Encourage all countries in the Hemisphere to consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the UN Convention Against TransnationalOrganized Crime, its Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, as well as the Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in  Firearms, Their Parts and Components, and Ammunition, once that protocol is open for signature;

Implement collective strategies, including those that emerge from the Meetings of Ministers of Justice of the Americas, to enhance the institutional ability of states to exchange information and evidence by concluding international agreements on mutual legal assistance where necessary, develop and circulate national reports, and strengthen cooperation, seeking the technical and financial support of multilateral organizations and MDBs where appropriate, in order to jointly combat emerging forms of transnational criminal activity, including trafficking in persons and the laundering of the proceeds and assets of crime and cyber-crime;

Review national laws and policies to improve cooperation in areas such as mutual legal assistance, extradition and deportation to countries of origin, acknowledging the serious concerns of countries that deport certain foreign nationals for committing crimes in those countries and the serious concerns of the receiving countries about the negative effect of these deportations on the incidence of criminality in the countries of origin, and express the desire to work together, as appropriate, to address the negative effects on our societies.

Promote, where necessary, and in accordance with national legislation, the adoption of investigation techniques, contained in the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which are very important tools in the fight against organized crime;

Prevention of Violence

Recognizing that violence and crime are serious obstacles to social harmony and the democratic and socio-economic development of the Hemisphere, and as well noting the urgent need for an integral approach toward the prevention of violence:

Encourage national institutions to work together and coordinate with all appropriate multilateral organizations and MDBs in order to implement integrated programs that include initiatives for conflict resolution, where appropriate, for sustained prevention, permanent attention, public education and treatment relevant to cases of violence against persons, families and communities, strengthening national institutional capacities in these areas;

Consider developing cooperation with the media and entertainment industry with a view to avoiding the promotion and dissemination of a culture of violence, thus contributing to a culture of peace;

Encourage greater use of community-based policing, to develop increased dialogue and interaction of law enforcement authorities with civil society and local communities;

Promote cooperation to modernize criminal law, using information and communications technologies as appropriate, with a focus on human rights training and prevention of acts of violence, particularly violence perpetrated by law enforcement officials, in order to reduce violence against civilians and foster values necessary in our societies to retain social harmony;

Promote the exchange of national experiences and best practices on the use of police profiling with a view to preventing biased detentions, which tend to affect mostly minorities and the poor;

Expand opportunities to share experiences, techniques and best practices among government and civil society agencies involved in combating psychological, sexual or physical violence in the domestic setting and on the job, recognizing that such violence is overwhelmingly directed against women and children;

Seek to adopt necessary measures to prevent, impede and punish violence, the segregation and exploitation of women, minors, the elderly, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, and seek to ensure that national legislation addresses acts of violence against them and that these laws are enforced, recognizing that where victims of violence require legal assistance to obtain redress, every effort should be made to guarantee that they receive such assistance;

Request multilateral and other organizations that participate in the Inter-American Coalition for the Prevention of Violence to intensify their support and technical assistance to those countries that so request, in the elaboration of national strategies and actions regarding this topic;

Promote concrete measures to prevent hostile actions against minorities in the Hemisphere, as well as the violent activities of local, regional and international movements that support and foster racist ideologies and terrorist practices to reach their goals;

Increase regional cooperation with a view to preventing the criminal use of firearms and ammunition, and examine additional measures and laws at the national level if required;

Implement, as soon as possible, the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials, and apply the CICAD Model Regulations, as appropriate;

Recognizing that democracy is essential for peace, development and security in the Hemisphere which, in turn, are the best basis for furthering the welfare of our people, and noting that the constitutional subordination of armed forces and security forces to the legally constituted authorities of our states is fundamental to democracy:

Hold the Special Conference on Security in 2004, for which the OAS Committee on Hemispheric Security will conclude the review of all issues related to approaches to international security in the Hemisphere, as defined at the Santiago Summit;

Continue with priority activities on conflict prevention and the peaceful resolution of disputes, respond to shared traditional and non-traditional security and defense concerns and support measures to improve human security;

Support the efforts of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address their special security concerns, recognizing that for the smallest and most vulnerable states in the Hemisphere, security is multi-dimensional in scope, involves state and non-state actors and includes political, economic, social and natural components, and that the SIDS have concluded that among the threats to their security are illicit drug trafficking, the illegal trade in arms, increasing levels of crime and corruption, environmental vulnerability exacerbated by susceptibility to natural disasters and the transportation of nuclear waste, economic vulnerability particularly in relation to trade, new health threats including the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic and increased levels of poverty;

Improve the transparency and accountability of defense and security institutions and promote greater understanding and cooperation among government agencies involved in security and defense issues, through such means as increased sharing of defense policy and doctrine papers, information and personnel exchanges, including, where feasible, cooperation and training for participation in UN peace-keeping activities and to respond better to legitimate security and defense needs, by improving transparency of arms acquisitions in order to improve confidence and security in the Hemisphere;

Continue promoting greater degrees of confidence and security in the Hemisphere, inter alia through sustained support for measures, such as those set forth in the Santiago and San Salvador Declarations on Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBMs), and for existing mechanisms, agreements and funds, and consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, the Inter-American Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions, and the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials, giving full support to the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all Its Aspects to be held in July 2001, bearing in mind the results of the Regional Preparatory Meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Brasilia in November 2000, and the work of the OAS, which contributed a regional perspective to the discussions;

Strongly support the Third Meeting of State Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, to be held in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua, and the Review Conference of the 1980 UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, to be held in December 2001 in Geneva; as well as the efforts of the OAS to pursue the goal of the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an anti-personnel- landmine-free zone;

Call for an experts meeting, before the Special Conference on Security, as a follow-up to the regional conferences of Santiago and San Salvador on CSBMs, in order to evaluate implementation and consider next steps to further consolidate mutual confidence;

Promote financial support to the OAS Fund for Peace: Peaceful Settlement of Territorial Disputes, established to provide financial resources to assist with defraying the inherent costs of proceedings previously agreed to by the parties concerned for the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes among OAS member states;

