(E-140/01)
June 27, 2001

OAS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ADOPT
DEMOCRATIC CHARTER AT SPECIAL SESSION

 

The Organization of American States (OAS) is convening a special session of its General Assembly on September 10, to formally adopt the Inter-American Democratic Charter being developed by the hemispheric Organization.

During discussions on the proposed Charter, the OAS Permanent Council decided at its regular meeting today to hold the twenty-eighth special session of the General Assembly, accepting an offer from the government of Peru to host the special assembly. During the Permanent Council's last session- on June 20- its Chairman was asked to come up with a schedule for moving the negotiations forward on the adoption of the Charter.

The proposed Democratic Charter is intended to promote and consolidate "representative democracy as the system of government of all American states," by reinforcing OAS instruments "for the active defense of representative democracy."

The Inter-American Democratic Charter was considered by the Foreign Ministers of the Americas at the recent thirty first regular session of the OAS General Assembly held in Costa Rica, in keeping with a mandate from the presidents and prime ministers gathered at the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada, last April.

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making forum of the alliance of Western Hemisphere nations, the Permanent Council being next in rank.

Colombia's Ambassador Humberto de la Calle presided over today's Permanent Council session, his last time at the helm of the forum of Permanent Representatives. The chair rotates among the member states every three months.

 

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