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Organization of American States
AI sent further material to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS, with which AI has "cooperative relations", concerning its case regarding deaths and disappearances in Guatemala.
It has also submitted information to the commission on prisoners of con- science in Haiti, pointing to the rarity of prisoners being brought to trial and the absence of fair trial procedures when trials take place. The submission requests the commission to use its good offices to secure the fair trial or release of the listed prisoners.
Organization of African Unity
Deputy Secretary General Hans Ehrenstrale and Deputy Head of Research John Humphreys attended the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Coordination Committee of the Bureau for the Placement and Education of African Refugees (BPEAR) on which AI has observer status. The session took place in Addis Ababa from 3-7 February 1975 and provided the occasion for several useful meetings with senior officials of the OAU and other African organizations which could pave the way for increased cooperation on human rights issues in Africa in the future. At its April 1975 meeting, the International Executive Committee agreed that AI should increase its grant to BPEAR for use for legal aid to detained African refugees.
Non-Governmental Organizations
Amnesty International has attended numerous meetings of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in New York, Geneva and Strasbourg. Representation is carried out by its permanent representatives in those cities, but Al's Secretary General and Legal Adviser have also participated on occasion. In addition, there has been important liaison with Paris-based NGOs under the supervision of International Executive Committee member Marie-José Protais.
More than 20 broadly representative NGOs have signed the Amnesty Inter- national resolution against torture which will be circulated to those attending Al's seminars at the Fifth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders being held in Toronto, Canada, in September 1975. A similar number have signed the AI resolution on capital punishment which will be circulated to the congress.
At the September 1974 International Council in Denmark, a special meeting was held of NGO representatives who were attending the council as observers. All participants felt that the meeting, which discussed methods of increased col- laboration, specifically on prisoner-oriented work, was useful and should be repeated. The participating NGOs also played an important role in the meeting on the Campaign for the Abolition of Torture.
Since then, several organizations have passed resolutions pledging their commitment to work for the abolition of torture, sometimes explicitly referring to collaboration with the Amnesty International campaign, as did the Third European Justice and Peace Conference. It is relevant here to mention that the United Nations Liaison Officer with Non-Governmental Organizations, Curtis