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OAS Secretary General Reiterates Importance of the Inter-American Defense Board as a Hemispheric Cooperation Body for Security Issues

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, participated today in a ceremony to mark the 73rd anniversary of the creation of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), during which he received a distinction in recognition "of his support, management and valuable services performed over the last decade for the development and integration of the IADB with the OAS."

In his speech, Secretary General Insulza recalled some of the achievements in the relationship between the OAS and the IADB during the decade of his leadership in the hemispheric institution. "They have been important times and I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate my belief that our Organization needs an entity that brings together representatives of the defense institutions of our Hemisphere, under a collective political leadership, to coordinate the cooperation of our institutions in the face of the challenges and collective problems that our countries and our peoples face daily."

In this regard, he referred to the need to strengthen the presence of the Board at the OAS. "We want the IADB to be reinforced within the OAS. Because all of the States of the Americas are represented here, it is natural that we conduct cooperation activities here, and it is natural because it is here where we can address this conceptual analysis of the challenges to hemispheric security and find out what we can accomplish together. And because security, having now a multidimensional character, demands a change in the tasks that our armed forces have carried out throughout history."

By evoking some of the historical features of the principles of defense in the Hemisphere, the leader of the hemispheric Organization recalled that "some decades ago, external security issues used to be the most important issue for our countries, and therefore we sought mechanisms to ensure that there were no conflicts between us and to face threats that came from outside the region." Today, he continued, the reality is very different, because "we have a Hemisphere of peace that has lasted for nearly a century and we face new threats that necessarily involve our armed forces in a different way." In this regard he said "it is interesting that in this Board there has been willingness and flexibility to understand that every country has its own reality and that every armed force must, in a world of sovereign states, serve the interests of its own country and in the way determined by each country."

The Secretary General also referred to some of the most important challenges and pending tasks, including a more prevalent role for the IADB in the framework of the Meeting of Ministers of Defense of the Hemisphere, redefining the rules and regulations of the Board and how it is incorporated into the OAS structure. "The changes I have proposed to the structure and functioning of the IADB regarding the way in which it is inserted in the OAS aim at bolstering the role of the Board, adapting to the way democracy works and international relations are conducted today," he said. That integration, he added should be "much more real and concrete. These are issues that need further discussion, we have progressed and it is a dialogue that must continue to move forward."

"I'm sure that someone will take these issues and continue to guide the IADB on the road it should follow," said Secretary General Insulza, while recalling that "we had a decade of progress, a decade of understanding, a decade of dialogue as we have never reached before, and we have given continuity to entities of hemispheric defense." He concluded with a call to continue working "so that everyone fulfills their own role in the best way, within an ever stronger and permanent hemispheric institutionionality."

For his part, the Chair of the Council of Delegates of the IADB, General Werther Araya Menghini, reviewed the history, foundation and background of the IADB, to focus on how the Declaration on Security in the Americas, adopted in 2003, "highlighted the need to clarify the legal and institutional relationship between the IADB and the OAS, since the new concept of multidimensional security demanded multisectoral responses, that should contemplate the use of all available resources." He also recalled how in 2006 the OAS Permanent Council redefined the purposes of the IADB with the approval of the new statutes, "incorporating it the OAS, with a new organization, purposes and tasks, which in the last nine years, has enabled us to perform an advisory role in military and defense issues, in an environment where multidimensional security prevails."

General Araya summarized some of the achievements of the IADB since 2006, including a detailed analysis of the statutes, regulations, rules, organization, processes, competences and relationships of the Board "in the face of the new vision of the OAS and the new realities of the Hemisphere" and reaffirmed his conviction that the IADB should be "a permanent body that provides countries with specialized, timely and good-quality advice on military and defense issues."

"I urge all my colleagues to use the opportunity that the OAS is offering us to join the modernization process in development, and to respond to the expectations of those who sent us to fulfill these noble tasks and who need our support, for the benefit the Organization and all the states of the Americas," concluded General Araya.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-103/15