Support the work leading up to the Fifth Meeting of Defense Ministers of the Americas to take place in Chile, as well as meetings that will take place subsequently;

Support the work initiated by the Inter-American Committee on Terrorism (CICTE) established within the OAS as a result of the Commitment of Mar del Plata adopted in 1998, and encourage hemispheric cooperation to prevent, combat and eliminate all forms of terrorism, taking into account the approval of the Statute and Work Plan of CICTE;

Consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, those international agreements related to the fight against terrorism, in accordance with their respective internal legislation;

Recognizing the important role of participation by civil society in the consolidation of democracy and that this participation constitutes one of the vital elements for the success of development policies, noting that men and women have the right to participate, with equality and equity, in the decision-making processes affecting their lives and well-being, and considering that the diversity of opinion, experience and technical expertise of civil society constitute a significant and valuable resource for initiatives and responses of government and democratic institutions:

Seek to establish public and private funding instruments aimed at building the capacity of civil society organizations in order to highlight the work and contribution of these organizations and to promote accountability;

Develop strategies at the national level and through the OAS, other multilateral organizations and MDBs to increase the capacity of civil society to participate more fully in the inter-American system, as well as in the political, economic and social development of their communities and countries, fostering representativeness and facilitating the participation of all sectors of society; and increase the institutional capacity of governments to receive, absorb and act on civil society input and advocacy, particularly through the use of information and communications technologies;

Promote participation of all minority groups in forging a stronger civil society;

Develop educational programs, in conjunction with relevant civil society organizations, academic experts and others, as appropriate, to provide democracy and human rights education and to promote the introduction of books and educational materials that reflect the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of the Americas as part of primary and secondary school curricula;

Trade and Investment

Ensure negotiations of the FTAA Agreement are concluded no later than January 2005 and seek its entry into force as soon as possible thereafter but, in any case, no later than December 2005, in conformity with the principles and objectives established in the San Jose Ministerial Declaration, in particular the achievement of a balanced, comprehensive agreement, consistent with WTO rules and disciplines, the results of which will constitute a single undertaking embodying the rights and obligations, as mutually agreed:

Ensure the transparency of the negotiating process, including through publication of the preliminary draft FTAA Agreement in the four official languages as soon as possible and the dissemination of additional information on the progress of negotiations;

Foster through their respective national dialogue mechanisms and through appropriate FTAA mechanisms, a process of increasing and sustained communication with civil society to ensure that it has a clear perception of the development of the FTAA negotiating process; invite civil society to continue to contribute to the FTAA process; and, to this end, develop a list of options that could include dissemination programs in smaller economies, which could be supported by the Tripartite Committee or other sources;

Ensure full participation of all our countries in the FTAA, taking into consideration the differences in the levels of development and size of the economies of the Hemisphere, in order to create opportunities for the full participation of the smaller economies and to increase their level of development;

Supervise and support, with technical assistance, the full implementation of adopted business facilitation measures;

Instruct our representatives in the institutions of the Tripartite Committee to continue securing the allocation of the resources necessary to contribute to the support of the work of the FTAA Administrative Secretariat;

Urge the Tripartite Committee institutions to continue to respond positively to requests for technical support from FTAA entities; and request the institutions, according to their respective internal procedures, to favorably consider requests for technical assistance related to FTAA issues from member countries, in particular from the smaller economies, in order to facilitate their integration into the FTAA process;

Welcome and support the work of our Ministers of Finance, who met in Toronto, Canada on April 3-4, 2001, to promote financial and economic stability as well as strong and sustainable growth, as fundamental preconditions for accelerated development and poverty reduction, and to ensure that the benefits of globalization are broadly and equitably distributed to all our people;

Recognize the value of efforts undertaken to advance Hemispheric integration, including improved access to goods, services, capital and technology, to achieve the full range of social and other objectives;

Support the efforts of Finance Ministers to address the challenges associated with globalization, to protect the most vulnerable and prevent crises, and affirm the importance of having the benefits of globalization widely distributed to all regions and social sectors of our countries, recognizing, at the same time, the unique challenges faced by small states;

Affirm that greater attention must be given to increasing economic growth and reducing poverty in a mutually reinforcing way, and that this priority must include social sector policies that effectively achieve poverty reduction and greater investment in people, with improved access to basic education and health services;

Instruct our Finance Ministers to continue to explore ways to ensure that international financial institutions, regional development banks and other international bodies take adequate account of Summit initiatives in their lending policies and technical assistance programs for the Hemisphere;

Corporate Social Responsibility

Recognizing the central role that businesses of all sizes play in the creation of prosperity and the flow and maintenance of trade and investment in the Hemisphere, and, noting that businesses can make an important contribution to sustainable development and increasing access to opportunities, including the reduction of inequalities in the communities in which they operate, and taking into consideration the increasing expectations of our citizens and civil society organizations that businesses carry out their operations in a manner consistent with their social and environmental responsibilities:

Support the continued analysis and consideration in the OAS of corporate social responsibility, ensuring that civil society, including the private sector, is appropriately and regularly consulted and that this process benefits from the experiences of other international organizations, national agencies and non-governmental actors;

Convene a meeting as early as feasible in 2002 with the support of the OAS, the IDB and other relevant inter-American organizations involving representatives from governments, civil society, including mainly the business community, to deepen dialogue on corporate social responsibility in the Hemisphere, raise awareness of key issues to be determined and discuss ways to promote the development, adoption and implementation by the business community of principles of good conduct that will advance corporate social and environmental responsibility;

Recognizing that the development of physical infrastructure is an important complement to economic integration; that advances in the area of infrastructure will release new driving forces toward a broad and deep integration, setting in motion dynamics that should be encouraged; and that infrastructure projects geared to integration should be complemented by the adoption of regulatory and administrative regimes that facilitate their implementation:

