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OEA/Ser.P
AG/RES. 1721 (XXX-O/00)
5 June 2000
Original: Spanish 

RESOLUTION

PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY

(Adopted at the first plenary session, held on June 5, 2000,
pending review by the Style Committee) 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

BEARING IN MIND that the Charter of the Organization of American States establishes in its preamble "that representative democracy is an indispensable condition for the stability, peace and development of the region" and that one of its essential purposes is "to promote and consolidate representative democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention";

HAVING SEEN the Annual Report of the Permanent Council (AG/doc.3848/00) and, in particular, the chapter on the Report of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs (CP/CAJP-1664/00 rev. 1) as it relates to the promotion of representative democracy;

CONSIDERING:

Resolution AG/RES. 1063 (XX-O/90), which requested the Secretary General "to establish within the General Secretariat a Unit for the Promotion of Democracy," and resolution CP/RES. 572 (882/91), in which the Permanent Council adopted the Program of Support for the Promotion of Democracy; and

That, pursuant to resolution CP/RES. 572 (882/91), the Unit "will be available to perform such tasks as the competent authorities may entrust to it in support of democracy in the Hemisphere";

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the resolutions on representative democracy: AG/RES. 1080 (XXI-O/91), AG/RES. 1402 (XXVI-O/96), AG/RES. 1475 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES. 1551 (XXVIII-O/98), and AG/RES. 1648 (XXIX-O/99), and AG/RES. 1696 (XXIX-O/99);

TAKING NOTE of the report of the Working Group on Representative Democracy and the rapporteur’s report on the Seminar for Analysis and Reflection on Participatory Democracy (CP/CAJP-1638/00 corr. 1) held at OAS headquarters on April 10 and 11, 2000, pursuant to resolution AG/RES. 1684 (XXIX-O/99), "Participatory Democracy"; and

HAVING CONSIDERED the report of the Chair of the Working Group on Representative Democracy on holding Seminars for Analysis and Reflection on Participatory Democracy,

RESOLVES:

1. To take note of the report of the Permanent Council on the promotion of representative democracy.

2. To take note, with satisfaction, of the holding of the Seminar for Analysis and Reflection on Participatory Democracy at OAS headquarters on April 10 and 11, 2000.

3. To take note of the presentation to the Working Group of the revised version of the Manual for the Organization of Election Observation Missions in the Framework of the OAS, requested so that it could take into account the observations made by the Working Group on Representative Democracy.

4. To instruct the General Secretariat to continue, through the UPD and in accordance with the resources allocated in the program-budget and other resources, to conduct studies and seminars and to promote or sponsor efforts on democracy-related topics adopted at the Summits of the Americas.

5. To instruct the Permanent Council, acting through the Working Group on Representative Democracy, to:

a. Study the updated annual inventory of activities related to the promotion of democracy;

b. Consider presenting the report on activities related to execution of the mandates of the Summits of the Americas related to democracy;

c. Examine the progress reports on the activities carried out by the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, including information on the level of budget execution, for which projects will be presented to the Working Group by the General Secretariat within 45 days following the end of each trimester, and include its comments and observation in its annual report;

d. Consider periodically inviting experts to give presentations on topics selected by the Working Group, including, among others, electoral participation, political parties, decentralization, institutional weaknesses, and access to information; and

e. Study and approve, by the end of 2000, the UPD Work Plan for 2001, making sure that said plan includes activities in support of the mandates related to promotion and defense of democracy, and assigned to the OAS, that arose out of the Plans of Action of the Summits of the Americas.

6. To request that the General Secretariat:

a. Regularly update, through the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, the annual inventory on the activities related to the promotion of representative democracy carried out in the Organization and to do so with collaboration from different organs, agencies, and entities working in this area;

b. Foster closer cooperation between the UPD and the various organs, agencies, and entities of the OAS working in areas related to the promotion and defense of representative democracy; and

c. Give semi-annual presentations to the Permanent Council on its activities with regard to the democracy-related mandates from the Summits of the Americas.

7. To instruct the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-first regular session on implementation of this resolution.

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