(E-149/01) July 11, 2001 OAS OPENS DEBATE TO FINALIZE TEXT OF 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 Americasinternally and externallywith 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. ******** |