VIII Meeting of the Board Directors

In Santiago on June 7, 2003, the Board of Directors met at the headquarters of the Justice Studies Center of the Americas, and went on to JSCA, and with the presence of President Douglass Cassel, the Councilors Callizo, Thompson, the Executive Director, Juan Enrique Vargas and the presence of Loreto Ruz, counselor of the Alvear Counselor, who excused his assistance, resolves, under Article 13 of the Statute and 18 and 19 of its Regulations, the following:

1. To express its pleasure with the presence and report of activities that the Director of ARGENJUS, Professor Ramón Brena delivered at the opening of this session. The Council appreciates in a special way its participation in the Justice and Democratic Governance Seminar, organized within the framework of the 33rd Ordinary Session of the OAS General Assembly by the JSCA and the Ministry of Justice of Chile and, at the proposal of the Vice -President, Councilor Callizo, highlights the importance for the Center to continue working on this topic, in which ARGENJUS has made an interesting contribution of coordination with institutions of the field of Justice, in Argentina.

2. To approve the account of the Executive Director and reiterate the positive evaluation of the Board for the activities carried out and actions under execution, with particular reference to the projects referred to the Network of Civil Society Organizations, the Gender and Judicial Reform Study, Statistics in the English-speaking Caribbean and Training for the Reform of Criminal Justice in Latin America. With regard to this last point, the Council congratulates the formal beginning of this initiative through the signing of the respective instrument with the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, in the preamble of the General Assembly.

3.Renew the mandate of the Executive Director, so that this resolution is approved by the V Meeting of Ministers of Justice or Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA) in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 a. of the Statute.

4.Sancionar the proposed modification of the Statutes, presented by the Secretariat, regarding the modality of providing vacancies of Executive Director that originate for reasons other than the normal expiration of its mandate, as provided in article 11.3. of the Statute. The above in the sense that these may be supplied with the sole assistance of the Permanent Council of the OAS, provided that for the next General Assembly, ordinary or extraordinary, a term equal to or greater than six months from when the vacancy

5. Approve the Audit Report approved by the Executive Director and agree a three-year deadline for the Ernst & Young company to continue carrying out said audit, subject to the agreement of the Director.

6. Ratify the Work and Mutual Collaboration Agreements signed by the Executive Directorate.

7. Propose the designation of Councilor Callizo and Councilman Thompson to occupy the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Council, from January 1, 2003, period for which the current respective mandates expire. However, it is recorded in the minutes that the election of President and Vice-President includes a special procedure (Chapter III) to which the general voting rules of the Council are not applicable.

8. To sanction that, in response to the excuses presented by the Counselor Alvear, who for unpostponable reasons derived from the exercise of her position, could not concur with her vote in the meeting of the Board, it is delivered later, in writing or verbally, to the President of the Council. The Councilor Callizo requests to record in the present minutes that it is a regular but extraordinary procedure, and that Article 38 of the Regulations that support it must be applied case by case.

9. To congratulate the Executive Director and his staff and to thank the Ministry of Justice of Chile for their success, for the success of the work accomplished on the occasion of the Justice and Democratic Governance Seminar, held between June 4 and 6, in the framework of of the Assembly. The Board takes note and collects the conclusions derived from this meeting and entrusts the Executive Secretariat with its timely and competent dissemination.

10.Call that the next meeting of the Board of Directors be held during the first half of January, for which the Executive Secretariat proposes to the Board on January 5 or 9 as alternatives to call for this purpose, which they must be disseminated in the coming weeks between the regular Directors and those who are elected on the occasion of the General Assembly, for a prompt confirmation.