• Consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, all universal and hemispheric human rights instruments, take concrete measures at the national level to promote and strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons, including women, children, the elderly, indigenous peoples, migrants, returning citizens, persons with disabilities, and those belonging to other vulnerable or discriminated groups, and note that the use of the term “peoples” in this document cannot be construed as having any implications as to the rights that attach to the term under international law and that the rights associated with the term “indigenous peoples” have a context-specific meaning that is appropriately determined in the multilateral negotiations of the texts of declarations that specifically deal with such rights;

• Reaffirm their determination to combat and eliminate impunity at all levels within their societies by strengthening judicial systems and national human rights institutions;

• Combat, in accordance with international law, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes wherever they might occur, and in particular, call upon all states to consider ratifying or acceding to, as the case may be, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;

• Recognize the importance of the Regional Preparatory Conference of the Americas against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance held in Santiago, Chile, in December 2000, and undertake to participate actively in the World Conference to be held in South Africa in 2001, promoting its objectives and stressing that political platforms based on racism, xenophobia or doctrines of racial superiority must be condemned as incompatible with democracy and transparent and accountable governance;

• Support efforts in the OAS to consider the need to develop an inter-American convention against racism and related forms of discrimination and intolerance;

• Continue promoting concrete measures to strengthen and improve the inter-American human rights system, in particular the functioning of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), focusing on: the universalization of the inter-American human rights system, increasing adherence to its founding instruments, complying with the decisions of the Inter-American Court and following up on the recommendations of the Commission, facilitating the access of persons to this protection mechanism and substantially increasing resources to maintain ongoing operations, including the encouragement of voluntary contributions, examining the possibility that the Court and the IACHR will function permanently, and entrust the XXXI General Assembly of the OAS, which will take place in San Jose, Costa Rica, in June of this year, to initiate actions to meet the above-mentioned goals;

• Strengthen the capacity of governmental institutions mandated with the promotion and protection of human rights, such as national human rights institutions, thereby recognizing the important function they perform, and contribute to the successful establishment of a network of all such institutions of the Hemisphere, using information and communications technologies to promote and give effect to sustainable cooperation and better coordination;

• Create and strengthen national human rights action plans, in accordance with the mandate of the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and foster independent national human rights institutions by seeking, where appropriate, technical and financial support from multilateral organizations, MDBs and specialized multilateral agencies;

• Seek to promote and give effect to the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [also referred to as the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Defenders];

• Advance negotiations within the OAS on the Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with a view toward its earliest possible conclusion and adoption;

Reaffirming the commitments made in 1998 at the Santiago Summit concerning the protection of the human rights of migrants, including migrant workers and their families:

• Strengthen cooperation among states to address, with a comprehensive, objective and long-term focus, the manifestations, origins and effects of migration in the region;

• Promote recognition of the value of close cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination in order to ensure protection of the human rights of migrants;

• Establish an inter-American program within the OAS for the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants, including migrant workers and their families, taking into account the activities of the IACHR and supporting the work of the IACHR Special Rapporteur on Migrant Workers and the UN Special Rapporteur on Migration;

• Commit to undertake the widest possible cooperation and exchange of information among states concerning illegal trafficking networks, including developing preventative campaigns on the dangers and risks faced by migrants, particularly women and children who often can be victims of such trafficking, with a view to eradicating this crime;

• Establish linkages with subregional processes, such as the Regional Conference on Migration and the South American Conference on Migration, which are dialogue fora, in order to exchange information on the migration phenomenon, as well as promote cooperation with specialized international organizations, such as the International Organization of Migration (IOM), in order to advance and coordinate implementation efforts of Summit mandates

• Continue to implement the recommendations contained in the 1998 Report of the Special Rapporteur of the IACHR on the Status of Women in the Americas and ensure the evaluation of and, where appropriate, the establishment of national mechanisms for follow-up;

• Integrate fully the human rights of women into the work of hemispheric institutions, including the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the IACHR, and increase the nomination of women as candidates for positions in these bodies;

• Request the OAS, through its specialized organs and particularly the Inter-American Commission on Women (CIM), to facilitate the integration of a gender perspective in the work of all its bodies, agencies and entities through the development of training programs and the dissemination of information on the human rights of women, as well as support governments in the systematic compilation and dissemination of sex disaggregated data;

• Develop, review and implement laws, procedures, codes and regulations to guarantee compatibility with international legal obligations and to prohibit and eliminate all forms of discrimination based on gender, and continue work begun at the Santiago Summit that set the goal of legal equality between men and women by the year 2002;
   

• Develop additional policies and practices to combat violence against women, including domestic violence, in accordance with the definition established in the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (The Convention of Belém do Pará);

• Consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and its Optional Protocol;

• Consider, signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the two Optional Protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; seek to integrate fully their obligations pursuant to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international human rights instruments into national legislation, policy and practice;

• Integrate fully the human rights of children and adolescents into the work of hemispheric institutions, including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the IACHR and the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IACI);

• Continue to support the work of the inter-American human rights system in the area of freedom of expression through the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, as well as proceed with the dissemination of comparative jurisprudence, and seek to ensure that national legislation on freedom of expression is consistent with international legal obligations;

• Ensure that national legislation relating to freedom of expression is applied equitably to all, respecting freedom of expression and access to information of all citizens, and that journalists and opinion leaders are free to investigate and publish without fear of reprisals, harassment or retaliatory actions, including the misuse of anti-defamation laws;