Eduardo González
The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) has committed to contributing 1.9 million euros to finance projects of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the areas of human rights, crisis prevention, construction of the peace and strengthening of democracy and institutions.
The director of the AECID, Antón Leis, signed this past Tuesday, at the headquarters of the Pan-American organization in Washington, the agreements that make the Spanish contribution official in the fiscal year 2023.
During the meeting, Leis highlighted “the relevant role of the OAS in the defense of democracy and human rights”, as well as “the link of the work carried out by the OAS with the AECID Democracy Program”, a relationship that allows, He continued, strengthen and narrow the dialogue with the Americas. For this reason and with the aim of continuing to strengthen this cooperative relationship, he announced, the AECID has increased the budget of the voluntary contribution to the OAS in 2024. The Council of Ministers authorized, that same Tuesday, a voluntary contribution from the AECID to the OAS in the year 2024 for an amount of two million euros.
During the meeting of the Joint Commission, which took place in Washington, the AECID highlighted the support provided by the Spanish Cooperation to the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. In this sense, the Agency highlighted, within the framework of the 2023 contribution, the new projects to strengthen access to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights through itinerant sessions and judicial proceedings in the States parties.
It also recalled the projects for the protection and defense of human rights defenders and justice operators in the Americas and for the strengthening and promotion of inter-American human rights standards within the framework of fiscal policies to guarantee and improve access to economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. Likewise, AECID will finance a training and dialogue project on innovative public policies of the Inter-American Network of High Authorities on Policies for the Afro-descendant Population (RIAFRO).
On the other hand, in the area of peacebuilding, both parties have agreed to continue cooperating within the framework of the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP) and the Agency will provide financial support to the Electoral Observation Missions (MOE). ) in the field of strengthening democracy
