Secretariat for the Administration and Finance (SAF)

GA/BS (______) (XXI-O/17)

Secretariat for the Administration and Finance (SAF)

Budgetary Statement

Republic of Costa Rica

BUDGETARY STATEMENT

Delegation of the Republic of Costa Rica

Secretariat for the Administration and Finance

21st Regular Session, 2017

Budgetary Statement by the Delegation of Costa Rica

The Delegation of the Republic of Costa Rica is honored to be among its most respected delegates to discuss essential topics, concerning the 2017 budget of the Organization of the American States. Costa Rica believes that it is the duty of the Organization of American States to uphold the strategic vision that was adopted during the forty-fourth regular session, and to remain committed to strengthening democracy, the promotion of protection of human rights, the advancement of integral development, and the fostering of multidimensional security.[i] Costa Rica will remain determined to work with its fellow delegates in working to fund these solutions under the Secretariat for Administration and Finance (SAF). The Delegation of Costa Rica is determined to work with other delegations to reinforce the strength of the OAS and to provide support for the adaption of the following plans, within the constraints of the budget. The Delegation of Costa Rica holds that only through diplomacy, and through understanding, will the members if the OAS overcome their differences, and create change that will benefit the entirety of the Hemisphere.

The Delegation of Costa Rica believes that all delegates in the OAS are burdened by a moral obligation to secure for their people’s economic freedoms and fundamental rights that do not distinguish between individuals based on race, gender, creed, or nationality.[ii] It is this burden that all delegates of the OAS must bear to promote cultural, economic, and social development. The Delegation of Costa Rica, while acknowledging the constraints of the OAS budget, believes that all delegates should work towards a future where inequality and the suppression of rights are abolished, and that The Republic of Costa Rica will support not only those programs that meet this end, but also those countries whose efforts are seen and appreciated.

The Delegation of Costa Rica continues to put forth programs and initiatives to the OAS, with understanding of the budgetary constraints the body has, that are both within the budget and work to better the lives of individuals in the Western Hemisphere.

The Delegation of Costa Rica believes that the improvement, and establishment of new infrastructure is a key way to enforce the convictions of the OAS, and to promote a more cooperative Western Hemisphere. The Delegation of Costa Rica holds to the ideas passed in the OAS charter, which outline a necessity for establishing economic cooperation, and the spread of rights through social justice and security, and believes that only through the creation of new programs and infrastructure, can these principles become a reality.[iii] Considering the budgetary guidelines of the OAS, The Delegation of Costa Rica trusts that its fellow delegates will come together to fund solutions that adhere to the improvement of the Western Hemisphere. The Delegation of Costa Rica urges its fellow delegates to come together and fund those programs that follow the principles outlined by the OAS.

Resolution 1 (General Committee): EQUITABLE INCLUSION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE OAS THROUGH AN ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD (FIDB)

(Chapter 1, Article 2) “To promote, by cooperative action, their economic, social, and cultural development;”

The Delegation of Costa Rica appreciates the work of all its fellow delegates in the OAS and respects their respective countries. In this regard, The Delegation of Costa Rica details a program created in effort to develop new standards of evaluating overall participation of each member state in the OAS that will evaluated through a new board in the OAS called The Financial Inclusion and Development Board, or the FIDB. The FIDB’s purpose will be to evaluate the participation of member states, and to create a ranking system based on the active participation of member states.

With this, the delegation of Costa Rica, while in consideration of the OAS budget, will request that all member states involved with OAS to make small contributions towards the effort of creating and supporting the FIDB. The delegation notes that while there are those within the OAS who have limited resources, the founding of this board will benefit all member states in allowing all member to see who is contributing and putting forth the effort to adhere to the guidelines of the OAS. The Delegation of Costa Rica believes that all member states already work towards adhering to the participation levels that the FIDB measures, including the establishment of new investments in infrastructure that promote continued effortsto develop and facilitate prosperity within their respective states. This Delegates asks that all currents members realize that the FIDB is an institution that the OAS needs to help promote the principles agreed upon in the OAS Charter.

Resolution 2 (Executive Secretariat for Integral Development): TO PROMOTE THE UNIVERSAL PROTECTION OF ALL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WITHIN THE OAS BY DEVELOPING A PROGRAM CALLED PAWS

(Chapter 7, Article 47) “The Member States will give primary importance within their development plans to the encouragement of education, science, technology, and culture, oriented toward the overall improvement of the individual, and as a foundation for democracy, social justice, and progress.”

With rising concern for the wellbeing of present and future students seeking an education through higher learning the delegation of Costa Rica would like to recognize the issue of increased violence across OAS Member states’ higher education institutions. This resolution helps provide resources to students who might be prone to these acts of violence. Education is of vital importance to the health of every member state as those kids that seek higher education are the future leaders of tomorrow.

To safeguard the students of our higher education institutions the delegation of Costa Rica requests funding for infrastructure improvements to college university campuses across the OAS. These infrastructure improvements include: the development of mobile phone Apps that make it easier for students to report crime and suspicious activity; and poles installed across campuses that would allow for a person to call in the event of an emergency to get help. Funding will be assisted by various NGO’s including, the international Monetary fund.

Resolution 3 (Executive Secretariat for Integral Development): LEADING LEAD REFORM: LIMITING LEAD IN PAINTS TO PROVIDE A HEALTHY WORKPLACE FOR THE AMERICAS

(Chapter 7, Article 33) “ Development is a primary responsibility of each country and should constitute an integral and continuous process for the establishment of a more just economic and social order that will make possible and contribute to the fulfillment of the individual.”

