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IV SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
ROUNDTABLE WITH CIVIL
SOCIETY AND SPECIAL SESSION OF THE CISC: “CREATING EMPLOYMENT TO
CONFRONT POVERTY AND STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE”
Committee on Inter-American Summits
Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities
(CISC)
Organization of American States
Washington, DC ∙ January 24-25, 2005
I. Introduction
The Member States of the Organization of American States
(OAS) approved resolutions to further promote civil society
involvement in all of its areas of work, including the Summits of
the Americas. Such involvement has made the OAS a vanguard
multilateral organization in terms of citizen participation.
Likewise, civil society organizations (CSO) have taken important
steps to make use of the greater opportunities offered to them and
to involve themselves in the implementation of the inter-American
agenda and the Summit Process. The enhanced space for interaction
allows representatives of civil society organizations not only to
participate in meetings as observers, but also to exchange views
with official delegates, to comment on resolutions and official
documents as they are prepared, and to help in the implementation
and monitoring of special initiatives.
This document presents an overview of the participation of
CSOs in the activities of the OAS and the Summit Process. In
addition, this document will introduce and present the agenda and
operative aspects of the upcoming meeting,
Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session
of the CISC: “Creating
Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance,”
to be held on January 24-25, 2005. Finally, it will also present
the objectives and expected results from the process of civil
society participation in the Roundtable and the
Special Session of the
Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society
Participation in OAS Activities (CISC),
and the agenda of
the Special Session.
II. Background
Parallel to the Summits of the
Americas Process, the OAS has sought to increase the role of civil
society in its activities. In 1999, the Permanent Council
approved resolution CP/RES. 759 (1217/99) “Guidelines for the
Participation of Civil Society Organizations in OAS Activities,”
which defines the scope of participation of CSOs in the activities
of the OAS and its political bodies. This Resolution defines the
principles governing the participation of CSOs, the
responsibilities of the organs, agencies, and entities of the
inter-American system in relation to CSOs, and the requirements
that CSOs must meet in the event that they express their desire to
be registered with the Organization.
Also, by March 2003, the Permanent Council of the OAS
approved resolution CP/RES. 840 (1361/03) "Strategies for
Increasing and Strengthening Participation by Civil Society
Organizations in OAS Activities," which called for a more active
promotion of the registration process and participation of civil
society organizations. The OAS agreed to transmit draft General
Assembly resolutions electronically to, and hold virtual
consultations with, CSOs and promote broad usage of the OAS
website, its primary tool for disseminating information and
promoting participation.
In June 2003, at the XXXIII OAS General Assembly in
Santiago, Chile, an Informal Dialogue took place with CSOs,
Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and the Secretary General of the
OAS. Due, in part, to the significant contributions from CSOs in
the implementation and monitoring of the inter-American agenda,
Members States agreed that this Informal Dialogue will now become
an institutionalized meeting of the General Assembly.
On January 2004, the Heads of State and Government of the
Hemisphere met in Monterrey, Mexico, for the Special Summit of the
Americas and adopted the Nuevo Leon Declaration which emphasizes
that civil society organizations should contribute to the design,
implementation, and evaluation of public policies adopted by
different orders or levels of government. The Leaders recognized
the role of civil society and its contribution to sound public
administration and reaffirmed the importance of continuing to
forge new partnerships that will enable constructive ties to be
built between governments, non-governmental organizations,
international organizations, and the diverse social actors to work
in favor of development and democracy. The Heads of State and
Government also encouraged the participation of civil society in
the Summit of the Americas Process and agreed to institutionalize
meetings with civil society, academia, and the private sector.
During a dialogue between representatives of civil society
and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the region, held in the
framework of the XXXIV OAS General Assembly in Quito, Ecuador, on
June 6, 2004, civil society presented a series of recommendations
to the delegations of the 34 Member States. These recommendations
were the result of a Hemispheric Forum of Civil Society held in
Quito on April 26-27, 2004. During the nearly three hour dialogue,
approximately 150 civil society representatives exchanged views
with the delegations on the central subject of the General
Assembly, the fight against corruption, as well as on other
subjects of importance for the region, such as the strengthening
of human rights and the promotion of the rights of indigenous
peoples. This Dialogue, which is now institutionalized and has
become a part of the regular agenda of the General Assembly,
reflects the commitment of the OAS and its Member States to
promote citizen participation.
