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Secretary General Insulza Highlights the Need for "Democracy to be Able to Give Every Citizen the Living Conditions they Deserve"

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today inaugurated the IV Latin American Democracy Forum, held in Mexico under the theme "Governing the future. Latin American democracy in 2020," with a speech in which he emphasized that although America is one of the most democratic regions in the world, and has recently experienced economic boom years, "we have a paradoxical situation in which there is a sense of dissatisfaction with democracy and a growing demand that it substantially improve not only its performance, but also the benefits it delivers, that is, that democracy is able to give every citizen the living conditions they deserve."

Secretary General Insulza recalled how the Forum, jointly organized by the OAS, Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), the Colegio de Mexico, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), has become a key place to discuss the risks, limitations and challenges of democracy in the region. In this regard, he stressed the advances made in the region, citing in particular: having fully valid electoral systems; fair, transparent, and participatory elections with recognized results; democratic stability;and having made ​​great progress in human rights and the participation of women.

In his analysis, the leader of the hemispheric Organization commented that the paradox between democracy and inequality is that, although the first was strengthened in recent decades, this has not meant a decrease in inequality among citizens, who increasingly expect more from democracy. "There are situations in the Americas incompatible with the concept of democracy, such as the unacceptable high levels of inequality, the levels of violence that are incompatible with a society that does not have wars, and that should not have conflicts between their citizens and also the visible dissatisfaction with the level of confrontation and lawlessness that sometimes occurs in our countries due to political dissent," he said, and added that "if democracy requires something it is a minimum consensus between its authorities, it requires that, beyond the confrontations, there is a space in which democrats agree, especially when it comes to imposing major changes to their societies."

Insisting on the paradoxes of the democratic system, the OAS leader declared that while America, after Europe, is the second most democratic Hemisphere in the world, and even though the countries of the region have seen several years of economic boom "we have a paradoxical situation in which there is a sense of dissatisfaction with democracy and a growing demand that it substantially improve not only its performance, but also the benefits it delivers, that is, that democracy is able to give every citizen the living conditions they deserve."

Insulza also stressed that the concept of the "right to democracy" was born with the signing of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, in September 2001, which recognizes that citizens of the Americas have a right to democracy and imposes obligations on governments to provide it. "Then, that same Democratic Charter, far from limiting democracy to only electoral issues, creates a very broad concept of citizenship, covering the political, human and social aspects and suggests that to have a democratic government it is not only necessary to be elected democratically, but it is also necessary to govern democratically, with respect for human rights, for freedom of expression, separation of powers, political pluralism, with transparency and without discrimination, among other things," he said.

The Secretary of Public Education of Mexico, Emilio Chuayffet, on behalf of President Enrique Peña Nieto, agreed with Secretary General Insulza that in the last 30 years, "Latin American countries have consolidated their internal democratic processes in the context of increasing participation and institutional stability," and explained that "despite its importance, the progress made to date is still slow and is still well below the expectations of citizens. The feeling of most of the region is that democracy has not translated into better quality of life for their families or communities."

Secretary Cuayffet concluded noting that, while progress being made, "our countries share the challenge and the urgency of undertaking a second transition: moving from a purely electoral democracy to one of full rights, in which citizens have democratic institutions that provide certainty of access to services, meet their needs and give access to the benefits they are entitled to. To achieve this there are no short cuts or easy solutions," he said.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Secretary General of the Colegio de Mexico, Manuel Ordorica, who spoke of the legacy of the school and its contribution to the training of professionals exercising public functions. "In the case of politics, the Colegio de Mexico has bet on three beliefs: democracy can not live without institutions, democracy can not live without criticism, and democracy can not live without the values ​​that give it meaning," he said and expressed his pleasure that the institution serves on this occasion as the host of the fourth edition of the Democracy Forum.

In welcoming the Forum participants, The President of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation, José Alejandro Luna Ramos, referred to the importance of institutions that ensure and guarantee elections, and that become "an essential element in the constitutional design of the electoral system." For this reason, he added, "we now have the responsibility and commitment to Mexico to never stop contributing to the development and consolidation of democratic systems," he said.

For his part, the IFE President, Leonardo Valdes, emphasized how inequality and wealth concentration have become the biggest threats to democracy, and recalled that according to the Economic Commission for America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) of the United Nations, one in three Latin Americans still live in poverty. "We must see this phenomenon as a warning to change traditional approaches we have taken with democratic institutions," he said, adding that "more than two decades of democratization should stimulate the next big political change in the Hemisphere: to orient institutions toward promoting the welfare of our population."

Valdes said that since 2010 the OAS and the IFE "agreed to organize this annual forum to discuss the major issues that, from an international and comparative perspective, may serve for the development of democratic systems in the region," and mentioned that in the past the meeting discussed issues such as the existing challenges for electoral democracies to evolve into citizenship democracies; the harmful influence of money in politics and elections; and the risks of the crisis of representation. The IFE authority announced that for 2014 the V Democracy Forum will focus on the theme of "women and democracy in the Americas."

In the framework of the Forum, Secretary General Insulza was in charge of delivering the keynote address of the day together with former President of Bolivia Carlos Mesa. The speeches of the two leaders focused on "Justice, Equality and Liberty. Challenges of the XXI century democracy."

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-382/13