(Chapter 7, Article 34) “Urban conditions that offer the opportunity for a healthful, productive, and full life;”

The Delegation of Costa Rica works to uphold its commitment to the OAS, and, in this plan, would ask other delegates to work towards upholding their commitment to the development, and protection of their urban centers and the lives of their citizens. This plan would work to implement an initiative for member states to lower the amount of lead in buildings to lower than 500 Parts Per Million, and to limit the use of paints that contain more than 300 Parts Per Million. This would ultimately ensure the well-being of citizens within the member states, and would work to further the development of the member states.

As the Delegation of Costa Rica understands that there are resource restraints on member states of the OAS, as well as the budgetary constraint of the OAS itself, this program would look towards outside sources, such as The World Health Organization, Health and Environmental Alliance, as well as The United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s). The Delegation believes fully that these organizations would support the implementing of these programs within member states, as they have done so in the past. The Delegation of Costa Rica holds that to remain committed to the fundamental rights of individuals, member states must work to improve infrastructure, and that in doing so will remain strong in their commitment to the OAS.

Resolution 4 (Executive Secretariat for Multidimensional Security): MENTORING AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT RISK OF BEING SEX TRAFFICKED IN AN ATTEMPT TO COMBAT TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

(Chapter 7, Article 45 (a)) “All human beings, without distinction as to race, sex, nationality, creed, or social condition, have a right to material well-being and to their spiritual development, under circumstances of liberty, dignity, equality of opportunity, and economic security”

(Chapter 7, Article 45(g)) “Recognition of the importance of the contribution of organizations such as labor unions, cooperatives, and cultural, professional, business, neighborhood, and community associations to the life of the society and to the development process”

The Delegation of Costa Rica recognizes that Sex trafficking is a common problem throughout member’s states of the OAS. Additionally, the delegation of Costa Rica recognizes that we must come together as a group to combat the issue of sex trafficking since it is the duty of the OAS and its member states to provide services for victims of sex trafficking in order to promote the well-being of the individual. This resolution aids in establishing such a program in the OAS and will help affect change with the ultimate goal of ending sex trafficking.

With access to various resources such as shelters and training staff through NGO’s this goal is very reasonable and attainable. With the help of local NGO’s and already established programs that train mentors to be able to provide counseling to sex trafficking victims this resolution could be an important step to ending sex trafficking or greatly reducing it. With respect to the member states of the OAS this delegation requests funding for a project such as this as it would greatly help better the lives of many citizens living in the members states of the OAS. Donations would be requested to help in this endeavor by CONNANT and other existing NGO’s.

Resolution 5 (Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy: TOGETHER THEY ARE THE FUTURE

(Chapter 1, Article 2) “To promote and consolidate representative democracy, with due respect to the principle of nonintervention;”

(Chapter 2, Article 3) “The American States proclaim the fundamental rights of the individual without distinction as to race, nationality, creed, or sex;”

The Delegation of Costa Rica works to continue promoting democracy within its own state, and believes that its fellow member states should follow their example. By implementing the “Together they are the Future” pilot program, the Republic of Costa Rica hopes to show other member states a progressive way to promote democratic values and practices. The program establishes awareness about issues within member states, and would help shift the infrastructure of education by cooperating with grades school teachers, by implementing new programs that help said teachers better promote values supported by the OAS.

The Delegation of Costa Rica, with the OAS budget in mind, urges other member states to collectively support this program. The Delegation of Costa Rica believes that it is within the best interest of member states to uphold their commitment to the words of the OAS charter, and work to further promote democracy; this Delegation understands that not all member states have the resources to support the program initially, but has full faith that the non-governmental organizations of the National Endowment for Democracy, United Nation Development Programme, The Arca Foundation, and the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening. The Delegation of Costa Rica believes that funding from these NGO’s will be granted as they have supported projects like this program before. The Delegation of Costa Rica holds to its commitment to promoting human liberties, and the promotion of democracy, and, again, urges its fellow member states to consider the funding of this program.

Resolution 6 (Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy): IMPLEMENTING A WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY PILOT PROGRAM IN COSTA RICA TO REGULATE WATER

(Chapter 7, Article 33) “Development is a primary responsibility of each country and should constitute an integral and continuous process for the establishment of a more just economic and social order that will make possible and contribute to the fulfillment of the individual.”

The delegation of the Republic of Costa Rica recognizes that fresh, healthy water is a rare commodity in many of the member states in the OAS. The job of the OAS is to promote the well-being and betterment of the individual of each member state. With over 37 million citizens lacking the infrastructure to have necessities like running water in their homes and; over 100 million people lacking access to fresh water in general, in Latin America, it is the opinion of Costa Rica that something must be done. This resolution will aid in attempting to establish a plan for infrastructure improvement. The first and most important step to getting fresh water to the people is to “catch” or trap the water, which this resolution does. Additionally, by implementing and funding this program in Costa Rica, based on the results in a 5-year plan the OAS can start to look at the results and start planning for implementation throughout the OAS.

To this end, the Republic of Costa Rica, while respecting the limitations of the OAS budget and the limited resources within each member states, intends to fund these programs by gaining support from interested member states and observer states who are interested in providing necessities to their citizens by providing access to water. Furthermore, the delegation is exuberantly confident that Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) such as but not limited to The World Bank will contribute greatly to the improvements of infrastructure. It is the firm belief that all delegations are interested in bettering the citizens’ lives in their own member states. This delegate encourages the coming together of all member states to move forward in addressing the issues of today, like providing access to healthy fresh water systems.

[i] Organization of American States- Program Budget

[ii] Charter of the Organization of American States, Article 3

[iii] Charter of the Organization of American States, Article 3