consultation with the respective agency. Furthermore, its members' status as government delegates ensures that the body would be governmental in nature and not exclusively a police entity, as is the case with AMERIPOL.

12. Legal analysis • The integration of the American Police Community into the OAS in one of the forms examined in the report could be approved by the General Assembly at a regular or special session, should a member state of the OAS, the Permanent Council, or the Inter-American Council for Integral Development propose as much (Chapter VIII, Article 53 and Chapter XI, Article 73 of the OAS Charter) • The statute of the new agency would be adopted by the General Assembly. By way of illustration, the Report mentions some matters that should be considered in the discussion of such a statute, should the new agency take the form of a commission: a) clearly establish its scope; in other words, that it would be open to all the states of the Americas, without exception all restrictions, although membership in it would be voluntary, as is the case with all organizations of the OAS created under Article 53 of its Charter; b) stipulate that the members of the new agency are representatives of their respective governments (such representation would guarantee the subordination of the new entity to the political authority and ensure that the Community’s cooperation activities are not exclusively those of the police institutions but would be governmental in nature; c) the structure of the agency.

13. Technical Analysis • Functions The report considers that since the Ministers Responsible for Security have a positive assessment of AMERIPOL’s current performance and work in the area of police cooperation, its functions, once it becomes part of the OAS, could be the same as they are now. In addition, there would be functions to facilitate or permit its development and strengthening, and to carry out the decisions of the member states. • Structure If it is decided it should be integrated into the OAS as a Commission, its members would have to be appointed as representatives of their states with the rank of commissioners. The statue could also establish the position of Alternate Commissioner, so that each state might have more than one commissioner to represent it. At present, the members of AMERIPOL elect one of their number as President. If it is integrated as a commission, this practice could remain as it is. Always assuming that its integration will be as a Commission, its statute could establish, in line with current practices of other agencies of the same type in the OAS, that the OAS Secretary General, in consultation with the Commission, will appoint an Executive Secretary, which position may be held by a police officer or civilian official of recognized expertise in the field. The Executive Secretariat would be the operational and coordinating body, responsible for implementing the programs and decisions under the direction of the Commission and its President. The seat of the Executive Secretariat could be located in the country chosen by the statute or by the members of the commission, should the statute envisage that eventuality. • Material operating conditions AMERIPOL has everything that it needs, in both the material and technical sense, for its operations. This includes: a) A three-story, 512 square meter building, adequately fitted out, logistically and technologically, to do its work; b) A staff of 13 officials, all of them members of the National Police of Colombia; c) Special means of communication; d) Its own secure information exchange platform.

14. Budgetary Analysis • Materially, AMERIPOL has everything it needs for its operations. In that sense, it would entail no additional cost to the Organization. • That would only change if the incorporation decision were to establish that: a) the headquarters would have to be in Washington, D.C.; b) that its Executive Secretary must be appointed by the Secretary General of the OAS; c) that the Executive Secretary or equivalent position must be appointed by the Secretary General but be financed by his country of origin, by another country or institution as a member of staff on secondment, or by specific funds; d) that the new agency significantly expands its activities in comparison with the previous Community, or the projects that it undertakes are of such a nature that the institutions of its member states are unable to finance them. In that case, those activities and projects would have to be financed by the new agency using donations from third-party institutions or other interested agencies.

15. Budgetary Analysis The impact of the above scenarios on the OAS General Secretariat in budgetary terms would be as follows: : • The headquarters of AMERIPOL is established in Washington, D.C. and all of its expenses are defrayed by the Regular Fund budget of the OAS General Secretariat. • The headquarters of AMERIPOL remains in Bogotá and all of its expenses are defrayed by the Government of Colombia and the governments or institutions of the AMERIPOL members • The headquarters of AMERIPOL remains in Bogotá and all of its expenses are defrayed by the Government of Colombia and the governments or institutions of the AMERIPOL members, except for the salary of its Executive Secretary, who, pursuant to the new agency's statute, is appointed by the OAS Secretary General and their position is financed by the OAS General Secretariat. • The headquarters of AMERIPOL remains in Bogotá and all of its expenses are defrayed by the Government of Colombia and the governments or institutions of the AMERIPOL members, except for the salary of its Executive Secretary, who, pursuant to the new agency's statute, is appointed by the OAS Secretary General but their position is financed by their country of origin as a member of staff on secondment, or by another country or institution that finances the position of the Executive Secretary and, possibly, other personnel as staff on secondment.