Telecommunications

Recognizing that states have the sovereign right to regulate their own telecommunications sectors and that affordable and universal access to new information and communications technologies is an important means to raise the living standards of our citizens and reduce the divide between rural and urban populations, and between countries; noting the importance of increasing cooperation with the private sector to further modernize and expand our telecommunications sectors; acknowledging and reaffirming our efforts in and dedication to market opening and increasing free, fair and equitable competition in all telecommunications services, while respecting the regulatory framework of each country, in order to attract investment needed to develop infrastructure and to reduce the cost of service; stressing the importance of adopting policies to protect the interests of users and enhance the quality, efficiency, coverage and diversity of services, all based on respect for user privacy; and bearing in mind the social, political, economic, commercial and cultural needs of our populations, in particular those of less developed communities:

Propose measures designed to modernize national laws, as appropriate, based on principles such as: permanence of strong and independent regulatory bodies; a pro-competitive approach, including the adoption of rules on dominant operators; a flexible regulatory framework consistent with technological convergence, and to develop human and institutional capacity in support of these principles;

Facilitate the upgrading of human resources in the telecommunications sector through ongoing training programs on telecommunications policy, regulation, management and technology, and request the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), in coordination with national agencies, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s Centre of Excellence for the Americas, and in partnership with regional and subregional organizations and the private sector, to

create a focal point for information on human resource development programs to foster exchanges of information on relevant training programs among governments, universities, industry associations and the private sector, in order to assist countries of the Americas in meeting the growing need for trained and competent personnel in the rapidly changing knowledge-based economy;

Take measures striving to implement the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for Conformity Assessment developed by CITEL without prejudice to each participant`s sovereign right to regulate its own telecommunications sector, and encourage discussion of adequate standards to ensure interoperability for existing and future telecommunications networks and the timely introduction of technology in new and existing markets, taking into account the regulations and recommendations of the ITU and other appropriate standard-setting bodies;

Support the convening of the ITU World Summit on the Information Society to be held in 2003, which will focus on the use of information and communications technologies for social and economic development;

Recommend that our national bodies work within CITEL to prepare guidelines on Universal Service, based on principles to be developed by CITEL and develop a clear definition of the responsibilities of governments and private entities;

Instruct, as appropriate, our telecommunications authorities and our relevant regulatory bodies, working within our regional and sub-regional agencies and organizations to develop and implement before the next Summit of the Americas a cooperative and collaborative program to support a connectivity agenda for the Hemisphere;

Encourage increased competitiveness and productivity of all sectors through applications such as distance education and tele-health and promote the creation of domestic activities dedicated to the generation of Internet-based industries;

Request ministries or departments responsible for telecommunications and appropriate regulatory bodies to cooperate, within CITEL, in order to clarify and simplify rules governing the provision of satellite services in our countries, and work to complete the development of a Hemispheric Web site including each country’s requirements and forms of application for licensing to provide satellite-based telecommunications services;

Promote the modernization and expansion of telecommunications infrastructure in rural and urban areas through timely introduction of new technologies and services, in particular broadband technologies, the adoption of new standards on telecasting, Web casting, and Internet Protocol (IP), paying particular attention to spectrum management, interconnection policies, appropriate pace of development and emergency communications;

Address voluntary funding for the implementation of CITEL's additional mandates set out in this Plan of Action;

Transport

Recognizing that environmentally sound, safe, and efficient transportation systems, including multi-modal corridors, are essential to the quality of the daily lives of the people of the Americas as well as to trade in goods and services among our countries; and reaffirming our support for the ongoing efforts of our Ministers responsible for transportation, through the Western Hemisphere Transport Initiative (WHTI), to increase the integration of our transportation systems and practices:

Endorse the areas for cooperation identified at the Ministers' meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in March 2001;

Promote and facilitate increased cooperation, convergence and information-sharing in the transportation-related activities of the five subregions of the Hemisphere and with multilateral organizations, with a view to furthering the development of human and institutional capacity and ensuring the environmental sustainability of transportation systems and infrastructure; to this end, request that the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) continues to provide its valuable support to the WHTI;

Improve human resources development programs by encouraging exchanges of personnel among the countries and institutions of the region, as well as the development of, and participation in, transportation-related training programs and the dissemination of information regarding these programs by way of the WHTI's Web site and by other means;

Emphasize the need to develop proper infrastructure and high safety standards as a principal priority for the WHTI's work program, while recognizing the importance of human and institutional capacity development in ensuring the safety of transportation services;

Actively and collectively encourage international maritime and air carriers to fully comply with International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards of safety governing the transport of dangerous goods including nuclear, hazardous and noxious substances and waste and stress the importance of having effective liability mechanisms in place;

Actively and collectively encourage international maritime carriers, in particular cruise ships, to comply with IMO standards in relation to the protection of the marine environment, and to take full account of the special area status of the wider Caribbean;

Acknowledging the concerns of some states about the transport of radioactive material, including waste, through routes close to the coasts of states or along navigable waterways of the Hemisphere and the potential health consequences for our people and the possible threat to the marine environment, and consistent with maritime rights and obligations in international law; encourage and support full compliance with existing IMO and IAEA conventions, standards and codes of practice and stress the importance of having effective liability mechanisms in place; encourage the consideration by the IAEA and the IMO and other competent international bodies to strengthen additional international measures, as necessary, which may include: the assurance of non-contamination of the marine environment; the recovery of radioactive material, including waste, in the case of accidental release; the provision of relief, rehabilitation or reconstruction, as appropriate, for affected people in the case of an accident; and invite countries shipping radioactive material, including waste, to provide timely information to potentially affected states in the Hemisphere relating to such shipments, consistent with the need to maintain and ensure the safety and security of those shipments;

Instruct our Ministers of Transportation to explore the possibility of discussing the modernization of air services in order to meet the growing flow of people and goods that has been taking place in the Hemisphere;

Energy

Recognize that in pursuing the regional integration of energy markets, issues such as market reform and stability, regulatory reform and trade liberalization will be addressed; support and endorse the Hemispheric Energy Initiative which promotes policies and practices to advance such integration;

Recognizing the need to develop, implement and sustain shared comprehensive disaster management strategies and programs to reduce the vulnerability of our populations and economies to natural and man-made disasters and to maintain or quickly restore minimum levels of consumption, income and production at the household and community levels in the aftermath of disasters, including irregular population settlements; acknowledging in this regard the need to expand the community of stakeholders at the regional, national and local levels engaged in the formulation of early warning systems, the management of risk and response operations in the event of disasters and integrated sustainable development strategies:

