Resolutions 2018

The Board of Directors met via videoconference on August 14, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. local time in Santiago de Chile. The following Board members participated in the meeting: Manuel Montecino (President), Daniel Petrone (Vice President), Douglass Cassel, Leonidas Rosa, George Thomson, Margarita de Hegedus and Alexis Mera. By virtue of Article 13 of its Statutes and Articles 18 and 19 of its Regulations, the Board hereby resolves:

  1. To approve the Activities Report and Financial Report for the first half of 2018, which were presented by Executive Director Jaime Arellano and to congratulate and recognize the Executive Director and JSCA’s staff for the results obtained. The Board notes that the Center’s budget has been balanced thus far this year even as it has maintained a very high level and quality of activities and presence.
  2. To thank the Executive Director for the report on the efforts made beginning in the second half of 2016 to integrate the English-speaking Caribbean into JSCA’s activities, organizing a meeting with the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago on three occasions (in 2017 and 2018). The Board laments that it was not possible to make collaboration with the Caribbean counterpart a reality and notes the instructions received from Global Affairs Canada not to allocate resources from the project that JSCA is executing to activities in the Caribbean because the sub region is covered by another special project financed by the Canadian cooperation agency.
  3. To congratulate JSCA for the technical cooperation that it is developing in Haiti as part of the JSSP, Justice System Strengthening Project, with funding from USAID and in coordination with Chemonics. This cooperation integrates JSCA’s activities into the poorest country of the Americas, and one that is also French-speaking and part of the Caribbean. The Board also recognizes the cooperation work that is being developed with the Universidad de La Habana Law School and Bufetes Populares de Cuba to integrate their legal aid efforts into the experiences of the region. Finally, we recognize the research and cooperation efforts developed with the justice system in Puerto Rico, which integrates the common law tradition, especially in its federal system, and Latin American culture through the language and civil or continental law tradition, which makes it fulcrum that works with both systems in the Americas.
  4. To continue to engage in actions to integrate the English-speaking Caribbean into JSCA’s work. We instruct the Executive Director to use OAS diplomatic channels for these purposes. The Board members also will make personal efforts to generate contacts that allow for such integration and will seek out funding sources for the activities.
  5. To congratulate the two new members of the JSCA Board of Directors, who were elected at the 48th OAS General Assembly, Jenny Murphy of the United States and Patricia Perez of Chile. The Board members-elect will serve from 2019 to 2021.
  6. To invite Board members-elect Jenny Murphy and Patricia Perez to the XXXVI Meeting of the Board of Directors in December as observers.
  7. To hold the XXXVI Meeting of the Board of Directors on December 7, 2018 at JSCA’s headquarters in Santiago de Chile.
The Board of Directors met in Santiago de Chile on December 7, 2018. Board members Manuel Montecino (President), Daniel Petrone (Vice President), Douglass Cassel, George Thomson, Margarita de Hegedus and Alexis Mera were in attendance. By virtue of Article 13 of its Statute and Articles 18 and 19 of its Regulations, the Board hereby resolves:
  1. To welcome new Board member-elect Jenny Murphy of the United States, who is attending this session of the Board of Directors as an observer.
  2. To approve the Annual and Financial Reports for 2018, which were presented by Executive Director Jaime Arellano. We congratulate and recognize the Executive Director and JSCA’s staff for the results achieved.
  3. To approve the 2019 Plan of Action and Budget for JSCA, which were presented by the Executive Director.
  4. To approve the Executive Report on JSCA’s work as part of the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH).
  5. To formally adopt a general policy –which is currently in force- by virtue of which JSCA does not accept under any circumstance or subject to any condition or timeframe vetoes, total or partial censures or conditions on collaboration, access to information, the provision of information, access to people or access to places by JSCA counterparts or partners whether civil society organizations, private organizations, government agencies or officials, boards or members of any said organization. This general policy is adopted in order to protect JSCA’s technical autonomy in the fulfillment of its mission and especially to ensure –but not limited to- the protection of JSCA’s technical autonomy with regard to the information, analyses, conclusions and suggestions that its reports, studies, publications and training and education programs may contain and decisions that JSCA may adopt in regard to the contents that it may publish, publicize or include in its training and education programs and the manner and means that it uses to do so.
  6. In honor of the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA), to charge the Executive Director with holding informational meetings for current and potential donor organizations such as Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the US Department of State (DOS), the European Union (EU), the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) regarding the work that the Center has done and the changes to justice that it has promoted in the region.
  7. The Executive Director is charged with presenting a report on the progress that has been made in the field of justice in the Americas to the Commission on Juridical and Political Affairs of the OAS Permanent Council and with requesting a special session for said presentation.
  8. To charge the Board members with asking the Ambassadors to the OAS of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, the United States and Uruguay to propose a special session of the OAS Permanent Council to present a report on JSCA’s work.
  9. To ratify the agreements reached by the Executive Director during 2018 (see “Agreements” annex).
  10. To unanimously elect Daniel Petrone President of the Board and George Thomson Vice President in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of the Regulations for the period beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending on December 31, 2020.
  11. To bid farewell to and acknowledge the work of Board members Manuel Montecino (President) and Daniel Petrone (Vice President) during 2018. Both played a key role in increasing JSCA’s presence in the region and in strengthening its institutional structure.
  12. To bid farewell to and acknowledge the contributions of Board members Manuel Montecino and Douglass Cassel, who are completing their terms as members of the JSCA Board of Directors. Manuel Montecino served as a member of the Board from 2013 to 2018 and was elected Vice President in 2017 and President in 2018. Douglass Cassel served on the Board from 2013 and 2018 and served as its President in 2015 and 2016.
  13. To encourage the Board members to make their best efforts to secure voluntary contributions from their governments and funding that can be used to hold future Board meetings in their respective countries.
  14. To charge the Executive Director with taking the steps necessary to organize a midterm Board meeting during the first half of 2019, on a date and in a location to be determined in collaboration with the Board President.