III. Special Session and Roundtable with Civil Society
The Office for the Summit Process, the
Office responsible for supporting the implementation of the
mandates of the OAS with regard to civil society participation
recognizes the importance of fostering a positive and productive
relationship with civil society. Civil society contributions are
valuable to the Summit Process in that CSOs possess expertise in
many areas relevant to the aims of the Heads of State and
Government. In the upcoming Special Session of the CISC,
civil society organizations will have the opportunity to present
their ideas to OAS Member States on how to address the theme of
the Summit, “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and
Strengthen Democratic Governance.”
In Summit-related meetings, such as those of the Summit
Implementation Review Group (SIRG), the role of civil society
organizations is to dialogue and exchange experiences with Member
States and disseminate information regarding advances in the
implementation of Summit mandates and proposed recommendations.
Alternatively, the purpose of Roundtable with Civil Society and
Special Session of the CISC is to encourage increased
discussions amongst civil society organizations actively
supporting the implementation of Summit mandates and working in
the areas of the inter-American agenda and to contribute their
recommendations in efforts to make the upcoming Summit a success.
The CISC coordinates OAS
activities to support the Summit of the Americas Process and the
activities related with the follow-up to support the Summit of the
Americas Process. The CISC also requests and receives input from
civil society organizations related with their participation in
the Summits Process, and promotes the strengthening of relations
between civil society organizations and OAS political bodies. The
Special Session of the CISC provides an opportunity for CSO
representatives to dialogue with Members States in an effort
provide recommendations on specific
matters of the inter-American agenda.
This Roundtable with Civil Society and Special
Session of the CISC, to further advance CSO participation in
the OAS and in the Summit Process, involves broadening and
improving flows of communication and information among CSOs,
increasing the awareness of civil society to provide early input
to the Fourth Summit of the Americas to be held in Mar de Plata,
Argentina in November 2005. Holding the Roundtable with Civil
Society prior to the Special Session of the CISC, the
meeting which is not only open to the presence of civil society
but calls for an open dialogue among Member States and
representatives of civil society, offers a unique opportunity to
link the initiatives of civil society in the implementation of
Summit mandates to Member States’ discourse.
The Office for the Summit Process, with the
support of the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), will cover the costs directly associated with the
participation of a determined number of civil society
organizations including air ticket fares, and logistics of the
Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC.
As selection
criteria, this Office will consider the requests for participation
from interested organizations based on the following:
1.
Equitable geographic representation;
2.
Equitable gender representation;
3.
Relevant experience and background in the subject
areas in question, and
4.
The Organization’s association and affiliation with
other resources and organizations in the hemisphere such as
Networks of civil society groups.
The format of the Roundtable with Civil Society
will consist of three moderated sessions all related and
interconnected to the Fourth Summit of the Americas, “Creating
Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance.” A fourth session will offer an opportunity for
participating representatives of civil society to compile their
recommendations and suggestions derived from the previous three
sessions regarding the theme of the Fourth Summit of the
Americas. After brief presentations on a specific topic by
specially selected Discussion Motivators on the theme of
the Summit, the representatives of the civil society will have the
opportunity to discuss the issues amongst themselves, contributing
their points of view as well as reconciling their differences of
opinion. This consensus will then be conveyed to OAS Member
States in the Special Session of the CISC for their consideration.
The product of this process will be a broader and more informed
consensus on how to address the theme of the upcoming Summit of
the Americas.
A. Objectives
This Roundtable with
Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC will
offer an opportunity to develop a dialogue regarding the
participation of civil society in OAS activities with a special
emphasis on the theme of the Fourth Summit of the Americas,
“Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance.” The objectives of the Roundtable are the following:
1.
Generate dialogue and recommendations
for consideration of the Heads of Delegation and the General
Secretariat, within the framework of its discussions in the
Special Session of the CISC in regards of the four selected topics.
2.
Share experiences about the policies
developed by the Member States of the OAS in relation to civil
society participation, mandates, and challenges of the Plan of
Action of the Third Summit of the Americas (2001) and the Special
Summit of the Americas held in Monterrey (2004).
B. Expected Results
The results to be
obtained from the Roundtable with Civil Society and
Special Session of the CISC are:
1.
Recommendations from civil society
for the Member States and the General Secretariat concerning
“Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance,” as well as on other subjects that may occupy the
Fourth Summit of the Americas.
2.