Develop the capacity to forecast, prepare for and mitigate the potential impacts of natural and man-made hazards; promote vulnerability reduction; adopt and enforce better building codes and standards; ensure appropriate land-use practices; inventory and evaluate the vulnerability of critical facilities and infrastructure; estimate climate change variability and sea-level rise and assess their possible impacts; and in pursuit of the above, create the requisite legal framework and establish the cooperative mechanisms to access and share advances in science and technology and their application in the early warning, preparedness for and mitigation of these hazards;

Promote the exchange of information on the vulnerability of infrastructure exposed to disasters as well as the early warning capacity, particularly in the border areas of the countries of the Americas, in order to design specific prevention measures in the fields of engineering and legislation with the aim of reducing the socio-economic impact of natural disasters;

Establish or strengthen, where appropriate, partnerships with all relevant actors, including the private sector, technical professional associations, regional institutions, civil society, educational and research institutions and other multilateral coordinating agencies such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in the development and implementation of disaster management policies and programs at the national and community levels, and promote greater awareness and effective integration of these policies and programs among national policy makers, local authorities, communities and media, and promote the insurance and reinsurance of the social and economic infrastructure as well as the decentralization of information and decision-making;

Promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences regarding the combat against inappropriate practices in the exploitation of natural resources and unsustainable patterns of consumption, including the problems of waste management, which increase the vulnerability of the people to natural disasters;

Promote the development of telecommunications for humanitarian assistance; actively encourage greater use and interoperability of telecommunications and other technologies and information systems that allow the observation and monitoring of different natural phenomena; use early warning systems such as remote sensing imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based data necessary to address and prevent emergencies; promote the compatibility of these systems in the planning and response to emergency operations among governments, specialized agencies, relevant international organizations, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and, in this spirit, consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations;

Establish information networks with the involvement of the Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction (IACNDR) and other relevant regional and international organizations to exchange scientific and technological knowledge and experiences; encourage further regional and subregional action to reduce risks and improve response to natural disasters; promote joint research and development technologies and contribute to strengthen coordination of national prevention and response agencies in natural disasters; to achieve this, draw on the work of ECLAC on the improvement, up-dating and implementation of its damage assessment methodology and continue to promote natural disaster mitigation and risk reduction awareness and preparedness;

Consider the creation of a hemispheric system for prevention and mitigation of disasters that would include, among others, a specialized database containing the best information available on the characteristics, experiences, strengths and weaknesses of national and regional agencies responsible for disaster prevention and mitigation and provide a new framework for technical cooperation and research aimed at creating a hemispheric culture of prevention and solidarity;

Adopt and support, as appropriate, initiatives aimed at promoting capacity building at all levels, such as the transfer and development of technology for prevention – risk reduction, awareness, preparedness, mitigation – and response to natural and other disasters, as well as for the rehabilitation of affected areas;

Promote mechanisms that incorporate risk management and risk reduction methods in public and private development investments;

Convene within a year a hemispheric meeting on disaster preparedness and mitigation with the support of the IACNDR and the participation of a wide range of government entities, regional and MDBs, private entities, NGOs and the research, scientific and technical communities, to discuss and develop cooperative efforts to facilitate implementation of Summit mandates on disaster management;

Request the IDB to undertake a feasibility study in partnership with the OAS, the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and other relevant inter-American organizations, as well as the private sector, including insurance companies, on measures to reduce and/or pool risk in a manner that results in reduced premiums on catastrophic insurance, and mechanisms to facilitate contingent re-construction financing and the immediate release of funds to resolve urgent needs of the affected country; this study would examine the relationship between re-insurance and national and community disaster management capacities, as well as trends toward dis-investment and job losses in those economic sectors requiring costly catastrophic insurance coverage and the role such measures might play in this regard; share with the private sector experiences in the development and application of risk management tools such as risk transfer instruments, vulnerability assessment methodologies and risk reduction incentives for the private sector;

Environment and Natural Resources Management

Recognizing that the protection of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources are essential to prosperity and to the sustainability of our economies, as well as the quality of life and health for present and future generations; and committed to advancing sustainable development throughout the Hemisphere consistent with our 1994 and 1998 Summit of the Americas Declarations and Plans of Action and the 1996 Santa Cruz de la Sierra Declaration and Plan of Action:

Welcome the outcomes and endorse the areas of cooperation identified at the recent hemispheric meeting of Ministers responsible for the Environment held in Montreal;

Reaffirm our commitments to implement Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) to which we are party, including through enactment and effective enforcement of any necessary domestic laws, reiterating common and differentiated responsibilities as set forth in Principle 7 of the1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and taking into account the needs and concerns of small developing countries and noting, in this context, the recently concluded Global Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; also stress the need to build synergies among MEAs to enhance their effectiveness in implementation and to strengthen international cooperation;

Support the preparatory process for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development to review progress achieved in the implementation of the outcome of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, focusing on areas where further efforts are needed to implement Agenda 21 and explore ways to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable development;

Request the OAS through its General Secretariat, in coordination with other agencies, to organize a meeting at the ministerial level before the end of 2001, to be held in Bolivia on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Santa Cruz de la Sierra Summit of 1996, and present contributions to the Rio+10 Summit in 2002, recognizing that by its nature, sustainable development has long-term goals that require the countries of the Hemisphere to act in concert in this area;

Request the United Nations Environment Program (UNP.) and PAHO to support the convening of a regional meeting between Ministers responsible for the Environment and Ministers of Health to take stock of progress achieved, to identify priority areas for renewed emphasis and cooperative initiatives, and to explore ways of moving forward in the Americas and globally, with a view to contributing to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, recognizing the links between the environment and human health;

