MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

The Western Hemisphere is today, almost without any exceptions, a community of democracies. Considering the tormented political history of a great part of our region, this is an extraordinary achievement. The preservation, expansion and deepening of democratic accomplishments achieved by the previous generation, constitute a core pillar of the work of the Organization of the American States (OAS), particularly after the approval of the Inter-American Democratic Charter on September 11, 2001 in Lima, Peru. The Charter is much more than a declaration of good intentions. It is a compilation of mandates supremely adopted by 34 countries to advance a broad democratic agenda leveraged with resources provided by the multilateral community.

True to those mandates, the Secretariat for Political Affairs of the OAS seeks to be an instrument that helps consolidate the Americas’ achievements in adopting basic characteristics of democracy, mainly, the celebration of free and fair elections and the civilian control of government institutions. For this purpose, it is important to pay attention to political vulnerabilities deeply entrenched in the region – such as corruption or the political exclusion of certain societal groups – as well as to new and more sophisticated threats to democracy – as for instance, the noticeable disenchantment with politics, the erosion of checks and balances, the emergence of political contexts incompatible with fair electoral competition, and the erosion of legitimacy derived by poor government performance. The pending tasks in the road towards deepening democracy in the Americas are as great as the achievements accumulated to date.

Therefore, the Secretariat for Political Affairs aspires to be an instrument that assists member States of the OAS in the arduous and never-ending task of improving the quality of democratic governance. As the hemispheric political organization par excellence, gifted with an unparalleled multilateral experience in the world, the OAS occupies a privileged place to influence debates and support public policy formulation-processes in areas essential to democratic performance. These include the improvement of the quality of electoral competition, adoption of political reforms, strengthening of representative institutions, promotion of electronic government, universalization of the right to civil identity, promotion of conflict resolution mechanisms, and the dissemination of good practices in public management. In some of these areas, the Secretariat already is an unavoidable reference point in the Americas, and aspires to continue being so.

The future success of the Secretariat for Political Affairs of the OAS undertaking this agenda will depend primarily, on how truthful our work is to the mandates of the Inter-American Democratic Charter as an expression of the irreversible will of the peoples of the Hemisphere to live in democracy. It will also depend on our capacity to work in harmony with the member States to respond to their cooperation needs and of our willingness to join efforts with many other governments, public and private institutions committed to the promotion of democracy.

Constructing a Secretariat increasingly clearer on its democratic vocation, but also more agile, more proactive, more connected to the world, and more oriented to the service of the member States of the OAS, is the best homage that our team can do to the invaluable democratic legacy that has been entrusted to the current generation of the peoples of the Americas.