(E-149/01)
July 11, 2001

OAS OPENS DEBATE TO FINALIZE TEXT OF
HEMISPHERIC DEMOCRACY CHARTER

Colombia's Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Humberto de la Calle, was elected by acclamation today to chair a working group to consider the final draft of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which will be referred to a special session of the OAS General Assembly in Lima, Peru, next September 10.

Ambassador Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros, the Permanent Representative of Peru, told the Permanent Council that the proposed Democratic Charter and its mechanisms to promote, preserve and defend democracy could help provide the countries of the Americas—internally and externally—with greater stability and legitimacy for democracy.  "The main aim of the Democratic Charter is to broaden the political and legal scope of stability for democracy and the rule of law."

Ambassador Rodríguez said Peru's government was "generally satisfied" with the consensus that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of state and government expressed regarding the Charter during their recent Summit in The Bahamas.  He observed that the Permanent Council's own debates "are a useful response to the problems, strengths and weaknesses of democratic life in our societies."  He said the present draft of the Charter reaffirms democracy as representative, by promoting its participatory nature "as a function of quality and legitimacy in the exercise of democratically constituted rule as the basis for free and regular elections of representatives to exercise power and govern on behalf of the people.

According to Canada's Ambassador Peter Boehm, when they decided to prepare the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the member states also acknowledged that current threats to democracy arise in a variety of new forms.  Given this new reality, the member states are seeking better ways to respond to these threats.  The Charter is an important mechanism through which the states are encouraged to safeguard and develop democracy in their countries, Boehm added.

The delegations of Paraguay, Panama, Antigua and Barbuda, United States, Ecuador, Honduras, Grenada, Guyana, Bahamas and Chile conveyed their full support for establishment of the working group which, they said, provides the OAS an opportunity to be at the forefront in the defense of democracy in the Hemisphere.

Addressing the Permanent Council meeting as well, Eduardo del Buey, the Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Public Information, reported on the recent launch of an OAS webpage, at (www.oas.org/charter/esp/charter_es.htm), to invite public opinion on the text of the proposed Inter-American Democratic Charter.

 

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