Resolve, as parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to pursue its objectives in accordance with its provisions and to address the issue of climate change as a priority for action, working constructively through international processes in order to make the necessary progress to ensure a sound and effective response to climate change; recognize the vulnerabilities in all our countries, in particular of Small Island Developing States and low-lying coastal states, and the need to support the conduct of vulnerability assessments, the development and implementation of adaptation strategies, capacity building and technology transfer;

Promote the adoption, implementation and enforcement of national legislation, regulations, standards and policies that provide for high levels of environmental protection, recognizing the right of each country to set its own levels of environmental protection and, to this end, reinforce cooperative partnerships, placing particular emphasis on achieving cleaner air, enhancing access to safe water and sanitation services, and strengthening national and regional capacities for integrated water resources management and for waste management;

Consult and coordinate domestically and regionally, as appropriate, with the aim of ensuring that economic, social and environmental policies are mutually supportive and contribute to sustainable development, building on existing initiatives undertaken by relevant regional and international organizations;

Support initiatives such as the Hemispheric Round-table for Cleaner Production in furtherance of our efforts to promote partnerships among government, industry and civil society and advance, as appropriate, the Plans of Action and the Global Cleaner Production Information Network launched at the 2000 Montreal International Pollution Prevention Summit;

Promote and support implementation of priorities for action set out in the Bahia Declaration on Chemical Safety at the national level, particularly those aimed at increasing public access to information on toxic substances and at strengthening capacity in this area;

Promote improved environmental management at the municipal level, including through information exchange among local communities, the development of environmentally sound technology and the promotion of partnerships to facilitate, as appropriate, technology transfer, capacity building, including the strengthening of local institutions and services, and support for initiatives such as the World Bank Clean Air Initiative and IDB programs in this area;

Advance hemispheric conservation of plants, animals and ecosystems through, as appropriate: capacity building, expanding partnership networks and information sharing systems, including the Inter-American Biodiversity Network; cooperation in the fight against illegal trade in wildlife; strengthening of cooperation arrangements for terrestrial and marine natural protected areas, including adjacent border parks and important areas for shared species; support for regional ecosystem conservation mechanisms; the development of a hemispheric strategy to support the conservation of migratory wildlife throughout the Americas, with the active engagement of civil society; and the promotion the objectives and the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification;

Promote the adoption of concrete and urgent actions towards the implementation of sustainable forest management; promote policies, practices, incentives and investment in support of sustainable forest management, building on existing hemispheric initiatives and cooperation, as well as support the UN Forum on Forests and its program of work;

Reaffirm our commitment to advancing environmental stewardship in the area of energy by advancing policies, practices, transference of and access to technologies, that are economically efficient and take the environmental impacts of energy development and use into account; and endorse and support the work of the Hemispheric Energy Initiative in this area;

Promote the development of environmentally sound exploitation and management of minerals and metals, recognizing the importance of the social and economic dimensions of the activities of the mining sector, and support the work of regional and international fora in this area;

10. AGRICULTURE MANAGEMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Promote dialogue involving government ministers, parliamentarians and civil society, in particular organizations linked to rural areas as well as the scientific and academic communities, with the objective of promoting medium and long-term national strategies toward sustainable improvement in agriculture and rural life;

Support national efforts to strengthen rural enterprises, in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises and promote, where appropriate, a favorable environment for agri-business; encourage, in a complementary manner, the training of small- and medium-sized rural entrepreneurs as well as the modernization of training institutions in this field;

Encourage the development of markets in the Hemisphere for goods obtained through the sustainable use of natural resources;

Strive to facilitate access to markets for those goods derived from alternative development programs implemented in countries engaged in the substitution of illicit crops;

Instruct the Ministers of Agriculture, during the next meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture, to promote, in cooperation with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), joint action by all the actors of the agricultural sector to work towards the improvement of agricultural and rural life that enables the implementation of the Plans of Action of the Summits of the Americas;

11. LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

Recognizing that employment is the most direct way in which economic activity is linked to the improvement of the standard of living of our citizens and that true prosperity can only be achieved if it includes protecting and respecting basic rights of workers as well as promoting equal employment opportunities and improving working conditions for people in all countries in the region, with special attention to those in the informal sector, to people belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, other vulnerable persons including women, youth, indigenous, migrant workers, persons with disabilities and persons with HIV/AIDS; and noting the importance of investing in human resource development, of promoting employment security consistent with economic growth and developing mechanisms to assist workers with periods of unemployment, as well as of strengthening cooperation and social dialogue on labor matters among workers, their organizations, employers and governments:

Reaffirm the fundamental importance of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor, welcome the progress made through its Plan of Action adopted in 1998, support the preparatory process for the Twelfth Conference in 2001, and direct Ministers to build upon the Viña del Mar Declaration which focused on the social dimensions of globalization and the modernization of Labor Ministries, by collaborating in the examination of the labor dimension of the Summit of the Americas process, in order to identify areas of agreement and issues where further work needs to be done;

Respect the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up, adopted in 1998, adopt and implement legislation and policies that provide for the effective application of core labor standards as recognized by the ILO and consider the ratification and implementation of fundamental ILO Conventions;

Consult and coordinate, domestically and regionally in the appropriate fora, with a view to contributing to raising the living standards and improving the working conditions of all people in the Americas; create a process for improved collaboration and coordination on the labor dimensions of the Summit of the Americas process between Labor Ministries and other appropriate ministries and key international institutions within the Americas that have a critical role to play in the improvement of labor conditions, in particular the OAS, the ILO, ECLAC, as well as the IDB and the World Bank;

Develop new mechanisms to increase the effectiveness of projects and other technical assistance designed to build the capacity of smaller economies and their institutions to effectively implement labor laws and standards and to foster equality of opportunity with respect to gender, among others, in strategies to promote employment, training, life-long learning and human resource development programs with the objective of promoting access to more and better employment in the new economy;

Strengthen the capacity of the Ministers of Labor to develop and implement effective labor and labor market policies; collaborate with employers and labor organizations to develop and generate information on labor markets; participate in dialogue, tripartite consultations and dispute resolution strategies; and adopt ongoing strategies and programs as a core element for professional development in the labor market;