Suggestions to the Heads of
Delegation of the Member States and the General Secretariat
concerning the mechanisms to strengthen the participation of civil
society organizations, the follow-up process to the Summits of the
Americas mandates and the activities of the OAS.
3.
Increased and sustained presence,
participation, and involvement of CSOs in the monitoring and
implementation of OAS activities and in the Summit Process.
4.
Recommendations from civil society on
the themes to be discussed at the Fourth Summit of the Americas
documented and presented to the CISC Special Session.
AGENDA
Roundtable with Civil Society:
“Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance”
OAS ∙ Washington, DC
∙ January 24,
2005
Civil society groups are key participants in reaching hemispheric
goals of democracy, security and market-based development.
Attaining those goals are increasingly becoming the outcome of
multiple, interlocking patterns of transnational interaction
shaped both by state and non-state actors. The Organization of
American States (OAS) recognized this reality and, as the premier
political body of the Western Hemisphere, welcomes civil society
participation into its policy-shaping discussions.
Civil society groups are important partners in achieving the
ambitious goals emanating from the Summits of the Americas. Civil
society organizations (CSO) participate in the implementation and
monitoring of mandates and have gained enormous legitimacy with
local communities, mobilizing goodwill for Summit initiatives. In
this context, the OAS Office for the Summit Process, with the
support of United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), would like to build on these accomplishments and respond
to the growing demand for civil society engagement in the OAS,
Summit of the Americas projects and on governments’ commitments to
engage CSOs as stakeholders in the policy-making process and the
implementation of initiatives.
The purpose of this Roundtable with Civil Society is to
encourage increased discussions and the exchange ideas amongst
civil society organizations actively implementing Summit mandates
and working the in the areas of the inter-American agenda and
provide them an opportunity to formalize and compile their
recommendation and suggestions. This open-ended interaction among
civil society organizations, involving many actors pursuing
different, and sometimes divergent, interests, is more than the
sum of its parts. The debate and deliberations generated by civil
society groups in forums such as these are at the heart of current
governance issues and help achieve the goals of the Fourth Summit
of the Americas.
January 24, 2005
OAS Headquarters ∙ Padilha
Vidal Room ∙
Washington, DC
1889 F Street NW
9:00-9:15am
Welcoming Addresses
Welcoming remarks by
Ambassador Rodolfo Gil, Permanent Representative from Argentina to
the OAS and President of the CISC
Remarks by Luis Alberto
Rodriguez, Director, Office for the Summit Process
9:15-10:45am
Session I - Creating Employment in the Americas
Economic growth is a
necessary condition, but alone an insufficient element, to
confront the elevated levels of unemployment, a growing informal
sector and an unskilled labor force, which impact our societies.
A false option constitutes a dilemma between underdevelopment with
employment or modernization without employment—due to the inherent
difficulties in generating jobs, which have more complex roots
than just the technological question. The design of active
policies that stimulate business development and productive
investment that have as their objective in the generation of work
must operate within the framework of a new paradigm that impulses
economic transformations with a strong ethical content.
Creating employment
signifies an effort to reach out to micro, small and medium-sized
enterprises through assistance and training, an increased focus on
vocational training and other schooling systems to create high-quality
employment, and the creation of an institutional environment that
fosters business and investment.
9:15am Discussion Motivator
9:30-10:45am
Discussion of topic by civil society
Moderated by representative of civil society
10:45-11:00am AM
Coffee break
11:00-12:30pm
Session II – Creating Employment to Confront Poverty
The consolidation of
democracy in the Americas requires a concerted effort focused on
the fight against hunger, illiteracy and disease. The mandates
emanating from the Summit process compel state and non-state
actors to find solutions to the increasing levels of inequality
and poverty in the Americas. Policy making must articulate the
quest to guarantee universal access to food, health, housing, and
education based on the values of fairness, equal opportunity,
tolerance, pluralism and respect for human rights.
Studies show that
countries that improve rule of law, fight corruption, increase
transparency and democratic accountability can increase long-term
per capita incomes. Such initiatives should be followed up by
reforms in education systems and the labor market, the promotion
of a business environment and the strengthening of property rights.
