DEMOCRACY

One of the essential purposes of the OAS, introduced in the Charter with the 1985 Protocol of Cartagena de Indias, is that of promoting and consolidating representative democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention. Since 1989, the Organization has witnessed election processes in those member States that have requested its presence; in 1990 the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy was created and has since conducted programs related to the election observation missions and instituted activities to promote democratic values and support democratic institutions; in 1991, the General Assembly adopted a procedure for responding when democratic order is interrupted in any member country, and in 1992 the Protocol of Washington, now in the ratification process, strengthened the mechanisms for defending democracy.

The Summit of the Americas, which regarded strengthening, effective exercise and consolidation of democracy as the central political priority, underscored the role of the OAS as the principal hemispheric body for the defense of democratic values and institutions.

The Presidents urged the OAS to direct more effort toward programs that promote democratic values and practices and that strengthen the social and economic structure of countries already under a democratic system of government.

New fields of activity for the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy. The Unit for the Promotion of Democracy bears the principal responsibility for responding to States that request OAS cooperation in various democracy-related matters, matters for which the Heads of State and of Government expressed their support of the Organization. These include:

• assisting exchanges of election-related technologies and assisting national electoral organizations;

• lending support to democratic institutions and procedures;

• encouraging exchanges of experiences among democratic institutions, especially legislature-to-legislature and judiciary-to-judiciary;

• fostering understanding, dialogue and political reconciliation.

The Unit's sphere of activity will have to include activities that provide opportunities for member States to share their experiences and progress; that support democracy education programs; analyze and disseminate democratic values and principles; strengthen legislatures, the judiciary, and local governments, and organize and maintain an information system. To carry out this expanded program, the Unit will require additional human and financial resources.

Work of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy with other areas of the General Secretariat. Various items on the OAS' new agenda can be addressed by having the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy work jointly with other areas of the General Secretariat. Those issues include:

• strengthening the role of women in society. In this area, the OAS will cooperate with the governments on measures aimed at ensuring that women's legal and civil rights are fully protected and on programs that enable women to realize their potential and to receive equal educational, training and employment opportunities; programs that promote women's participation in the decision-making process and that adopt and carry out measures to deal with and reduce violence against women..

In all these matters, the Inter-American Commission of Women will have the cooperation of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy.

• combatting corruption. At the Summit of the Americas, the governments pledged to develop within the OAS, with due regard to applicable treaties and national legislation, a hemispheric approach to acts of corruption in both the public and private sectors, through negotiation of a new hemispheric agreement or new arrangements within existing frameworks for international cooperation. They invited the OAS to establish liaison with the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions.

The Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, the Secretariat for Legal Affairs and the Working Group on Probity and Ethics created by the Permanent Council form the institutional framework for the OAS' efforts in this area.

• eliminating the threat of national and international terrorism. The Presidents pledged to promote bilateral and subregional agreements with the aim of prosecuting terrorists and penalizing terrorist activities within the context of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. They also announced that they will convene a special conference of the OAS on the prevention of terrorism, which will receive technical support from the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy and from the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD).

• combatting the problem of illegal drugs and related crimes. The governments agreed to implement the recommendations of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering and to work together to adopt the Model Regulations of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD). They supported the discussion that the OAS has initiated with the European Union on measures to control precursor chemicals and decided to hold a ministerial conference to study and agree on a coordinated hemispheric response, including consideration of an inter-American convention, to combat money laundering.

CICAD will have to be strengthened to deal with the work in the area of drug trafficking and to provide its support, together with the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, to the ministerial conference on money laundering.

• promoting cultural values. The governments asked the OAS and the IDB to reinforce their plans and programs to facilitate cultural exchanges and the flow of cultural and historical information within and among the nations of the hemisphere. The Summit of the Americas regarded cultural development to be a fundamental and integral component of development, with an inherent capability to enrich societies and generate greater understanding among countries.

To act upon the Summit's observations and recommendations, the programs of the Department of Cultural Affairs will be reviewed and its activities will be harmonized with those to promote democratic values.

• building mutual confidence. The governments decided to support actions to encourage a regional dialogue to promote the strengthening of mutual confidence, preparing the way for an OAS regional conference on confidence-building measures, which will take place in Chile in 1995.

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