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PERU'S PRESIDENT HAILS HEMISPHERE'S DEMOCRATIC CHARTER
AS MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION BY OAS

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Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo today called for a more dynamic and integrated democratic life in the Americas, hailing the Inter-American Democratic Charter as "the greatest institutional contribution the Organization of American States (OAS) has made in recent years."

Pointing to the Charter's preventive provisions, President Toledo told a special session of the OAS Permanent Council—marking the first anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, signed in Lima, Peru, on September 11 last year—that "the OAS can play a prominent role in providing assistance to nations so requesting, when they feel their democratic systems are under threat."

President Toledo said the Charter "provides a modern and comprehensive concept of democracy," and reiterated the proposal for a Financial Solidarity Fund to defend democracy and governance, "to help our countries handle the present crisis and find political solutions, thereby demonstrating that democracy is the way to economic and social development for our peoples."

In his remarks, OAS Secretary General César Gaviria touched on the salient features of the Democratic Charter, describing it as "a guide to democratic behavior, a behavior handbook." He warned, however, against "expecting that all current or future problems will be solved: that would be underestimating the enormous challenge before us."

Gaviria said the Charter must be applied pro-actively, and called for a new political ethic, with stronger political parties and organizations facilitating anew the idea of "a state that is strong, effective and well-respected; a state with oversight, regulatory and control capabilities; a democratic and respectful state that guarantees the rights of everyone."

For his part, the Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Didier Opertti, said the Democratic Charter is about governments' and states' responsibility to uphold the democratic system as the basis of the rule of law. He argued that "Democracy does not exist without political parties. Neither is there democracy without political pluralism."

According to the Uruguayan Foreign Minister, "Thirty years ago a Democratic Charter was unimaginable" because the OAS had not yet embarked on the path from the Santiago Commitment and Resolution 1080 to the Nassau, Managua and Washington Accords. He noted as well the need to re-examine "our concept of representative democracy," asserting that democracy cannot be defended in isolation, but, rather, "will be defended to the extent we get our citizens to see it as the most viable avenue to satisfy their needs."

Costa Rica's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Elayne Whyte, declared: "We must be mindful that democracy is being threatened by poverty, illiteracy, crime, terrorism, international organized crime, corruption, scarce human development opportunities and the threat of economic collapse." She explained that "preserving, strengthening and entrenching democracy in the Hemisphere is the shared responsibility of the member states and the inter-American community."

Speaking for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegations, Guyana's Ambassador Odeen Ishmael said the Charter underscored the "nexus between socio—economic issues such as poverty, education, the environment and health—and the flourishing of democratic principles." Ambassador Ishmael went on to state that "while we agree that governments have a greater responsibility, they alone cannot guarantee the upholding of democracy." He argued that other political parties and civil society share in this responsibility.

Permanent Council Chairman Ambassador Roger Noriega of the United States opened the meeting, noting how the international community would always remember September 11 as a tragic day. But, he recalled, "within moments of those horrific attacks, the nations of the Americas vowed to preserve and defend our common values by approving the Inter-American Democratic Charter."

Commending Peru's role in drafting it, Ambassador Noriega noted that "the Inter-American Democratic Charter represents an unambiguous rejection of any act or ideology that threatens the "right to democracy." But it does even more: it represents the solidarity of our community to help one another strengthen democratic institutions and processes that might be at risk."

Reference: E-181/02