Continue to work towards the elimination of child labor, and as a priority, promote the hemispheric ratification and implementation of the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, 1999 (No.182), work to bring national laws, regulations and policies into conformity with this Convention, and take immediate action to eliminate the worst forms of child labor;

Promote and protect the rights of all workers, in particular those of working women, and take action to remove structural and legal barriers as well as stereotypical attitudes to gender equality at work, addressing, inter alia, gender bias in recruitment; working conditions; occupational discrimination and harassment; discrimination in social protection benefits; women’s occupational health and safety; and unequal career opportunities and pay;

Recognizing that economic growth is fundamental to overcoming economic disparities and strengthening democracy in the Hemisphere, and that in order to achieve sustained economic growth and political and social stability, it is necessary to face the primary challenge that confronts the Hemisphere - the eradication of poverty and inequity - that requires an integrated and focused approach, which promotes better competitiveness, equity enhancing trade and more equitable access to opportunities, taking into account the difficulties that the countries of the region face, including those under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, in obtaining financing for their development; and that it is necessary to take measures at the national and hemispheric levels in order to create a positive environment for business, maximize the benefits of orderly migration, minimize the effects of economic volatility and natural disasters and encourage social stability and mobility in order to promote a more equitable distribution of the benefits of economic growth:

Development Financing

Acknowledge the need for development financing, including aid from bilateral donors and lending from the MDBs on appropriate terms, and commit to support our Finance Ministers and the MDBs in promoting policies to develop and maintain access to international capital markets to finance our sustainable development efforts, recognizing that debt servicing constitutes a major constraint on investment for many countries in the Hemisphere;

Design and implement, with the cooperation of the IDB, the World Bank, other donors, as appropriate, as well as the ILO, building upon the work begun in regional and sub-regional programs after the 1998 Santiago Summit of the Americas, legislation, policies and regulations that reduce startup costs, support the creation of new financial products for lower-income groups and youth, foster the development of credit unions, community finance institutions and supporting institutions such as credit bureaus and create conditions that encourage commercial banks and other appropriate financial institutions to broaden their client base to include more micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises and strengthen the capacities of micro, small- and medium-sized enterprise development agencies;

Provide and improve where necessary, both in rural and urban areas, access to quality information systems for micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises through the creation of non-discriminatory mechanisms with the cooperation of the IDB, the World Bank, other donors, as appropriate, as well as ECLAC, and establish programs aimed at promoting the use of computers and the Internet, based on public and private sector partnership, to gain greater access to information technology, to credit and markets and to instruments designed to assist them in all these areas;

Support and encourage, with the cooperation of the IDB and other donors as appropriate, the formation of business incubators, associative networks, joint projects, national competitiveness programs, credit unions and complementary agreements among micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises as part of a broader strategy allowing them to share best practices, to improve access to information, credit and adequate marketing systems and to break prevailing situations of isolation;

Increase access to opportunities for sustainable entrepreneurship, productivity and employment among young people;

Improve, as appropriate, social safety nets at the national and regional levels to stabilize individual and household income and consumption by such means as stabilization funds, micro-credit schemes, crop insurance programs, job retraining and training in vocational, entrepreneurial and business skills, with the involvement of the MDBs and development agencies as well as non-governmental and community-based organizations and to establish regional networks to share best practices and experiences;

Promote, in cooperation with the CIM, IICA, other appropriate inter-American institutions and the World Bank, improved market access for disadvantaged entrepreneurs, particularly women, youth, persons with disabilities, indigenous and rural populations, by developing programs that generate local employment and provide training, retraining and life-long learning, particularly in new technologies, and affordable services in business management, product development, financing, production and quality control, marketing and the legal aspects of business; by establishing outreach programs to inform low-income and poor populations, particularly in rural and remote areas, of opportunities for market and technology access and by providing assistance, monitoring, mentoring , advisory and other support services to enable these groups to take advantage of such opportunities;

Recognizing the positive aspects and benefits of orderly migration in countries of origin, transit and destination as a factor contributing to economic growth and national and regional development:

Support initiatives designed to strengthen linkages among migrant communities abroad and their places of origin and promote cooperative mechanisms that simplify and speed up the transfer of migrant remittances and substantially reduce the costs of sending them;

Support voluntary initiatives designed by communities or individuals for the use of funds in investment and productive projects benefiting the general welfare in communities of origin;

Promote the discussion of the migration phenomenon at the hemispheric level with due regard for its multi-dimensional nature and regional differences and, in so doing, consider the inclusion of the topic of migration in discussions on trade and economic integration;

Support programs of cooperation in immigration procedures for cross-border labor markets and the migration of workers, both in countries of origin and destination, as a means to enhance economic growth in full cognizance of the role that cooperation in education and training can play in mitigating any adverse consequences of the movement of human capital from smaller and less developed states;

Strive to ensure that migrants have access to basic social services, consistent with each country's internal legal framework;

Create and harmonize statistical information systems and foster the sharing of information and best practices through the use of new information and communications technologies, with the aim of promoting the modernization of migration management;

Continue and deepen progress toward implementation of the agenda for improving property registration established at the 1998 Santiago Summit of the Americas with particular emphasis on regularizing informal property rights, in accordance with national legislation, to ensure that all valid property rights are formally recognized, that disputes are resolved, and that modern legal frameworks to legitimize property records and encourage marketable property titles are adopted; and that these actions include the formulation of institutional, political and regulatory reforms that would facilitate the use of property registration as a mechanism to enable property owners to access credit and allow commercial banks and MDBs to expand their customer base among lower income sectors; promote greater cooperation and exchange of information and technology to modernize the systems of registry and cadastre in the Hemisphere, and also request multilateral and bilateral cooperation institutions to continue supporting and strengthening, in a complementary manner, their financial and technical assistance programs;

Support, in cooperation with ECLAC and the World Bank, research at the hemispheric level to generate disaggregated data on the differential impact of economic policies and processes on women and men, rural and urban populations, indigenous and non-indigenous, and communities of high or low social mobility, and on their respective participation in economic growth;

Promote recognition of the social and economic contribution made by the unpaid work performed by women predominantly in the home, and consider providing innovative social safety nets in conformity with national law;

