Media Center

Press Release

Debate at OAS Promotes Social Inclusion in the Democracies of the Americas

The 30th Policy Round Table of the Organization of American States (OAS) brought together this week the perspectives and opinions of experts from three countries of the Americas on the subject of social inequality, discrimination against indigenous peoples, and the fight for social inclusion, in particular the role that public policies must play in facing these challenges to participatory democracy.

Titled, “Inclusion and Democracy in the Americas,” the event was organized by the OAS Department of International Affairs and was held at Organization headquarters in Washington, DC. The speakers were Margarita Gutiérrez, President of the “Organización Coordinadora Estatal de Mujeres Indígenas” known as Vinajel in Chiapas, Mexico; Alejandra Faúndez, Director for Latin America of “Inclusión y Equidad” of Chile; and June Lorenzo, legal advisor of the American Indian Law Alliance. The panel was moderated by María Isabel Rivero, press representative of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), with an introduction by Irene Klinger, Director of the OAS Department of International Affairs. Dante Negro, Director of the OAS Department of International Law, moderated the question and answer session.

The discussion was held in the context of the Tenth Anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which in its Article 9 asserts that the elimination of “all forms of discrimination” and of “diverse forms of intolerance, the promotion and protection of human rights of indigenous peoples” contribute to “strengthening democracy and citizen participation.”

In her presentation, the President of Vinajel said that in the continent “we have a great challenge, since today we live in new times,” with States that are no longer “homogenizers” but rather in which “multicultural societies” with different “ways of being and living” are recognized. In this sense, she recalled the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which she called a “watershed” along with the development of other international instruments that have contributed to improved respect of the rights of indigenous peoples and their social inclusion within democratic systems.

These societies are facing important challenges, continued Margarita Gutiérrez, such as the lack of respect for the human rights of indigenous peoples, the “systematic dispossession of the cultural values and principles and opportunities for living” of these communities, and the different application of democracy at the local indigenous level, especially regarding scant participation by women. These and other issues, she said, “continue floating in the air,” which is why it is necessary to “strengthen institutions and cooperation” between the governments of the region on this and other matters of common interest.

For her part, June Lorenzo talked about the historical situation of indigenous peoples in the United States, and the fight they have carried to be included in their country’s democratic system. “Indigenous peoples in the United States and in the Americas have been exercising many of the responsibilities of democracy without having a lot of the rights of democracy,” she said, giving as an example the fact that native Americans have served in larger numbers in every armed battle conflict the United States has participated in since the early 1900s, and yet many of the veterans that came back from World War I were not allowed to vote in elections as American citizens.

Regarding the international instruments on the rights of indigenous peoples, the North American lawyer highlighted the need for OAS Member States to produce a Declaration at the regional level that complements the United Nations Declaration on the subject. “There’s a huge concentration of indigenous peoples in the Americas,” she said, which is why “it’s very important to recognize their rights because in many cases they’re still deprived of human rights.” Furthermore, she said the UN Declaration is not perfect and “there’s nothing that keeps the OAS from adopting a declaration that is much stronger than the UN Declaration, which I don’t believe is strong enough.”

Alejandra Faúndez addressed the issue of how public policies can help face current challenges and what their limitations are, and recalled the importance of identifying state projects that lack the perspective of cultural diversity. “Many times, for example, we talk about public policies that are ‘neutral’ on the issues of cultural diversity when in fact they are ‘blind’ to cultural diversity,” and this “has happened in many countries in this region, particularly in Latin America,” she said.

Among other examples, she mentioned the fact that many citizens who don’t speak the national language lack identity documents, which hampers access to public services and goods. “A poorly designed and poorly implemented public policy does affect the daily lives and quality of life of people, and in this sense it also affects the quality of our democracy,” she said. “As we develop democracies that are more inclusive and more sensitive to the diversities of the citizenry we probably will have democracies of a higher quality that are more representative.”

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-683/11