(E-046/01) February 28, 2001 PHOTO CHILE'S FOREIGN MINISTER WANTS DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS BOLSTERED   Chile's Foreign Affairs Minister, María Soledad Alvear, speaking at the Organization of American States in Washington today, called for action to substantially enhance democratic institutions for them to effectively address the interests of the Hemisphere's citizens. "The kind of governance need to bring about peace and development in the region cannot be achieved otherwise," said Alvear. She briefed a special session of the OAS Permanent Council on the situation in the region, touching as well on aspects of foreign policy. According to Alvear, efforts to consolidate democracy will only succeed where there is respect for human rights. "Not only are assaults on the rights of individuals ethically wrong, but also incompatible with the full exercise of democracy." Pointing to "significant contributions" by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Minister Alvear stressed the importance of the recently created Justice Studies Center of the Americas, expressing the view that the Center could become a special partner with OAS institutional support missions to strengthen democracy around the Hemisphere. The Chilean minister restated her government's commitment to fighting corruption and drug trafficking, and hailed the implementation of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism for "affording us a clear perspective on progress in the national and hemispheric fight against this scourge." Chile wants the OAS to explore new approaches to peace and security in the Hemisphere, the minister said, citing a request from the Chile-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)--jointly submitted by Argentina and Chile--for a common methodology to be developed to compare military expenditure in the two countries. "We feel this mechanism could be applied later on (after the relevant adjustments) in other areas of the Hemisphere." Stressing Chile's firm commitment to involving civil society in the work of the OAS, in particular as it relates to the Summit of the Americas agenda items, the Foreign Minister said the Organization should "be more active in implementing and following up this process." She said Summit mandates mainly relate to the very issues that the OAS handles: "We do not have two parallel hemispheric agendas."   **********