Promote greater recognition of the economic contribution of women's activities in the subsistence and informal sectors and provide, through the international and regional MDBs and the donor community, necessary assistance to communities participating in such activities, giving greater awareness at the national level to gender issues in macro-economic planning and policy-making;

Cooperate and promote dialogue on forced displacement, geared toward the improvement of the attention given to populations displaced by violence, taking into account the problems that these populations face; and harmonize national legislation in accordance with rules and standards of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention of 1951;

Invite the IACHR and its Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons to continue to monitor and report on situations of forced displacement with a view to promoting durable solutions aimed at addressing the root causes of such phenomena;

Recognizing that education is the key to strengthening democratic institutions, promoting the development of human potential, equality and understanding among our peoples, as well as sustaining economic growth and reducing poverty; further recognizing that to achieve these ends, it is essential that quality education is available to all, including girls and women, rural inhabitants, persons with disabilities, indigenous, and persons belonging to minorities; reaffirming the commitments made at previous Summits to promote the principles of equity, quality, relevance and efficiency at all levels of the education system and ensure, by 2010, universal access to and completion of quality primary education for all children and to quality secondary education for at least 75 percent of young people, with increasing graduation rates and lifelong learning opportunities for the general population; and also reaffirming the commitment to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005:

Entrust the OAS to organize, within the framework of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), a meeting of Ministers of Education in Uruguay, to be held before the end of  2001, with a mandate to:

- identify and set up appropriate hemispheric mechanisms to ensure the implementation of the education initiatives in this Plan of Action and to continue to promote actions on priorities identified in previous Summits based on a careful evaluation of our collective achievements in this area;

- establish time lines and benchmarks for follow-up on the implementation of our commitments in education;

- establish, in light of the fundamental importance of mobilizing resources to support sustained investment in education at all levels, a cooperative mechanism to promote the development of productive partnerships among governments and with regional and international organizations and the MDBs;

- promote the participation of and dialogue with relevant civil society organizations to strengthen partnerships between the public sector and other sectors of our societies in implementing this Plan of Action;

Formulate and implement policies, within the framework of a strategy for resolving social inequalities, to promote access to quality basic education for all, including early childhood and adult education, particularly to promote literacy, while providing for alternative methods that meet the needs of disadvantaged segments of the population or of those excluded from formal education systems, in particular girls, minorities, indigenous, and children with special education needs; share information and successful experiences in encouraging educational participation and addressing student retention within certain groups, especially boys -in particular in the Caribbean countries - whose drop-out rate at the secondary level is high in certain regions;

Support and promote lifelong learning by

- offering varied curricula based on the development of skills, knowledge, civic and democratic values;

- providing flexible service delivery mechanisms, including the use of information and communications technologies, to foster employability, personal growth and social commitment; and

- certifying skills acquired on the job;

- encouraging the participation of all sectors of society in order to obtain a consensus on policies that are viable and that guarantee the appropriate and continuous distribution of resources;

- decentralizing their decision-making and promoting the participation of civil society, especially parents; and

- promoting transparent school management in the interest of securing an adequate and stable allocation of resources so that educational institutions can play a leading role as agents for change;

- improving their conditions of service; and
- raising the profile of the profession by providing, in addition to solid initial preparation, opportunities for ongoing professional development, and by designing accessible, flexible, dynamic and relevant training strategies using, among other means, new information and communications technologies;

Support ongoing regional projects for comparable indicators and educational assessment resulting from the Santiago Summit, including cooperation initiatives based on performance assessment programs regarding educational processes and achievement, taking into consideration studies in pedagogy and assessment practices previously developed by countries; develop comparable indicators to assess the services provided by each country to people with special education needs and promote the exchange of information on policies, strategies and best practices in the Americas; Strive to ensure that secondary education is more responsive to evolving labor market requirements by promoting the diversification of programs and experimentation with new, more flexible teaching methods with emphasis on science and technology, including the use of new information and communications technologies, and by supporting the establishment of mechanisms for the recognition and certification of acquired skills; and to this end, promote the exchange of information and best practices and support cooperation projects;
Promote more effective dialogue between society and institutions of higher education, and facilitate access for all to these institutions by balancing growing demand with higher quality standards and public funding with greater commitment from the private sector; support hemispheric cooperation for research in science and technology aimed at the solution of specific problems in the region and the transfer of knowledge;
Support the mobility, between countries of the Hemisphere, of students, teachers and administrators at institutions of higher education and of teachers and administrators at the elementary and secondary levels, in order to provide them with new opportunities to take part in the new knowledge-based society, to increase their knowledge of other cultures and languages, and to enable them to access information on post-secondary studies and learning opportunities offered across the Hemisphere, through new or existing hemispheric networks, such as the educational Web site set up after the Santiago Summit; continue to support initiatives in this field such as those carried out by the IDB and the OAS; Promote access by teachers, students and administrators to new information and communications technologies applied to education, through training geared toward new teaching approaches, support for development of networks and sustained strengthening of information clearinghouses, in order to reduce the knowledge gap and the digital divide within and between societies in the Hemisphere; Science and Technology

Promote the popularization of science and technology necessary to advance the establishment and consolidation of a scientific culture in the region; and stimulate the development of science and technology for regional connectivity through information and communications technologies essential for building knowledge-based societies;

Support the development of high-level human capital for the development of science and technology research and innovation that would encourage the strengthening of the agricultural, industrial, commercial and business sectors as well as the sustainability of the environment;
Promote, with the support of existing cooperation mechanisms, the development of the regional program of science and technology indicators;

Endeavor to implement and follow up on the scientific and technological activities mentioned above, counting on the support of hemispheric cooperation and coordination mechanisms related to this field;

