GENERAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE EMBASSY OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN URUGUAY
AND
THE INTER-AMERICAN CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE


Espaņol

The Embassy of United States of America in Uruguay (hereinafter known as the "US Embassy") represented by its Ambassador, Martin J. Silverstein and the Inter-American Children's Institute, (hereinafter known as the "IIN"), represented by its Director General, Alejandro Bonasso Lenguas, agree to sign this General Cooperation Agreement subject to the following Considerations and Clauses: 

CONSIDERING: 

That the IIN is a Specialized Organization of the Organization of American States (hereinafter known as the "OAS"), created by a resolution of the Fourth Pan American Children's Congress of 1924 and founded in 1927, to promote cooperation programs among countries of the Western Hemisphere in order to improve the situation of children, youth and the family in the health, education, social, legal and cultural areas in general; 

That for the IIN it is a priority to search for effective solutions to the problems affecting children, and see to the full compliance with and effectiveness of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in cooperation with the OAS Member States and society as a whole; 

That, since its foundation it has permanently carried out training activities, technical cooperation, information and dissemination of child-related topics in the Hemisphere, as well as joint activities with other organizations and Governments of the OAS system; 

That the IIN has received different mandates from its Directing Council as well as the General Assembly of the OAS to help Member States to prevent and eradicate commercial and non-commercial sexual exploitation of children; 

That there is a concern and a need to urgently combat child pornography, trafficking of children with sexual exploitation purposes and to update national legislations in order to protect the rights of children and to punish offenders; 

That the US Embassy recognizes the impact of the above mentioned problems in the MERCOSUR region. 

That the US Embassy works with Uruguayan authorities in different areas linked to human rights and humanitarian assistance programs. 

That the United States Government and private institutions support the efforts of the Embassy and the Uruguayan Government in order to improve the present social situation of  children and adolescents.

That the US Embassy and the IIN recognize the key position of the Republic of Uruguay as the administrative headquarters of MERCOSUR. As such, Uruguay is ideally located to act as a regional hub for the development and implementation of a regional project for creating Legislation to Prevent Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children and Implementing Social Policies, Plans and Programs to Protect Children Against these Problems. 

That both parties believe they can make an important contribution to the region in coordinating multilateral efforts such as this one. 

That both parties recognize the need for and their mutual interest in developing areas for joint action in protecting children,  adolescents and families.  

AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING: 

ARTICLE I
Purpose 

            The purpose of this Agreement is to establish the general guidelines for the fulfillment of the following objectives: 

  1. To implement and coordinate a project proposal entitled: Combating Sexual Exploitation, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children. First Stage: MERCOSUR  

  2. To establish the legal framework for operational and administrative procedures, following the OAS and US Government rules.

ARTICLE II
Areas of Cooperation 

            The parties agree to work jointly in the following areas of cooperation:           

  1. Researching problems of child pornography via the Internet and trafficking of children with sexual exploitation purposes in the MERCOSUR region.

  2. Researching the existing legal framework of these problems in the MERCOSUR region to update legislation and create and implement the necessary legal and law enforcement reforms.

  3. Training and involving stakeholders in a series of regional workshops, including a formal study to produce a model legislation and a model of intervention to prevent and control sexual exploitation, child pornography and trafficking of children.

ARTICLE III
Forms of Cooperation 

            To implement the cooperation provided for in Article II, the parties may adopt the following mechanism according to their purposes: 

  1. The Department of State will transfer to the OAS US$ 42.000 (Forty two thousand US Dollars) in order to finance IIN technical and operational coordination of project activities.

  2. The OAS will transfer to the IIN these funds for its local administration.

  3. The IIN will execute the schedule of activities included in the project proposal, which is attached to this Agreement of Cooperation.

The IIN will obtain the following results:

  • Prepare and host a Regional Workshop on Combating Sexual Exploitation, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children

  • Prepare and disseminate documents resulting from the Regional Workshop

  • Organize with the US Embassy and host a Regional Training Workshop on Researching Child Pornography via the Internet for which the Department of State will transfer to the US Embassy the remaining $10,310 (Ten thousand three hundred and ten US Dollars) of the project funding to the US Embassy in Montevideo to cover the cost of bringing DHS experts to conduct the training and associated costs of this workshop.

  •  Supervise the implementation of the following three investigations in each participating country (MERCOSUR):

* Child Pornography via the Internet
* Trafficking of Children with Sexual Exploitation Purposes
* Legal Framework 

  • Prepare a working document summarizing the main results of the research portion of the project.

  • Prepare and host a Regional Conference on Combating Sexual Exploitation, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for policy makers, decision makers and Congressmen.

  • Prepare and disseminate documents resulting from the Regional Conference. 

 ARTICLE IV
Execution of the Agreement 

            In the execution of this Agreement, where possible and appropriate, the parties will observe that the highest authorities of each party, or whomever they may appoint as their representatives, will maintain permanent official contact. 

ARTICLE V
Amendments 

The PARTIES may revise the provisions of this Agreement by mutual consent and in writing. 

ARTICLE VI
Entry into Force and Duration 

This Agreement will enter into force on the date of its signature by both parties and will be valid for a period of 18 months. However, this agreement may be deferred by specific written request of one of the contracting parties to the other, giving a justified reason.  

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the representatives of both PARTIES, duly authorized, sign the present Agreement (*) in two equally valid originals, in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay, on the 13th day of January, 2004.

 

 

FOR THE INTER-AMERICAN                                                      FOR THE EMBASSY OF UNITED
CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE                                                             STATES OF AMERICA IN URUGUAY

 -------------------------                                                                      ------------------------- 

 

ALEJANDRO BONASSO                                                          MARTIN J. SILVERSTEIN        
Director General                                                                       Ambassador    

 

(*) This Agreement is signed by the Director General of the IIN, subject to the approval of the Directing Council of the IIN and according to IIN Statutes.