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ARGENTINA HOSTS SEMINAR ON "DEMOCRACY AND IV SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS "

Preparing for the fourth Summit of the hemisphere’s leaders, Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has teamed up with the Organization of American States (OAS) to conduct a seminar on “Democracy and the Fourth Summit of the Americas.”

The event was held today in the Argentinean capital, Buenos Aires, and was organized around “Creating jobs to combat poverty and strengthen democratic governance,” the central theme for the Fourth Summit of the Americas that will be held in Argentina next November.

Headlining the event were OAS Acting Secretary General Luigi R. Einaudi and Argentina’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Taiana. Gathered on three panels, the participants included government officials, representatives of international organizations, human rights advocates, academics, researchers and business and labor leaders, who shared their perspectives on the topic.

Taiana insisted the job-creation debate must be mindful that growth alone is not sufficient—structural conditions are also vital to ensuring growth leads to improved standards of living for citizens.

Einaudi, meantime, urged participants to think creatively as they seek to implement the Inter-American Democratic Charter mandates. He suggested too the need for a multilateral evaluation mechanism on democracy, model on the existing MEM process that assesses progress in fighting illegal drugs.

The panel on the Inter-American Democratic Charter, moderated by Irene Klinger, Director of the OAS Department of Communications and External Relations, brought together government and civil society participants who argued that democracy, institutions, separation of powers, public participation and respect for human rights must be strengthened.

Stressing that the Charter must be made “an instrument that is more constructive than punitive,” the Carter Center’s Jennifer McCoy suggested that any collaborative evaluation mechanism on democracy should clearly define what constitutes disruption of democracy and address the need for automatic and gradual response mechanisms to deal with the widespread inertia in the Americas with respect to political will.

Former Colombian Vice President Humberto de la Calle expressed concern about the risk of destroying political parties, saying that could lead civil society organizations to form a “protective network” to fill any such void.

And, according to Victor Abramovich, Executive Director of the Argentinean Center for Legal and Social Studies, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights provide basic tools to serve as a guide in defining what constitutes disruption of democracy. He cited the case system as being founded on principles that apply to more than just individual cases, pointing to the special offices on freedom of expression, women and children’s issues as additional mechanisms to monitor democracy.

Diego Abente, former Ambassador of Paraguay to the OAS, spoke about the need for principles like self-determination to be reconciled with adherence to basic values like democracy, freedom and justice.

The discussions also touched on topics related to civil society participation, job-creation and democratic governance, followed by an exchange with civil society and government representatives.

Reference: E-044/05