Recognizing - further to the commitments made at the Miami and Santiago Summits and in accordance with agreed-upon international development goals in the areas of maternal, infant, child and reproductive health - that good physical and mental health is essential for a productive and fulfilling life, and that equitable access to quality health services is a critical element in the development of democratic societies, and for the stability and prosperity of nations; that the enjoyment of the highest standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition, as set forth in the Constitution of the World Health Organization; that gender equality and concern for indigenous peoples, children, the elderly and under-served groups must be of paramount concern in the development of health policy; that health outcomes are affected by physical, social, economic and political factors and that the technical cooperation of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and other relevant international organizations should continue to support health actions in the Hemisphere, in a manner consistent with the Shared Agenda for Health in the Americas signed by PAHO, the IDB, and the World Bank:

Health Sector Reform

Reaffirm their commitment to an equity-oriented health sector reform process, emphasizing their concerns for essential public health functions, quality of care, equal access to health services and health coverage, especially in the fields of disease prevention and health promotion, and improving the use of resources and administration of health services; promote the continued use of scientifically validated, agreed-upon, common indicators for assessing effectiveness, equity and efficiency of health systems;

Strengthen and promote development of domestic standards of practice, accreditation and licensing procedures, codes of ethics, and education and training programs for health personnel; improve the mix of health personnel in the provision of health services to better respond to national health priorities;
Intensify efforts and share and promote best practices to:

_ reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality;

_ provide quality reproductive health care and services for women, men and adolescents; and

_ carry out commitments made at the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development and its five-year follow-up in New York;
Develop processes to evaluate the efficacy of alternative health practices and medicinal products to ensure public safety and share this experience and knowledge with other countries in the Americas;

Communicable Diseases

Commit, at the highest level, to combat HIV/AIDS and its consequences, recognizing that this disease is a major threat to the security of our people; in particular seek to increase resources for prevention, education and access to care and treatment as well as research; adopt a multi-sectoral and gender sensitive approach to education, to prevention and to controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) by developing participatory programs especially with high risk populations, and by fostering partnerships with civil society including the mass media, the business sector and voluntary organizations; promote the use of ongoing horizontal mechanisms of cooperation to secure the safety of blood; increase national access to treatment of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses through measures striving to ensure the provision and affordability of drugs, including reliable distribution and delivery systems and appropriate financing mechanisms consistent with national laws and international agreements acceded to; continue dialogue with the pharmaceutical industry and the private sector in general to encourage the availability of affordable antiretrovirals and other drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment, and promote strategies to facilitate the sharing of drug pricing information including, where appropriate, that available in national data banks; promote and protect the human rights of all persons living with HIV/AIDS, without gender or age discrimination; utilize the June 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS as a platform to generate support for hemispheric and national HIV/AIDS programs;

Enhance programs at the hemispheric, national and local levels to prevent, control and treat communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, dengue, malaria and Chagas;

Promote healthy childhood development through: prenatal care, expanded immunization programs, control of respiratory and diarrheal diseases by conducting programs such as the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, health education, physical fitness, access to safe and nutritious foods, and the promotion of breast-feeding;

Non-Communicable Diseases

Implement community-based health care, prevention and promotion programs to reduce health risks and non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and including hypertension, cancer, diabetes, mental illness as well as the impact of violence and accidents on health; 

Participate actively in the negotiation of a proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; develop and adopt policies and programs to reduce the consumption of tobacco products, especially as it affects children; share best practices and lessons learned in the development of programs designed to raise public awareness, particularly for adolescents, about the health risks associated with tobacco, alcohol and drugs;

Connectivity

Provide sound, scientific and technical information to health workers and the public, utilizing innovations such as the Virtual Health Library of the Americas; encourage the use of tele-health as a means to connect remote populations and to provide health services and information to under-served groups, as a complement to the provision of existing health care services;

15. GENDER EQUALITY

Recognizing that women's empowerment, their full and equal participation in the development of our societies, and their equal opportunities to exercise leadership are all central to the reduction of poverty, the promotion of economic and social prosperity, people-centered sustainable development, consolidation of democracy and conflict resolution and the development of equal partnerships between women and men; further recognizing that these principles are the basis for promoting gender equality and women's human rights in the Americas and working towards the elimination of the full range of inequalities:

Endorse the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women's Human Rights and Gender Equit y and Equality approved at the First Meeting of Ministers or of the Highest Ranking Authorities Responsible for the Advancement of Women, held in April 2000, by the CIM; endorse as well the Regional Programme of Action for the Women in Latin America and the Caribbean 1995-2000 and the further actions and initiatives adopted at the Twenty-Third Special Session of the UN General Assembly (Beijing +5) to implement the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action; and integrate a gender perspective into the programs, actions and agendas of national and international events, to ensure that women's experiences and gender equality are an integral dimension of the design, implementation and evaluation of government and inter-American policies and programs in all spheres;

Strengthen national machineries and other government bodies responsible for the advancement of women and for the promotion and protection of the human rights of women; provide them with the necessary human and financial resources, including through exploring innovative funding schemes so that gender is integrated into all policies, programs and projects; and support both the fundamental role that women's organizations have played and will continue to play in advancing gender equality and the joint efforts between governments and the private sector which contribute to respect and understanding of the human rights of women;

Promote gender equity and equality and women's human rights by strengthening and fostering women's full and equal participation in political life in their countries and in decision-making at all levels;

Reinforce the role of the CIM as the technical advisor to the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) on all aspects of gender equity and equality and recognize the importance of the CIM in follow-up to relevant Summit recommendations; provide for an appropriate level of resources to the CIM to carry out its role as the principal hemispheric policy-generating forum for the advancement of the human rights of women and particularly of gender equality; promote the support and participation of the IDB, the World Bank and ECLAC in the implementation of and follow-up to this Plan of Action;

Promote the use of information and communications technologies as a mechanism to address inequalities between men and women and ensure women's equality of access to these new technologies and to the requisite training; to this end, ensure that government connectivity programs and programming at local, national and regional levels, integrate a gender perspective representative of the diversity of women within various groups, including indigenous peoples and rural and ethnic minorities;

Strengthen systems for collecting and processing statistical data disaggregated by sex, and adopt the use of gender indicators that will contribute to a baseline analysis of the status of women and to the implementation of public policies at the national and regional levels, and that make it possible to improve the monitoring and assessment of regional and international agreements;