OAS observers expand the region's horizons.

• Author: Kiernan, James Patrick
• Position: Number of Organization of American States observers grows to 45

"In view of my country's relatively limited diplomatic presence in the Western Hemisphere . . . it is our considered opinion that a permanent observer status with the OAS would enhance Ghana's presence in this part of the world and facilitate the ability of the members of the OAS to strengthen this relationship with Ghana," declared Ambassador H.E. Ekiwow Spio Garbrah to the OAS Permanent Council on October 9, 1996, on the occasion of Ghana's being admitted as a permanent observer member of the OAS.

With the addition of Ghana, the number of permanent observer members of the OAS reached forty-one--thirty-nine sovereign nations, the Holy See, and the European Community. There are now more permanent observers than OAS member states (thirty-five). These states of Europe, Asia, and Africa do not have a vote or, generally, a voice in the deliberations of the OAS; however, they attend meetings of the OAS councils and General Assembly and share in the work of the Organization throughout the Americas.

While the growth of permanent observers had been relatively constant since the first nations (Spain and Israel) requested and acquired that status in 1972, in the last decade their numbers have doubled. The desire of an increasingly large number of nations--notably the nations of Central Europe and the Soviet successor states--to seek formal association with the OAS is prompted by both a reassessment of their relations with the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, in light of economic and political reforms, and an increased appreciation of a revitalized and more effective OAS. The increase also reflects the growing role of global importance that the OAS, revitalized and refocused, plays and will continue to play.

Cultural affinity and historic ties with Latin America were important factors in the decision of the first nations to become permanent observers at the OAS. Ambassador Francisco Villar, permanent observer of Spain to the OAS, explained that "while Spain is a European nation, it is also--by culture, vocation, and history--an American nation." Spain promoted the original idea of permanent observers to the OAS in order to create a space for the participation of non-Western Hemispheric nations in the Inter-American System.

Throughout the 1970s, a number of permanent observers entered into technical cooperation agreements with the OAS General Secretariat. These most often took the form of training fellowships for citizens of OAS member states in an observer country's institutions. However, by the mid 1980s this mode of cooperation was greatly diminished. With the inexorable process of redemocratization in Latin America in the late 1980s and the progressive reformation of the OAS Charter, which allowed the Organization to support that...