11:00am
Discussion Motivator
11:15-12:30pm
Discussion of topic by civil society
Moderated by representative of civil society
12:30-2:00pm
Lunch break
2:00-3:30pm
Session III – Creating Employment to Strengthen Democratic
Governance
In
many countries the strengthening of democracy and citizenship is
an on-going process. Governance is a highly contested process
where the space for political action by state and non-state actors
is greatly extended beyond merely an OAS-CSO relationship. However,
the OAS has played a key role in strengthening hemispheric
governance by consistently promoting the participation of civil
society in the processes of dialogue and deliberation leading to
new forms of political regulations.
Strengthening democratic governance is not based on the
uncontested will of sovereign states, but on universally agreed
principles and norms. And, while conflict and disagreement are
inherent to democratic processes of dialogue and deliberation,
what is essential is to ensure is the democratic character of the
process itself while reinforcing the mechanisms in place to ensure
consensus around common action agendas.
2:00pm Discussion Motivator
2:15-3:30pm
Discussion of topic by civil society
Moderated by representative of civil society
3:30-3:45pm
PM Coffee Break
3:45-5:15pm Session IV –
Conclusions and Recommendations from Civil Society
A dialogue between civil society organizations and
OAS Member States aims to promote citizen involvement in
hemispheric issues by linking regionally and nationally-based
organizations with issue-oriented agendas which cross-cut national
territorial jurisdictions. The dialogue with Member States to
build alliances with non-state actors and a consensus around
common action agendas is an essential dimension to increase the
available stock of ideas, capacities, and resources to deal with a
given problem.
During this Session, the participating
representatives of civil society will have the opportunity to
compile their recommendations and suggestions derived from the
previous three sessions regarding the interconnected theme of the
Fourth Summit of the Americas, “Creating Employment to Confront
Poverty and strengthen Democratic Governance.” These
recommendations will then be conveyed to Member States during the
dialogue with civil society in the Special Session of the CISC.
3:45-5:15pm
Moderator and General Rapparteur
Discussion and compilation of civil society
recommendations
5:15-5:30pm
Closing Session
Closing Remarks by Luis Alberto Rodriguez,
Director, Office for the Summit Process
Participants:
-
Registered and non-registered civil
society organizations
-
Civil Society organizations Summits
of the Americas
-
New civil society actors:
- Unions
- Small and medium enterprises
- Think tanks
- Academia
Coordination:
-
Mission of Argentine to the OAS
-
Argentine Civil Society Coordinating
Committee
-
Office for the Summit Process,
Organization of American States
Languages:
-
Simultaneous translation in English
and Spanish
AGENDA
Special Session of the Committee on Inter-American
Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS
Activities (CISC)
OAS ∙ Washington, DC
∙ January 25,
2005
The Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil
Society Participation in OAS Activities (CISC) coordinates OAS
activities to support the Summit of the Americas Process and the
activities related with the follow-up to support the Summit of the
Americas Process. The CISC also requests and receives input from
civil society organizations related with their participation in
the Summits Process, and promotes the strengthening of relations
between civil society organizations and OAS political bodies.
The CISC included in its Plan of Action a Special Session, the
meeting which is not only open to the presence of civil society
but calls for an open dialogue among Member States and
representatives of civil society. This Special Sessions will be
a unique opportunity to for representatives of civil society to
dialogue with members of the CISC regarding civil society
participation and the activities of the OAS and build on the
current momentum in the relationship between civil society and the
OAS in the implementation and monitoring of the Summits of the
Americas mandates.
January 25, 2005
OAS Headquarters ∙ Hall of the Americas ∙
Washington, DC
17th Street &
Constitution Ave NW
9:00-9:30am
Welcoming Addresses
9:00am Opening remarks by
Ambassador Rodolfo Gil, Permanent Representative from Argentina to
the OAS and President of the CISC
Remarks by Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Director, Office for the Summit
Process
9:30am
Presentation of CSO recommendations relating to the Fourth Summit
of the Americas, “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and
Strengthen Democratic Governance”:
Session I - Creating
Employment in the Americas
Session II - Creating
Employment to Confront Poverty
Session III - Creating
Employment to Strengthen Democratic
Governance
Participants:
-
OAS Member States
-
Registered and non-registered civil
society organizations
-
Civil Society organizations Summits
of the Americas
-
New civil society actors:
- Unions
- Small and medium enterprises
- Think tanks
- Academia
Coordination:
-
Mission of Argentine to the OAS
-
Argentine Civil Society Coordinating
Committee
-
Office for the Summit Process,
Organization of American States
Languages:
-
Simultaneous translation in English,
French, Spanish, and Portuguese
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