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The OAS and its Secretary General Are Honored by Peru’s National Jury of Elections

The Organization of American States (OAS) and its Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, were honored today by the National Jury of Elections (JNE) of Peru for their “outstanding performance in the practice of democratic values” and their trajectory of “contributions to democracy and stability.”

Secretary General Insulza received both distinctions from the President of the JNE, Hugo Sivina Hurtado, who awarded them to him in the auditorium of the institution in Lima. The OAS General Assembly will be held in the Peruvian capital from June 6 to 8.

“I wish to express my heartfelt thanks for this medal awarded to me by the JNE and accept it while aware that, more than an honor to the person, it is to the work of the entire OAS, especially to the importance accorded for decades to the subject of the exercise of elections as the cornerstone of democracy in our organization. And I accept it also as an incentive to continue to develop our work in this area,” said the topmost representative of the hemispheric institution.

Secretary General Insulza received the Medal of Civic Merit for the Defense of Democracy specifically “for his vast trajectory in the promotion of the democratic values of social life.” The OAS received a Diploma of Civic Honor “for its outstanding performance in the defense of peace, security and the Rule of Law as pillars of democracy.”

In accepting both awards, Secretary General Insulza in a speech reviewed the process of democratization of large part of the continent in the last two decades, and highlighted the role of Peru in recent years, especially in the drafting of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and its signing, which took place in Lima in September 2001. “Peru was the principal motor behind bringing the Inter-American Democratic Charter to a happy end,” he said.

The OAS Secretary General highlighted the virtues of the Democratic Charter as “the program of a democratic republic” and touched specifically on some of its aspects, such as the instruments at the disposal of the OAS to confront problems or the definition of a “grave political crisis” that would require the Charter’s application.

At the same time, he warned that in democratization “we have made much progress, though certainly not as much as we would have liked. In our region there are important threats to democracy, some within itself, such as corruption or a certain tendency to believe that the generation of democracy is enough by itself and whoever won the elections can exercise power however is willed.”

The President of the JNE, for his part, took the opportunity to “bring” to the Secretary General “the recognition that the Peruvian electoral system and Peru owe to him and the organization he represents.”

Magistrate Sivina Hurtado highlighted the role the OAS conducted in Peru as “bulwark of democracy” and a “great arbiter that we all call upon for democratic legitimacy” in the continent, even within a reality that “is each time more and more complex and dynamic.”

A photo gallery of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-216/10