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OAS Secretary General Presented the Results of the Application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in the Last Year

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today presented to the Organization’s Permanent Council the results of the application in the last year of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which he reiterated continues to be “the most complete inter-American tool created to this day to promote democratic practices in the States of the continent and to conduct the necessary cooperation activities wherever there are evident performance deficits.”

The full report of the Secretary General to the Permanent Council is available here

In his report, the Secretary General summarized some of the concrete activities conducted in the countries of the region and mentioned what was done in Bolivia to facilitate dialogue around the elaboration of a new State Political Constitution; in Paraguay, to support the government in the promotion of spaces of dialogue and development of State policies; in Guatemala, to help the government resolve the political crisis unleashed by the “Rosenberg case”; and in Honduras, to promote a peaceful resolution of the crisis and the restitution of democratic order.

Furthermore, the Secretary General mentioned two activities conducted in the framework of the OAS Charter: the ongoing Good Offices Mission in Colombia and Ecuador and the work of mediation in the territorial dispute between Belize and Guatemala.

More generally, the Secretary General asserted that “many of the events in the last year present once again the need to review or discuss some of the principal limitations of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.”

He highlighted four such limitations: the lack of precision in the criteria to define when and in what measure democratic institutions have been affected in a country; the tension between the principle of non-intervention and the possibility of protecting democracy through collective mechanisms; the problems of access to those who wish to rely on the Charter when they consider that democratic institutionality is being threatened or has been attacked; and the lack of gradualness in the application of mechanisms to solve a crisis.

In his report, the Secretary General emphasized the work conducted on electoral observation and the strengthening of electoral institutions developed in the framework of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. “In all cases, the presence of the Organization has contributed to reduce tensions and increase transparency,” he stated.

He also explained the activities of the Organization, its bodies and agencies with respect to the protection of human rights, essentially through its Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); the creation of the Social Protection Network of the Americas, the development of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy in the Americas; the implementation of programs for the creation of transborder watersheds across the continent; the review and restructuring of the Scholarships and Training program; the support provided by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) to entrepreneurship and leadership inside the most vulnerable sectors of the population; the steps taken in the Inter-American Program of Judicial Facilitators; the progressive implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption; the organization of Ministerial meetings on Labor, Education, Culture, Public Security, Justice, Science and Technology, Sustainable Development and Social Development; the growing participation of civil society in OAS activities; and the support provided to eliminate all forms of discrimination and the implementation of gender equality in the Hemisphere.

“Generally the Inter-American Democratic Charter is mentioned when there is a conflict. But the Charter was intended for use on a daily basis, as a political program of promoting democracy, which is what this Organization seeks. And that is what we are working for,” Secretary General Insulza said.

Today’s presentation answers a mandate from the 39th OAS General Assembly, held in June 2009 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, by which the OAS Secretary General was asked to “present a report to the Permanent Council on all activities of the Organization envisaged by the OAS Charter and the Inter-American Democratic Charter.”

Photographs of the event are posted here

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org

Reference: E-158/10