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IV Summit: Democracy, Employment and Hemispheric Consensus
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Encouraged by the recent and future events that are being held in
the context of the Summit Process; recalling the proposed theme
for the
IV Summit of the Americas and referring to the
third chapter of the Declaration of Nuevo Leon regarding
Democratic Governance, we chose to reflect on and emphasize
significant points of convergence that exist among them.
A year and a
half has passed since the Special Summit of the Americas that
took place in Monterrey, Mexico, where the Heads of State and
Government of the Hemisphere met together and signed the
Declaration of Nuevo León. The third chapter of that declaration
seeks the commitments in the area of Democratic Governance
including: strengthening and respect for the rule of law, defense
of human rights, economic progress, social justice, transparency
in public affairs, and the development of opportunities for all.
The XXXVII
meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) was held
on March 9 – 10 of 2005. During the meeting National Coordinators
discussed the Draft Declaration and Guidelines for the Plan of
Action for the IV Summit; revised the implementation of the
commitments made in the area of Social Development from the
Special Summit, and exchanged ideas with civil society, unions,
and employer organizations representatives who presented their
recommendations for the IV Summit theme:
“Creating Jobs to Confront Poverty
and Strengthen Democratic Governance.”
During the SIRG meeting the
general consensus among the countries was to link employment with
other issues that directly influence citizens’ quality of life.
Security, health, education and justice as well as democracy were
highlighted to be included in the joint declaration that will be
signed by the Heads of State and Government of the region in
November.
Building in
this aproach; the XXXV OAS General Assembly to be held in June in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida will address the issue of: “Delivering
the Benefits of Democracy”. The 34 Ministers of Foreign Affairs
of the Hemisphere will meet for two days to discuss how to better
provide this benefits. At the Agreement ceremony to host the XXXV
General Assembly, Ambassador John Maisto, Permanent
Representative of United States to the OAS, stressed that “there
is a thematic link between the upcoming June General Assembly and
the next Summit of the Americas in Argentina” and added that
“this will reassure our peoples that their democratic
representatives are determined to deliver both freedom and a
better quality of life.”
Some months ago, Ambassador
Jorge Taiana, Secretary of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Foreign
Relations of Argentina, presented to the SIRG the conceptual
document for the IV Summit; in his intervention he highlighted
that the three concepts expressed in the theme – employment,
poverty and governance – are directly linked and represent one of
the mayor challenges of the Hemisphere. He noted the need to
confront the elevated levels of poverty and social inequality in
the region.
The commitments agreed in the
Declaration of Nuevo León, referring to Democratic Governance;
the Argentinean proposal for the IV Summit and the initiative
from the United States Government in the theme of the XXXV
General Assembly, indicate the relevance of democracy and its
undeniable relation with central issues of the Inter-American
agenda, such as employment, poverty and security, and the firm
purpose of all to reach consensus on how to make positive strides
and advance on its implementation.
Summits of the Americas
Secretariat
Organization of American States
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Preparations for the IV Summit:
XXXVII SIRG Meeting
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The XXXVII
Meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) took
place at the Palacio San Martin in Buenos Aires, Argentina on
March 9-10, 2005. The SIRG, constituted by the National Summit
Coordinators, gathered to continue with the preparations and
negotiations for the IV Summit of the Americas that will be held
in Mar del Plata, Argentina on November 4-5, 2005 with the theme
"Creating Jobs to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance."
The inaugural
session was led by Ambassador Jorge Taiana, Secretary of Foreign
Relations and Chair of the SIRG, who welcomed the participants
and stressed the importance of the IV Summit for the Hemisphere.
The argentinean Minister of Labor, Employment, & Social Security,
Carlos Alfonso Tomada, made a presentation emphasizing that work
had to be given a central place on the hemispheric agenda; and
that social policies concentrated only on welfare assistance are
not enough to combat exclusion and inequality in the region.
During the
first plenary session, an analysis of the commitments made in the
Special Summit of the Americas in social development were
discussed. Representatives of the OAS Summits of the Americas
Secretariat, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO),
and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) presented the
progress made on mandates implementation in their own areas.
The President of the SIRG
presented the Draft Declaration and Guideliness for the Plan of
Action in order to receive comments from the delegations. He also
established May 2 as the dateline for submitting comments from the
countries to the documents presented.
Countries’ representatives
stressed the importance of showing that the governments are
carrying out the agreements signed; and the necessity to
incorporate the conclusions of ministerial meetings that are
being held prior the Summit.
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Civil Society Dialogue with Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the Framework
of the XXXV General Assembly of the OAS
June 5, 2005
Fort Lauderdale,
Estados Unidos
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XXXV General Assembly of the OAS
June 5 -
7, 2005
Fort Lauderdale,
Estados Unidos
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XXXVIII SIRG (Ministerial Level)
June 6, 2005
Fort Lauderdale,
Estados Unidos
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XXXVIII SIRG
June 8, 2005
Fort Lauderdale,
Estados Unidos
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Meeting of the Health and Environment Ministers
June 17 - 18, 2005
Mar del Plata, Argentina
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Eleventh Inter-American Conference of Mayors and Local
Authorities
June 21 - 23, 2005
Miami, Florida
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To access a complete version of the Calendar,
please click
here.
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Civil Society consultations with reference to the priorities
for the Fourth Summit of the Americas
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At the Special
Summit of the Americas, Heads of State and Government encouraged
civil society participation in the Summit Process and
institutionalized the meetings with civil society, as well as
private sector and academics. For this reason, the XXXVII Meeting
of the Summit Implementation Review Group held on May 9 - 10
dedicated half day to make consultations with civil society about
the priorities for the IV Summit of the Americas.
As an opening
for this session, the conclusions from the Roundtable “Creating
Jobs to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance”
were presented. The roundtable was held in January in Washington
D.C. and included recommendations in labor issues; such as the
need to strengthen the capacity of local and national
institutions, as well as local business capacity to facilitate
the transparency of markets. Civil society representatives
stressed the importance of promoting access to credit and
training programs engaging young people, women, indigenous
peoples, peoples of African descent, and migrant workers.
The
document with the recommendations from the roundtable was
distributed among the National Coordinators. This document is the
base of civil society inputs for the IV Summit of the Americas. |
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Hemispheric Forum: "Delivering the Benefits of Democracy"
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The Civil
Society Hemispheric Forum: "Delivering the Benefits of Democracy"
was held on April 11-12, 2005 at the OAS Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. The purpose of this Forum was to encourage
increased discussions and the exchange of ideas among civil
society organizations that monitor the implementation of OAS
initiatives, Summit mandates and work in the areas of the
inter-American agenda. In addition, the forum provided them an
opportunity to formalize and compile their recommendations and
suggestions for the Dialogue between representatives of civil
society and Ministers of Foreign Affairs during the XXXV OAS
General Assembly that will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on
June, 2005.
The format of
the Hemispheric Forum consisted of five moderated sessions all
related and interconnected to the theme of the dialogue of the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the XXXV OAS General Assembly,
“Delivering the Benefits of Democracy”. The subjects of the work
sessions were: Challenges to Democracy; Promotion of Human Rights; Social and Economic
Development to Confront Poverty; Multidimensional
Security; and Conclusions and General Recommendations
from Civil Society.
The fifth
session offered an opportunity for participating representatives
of civil society to compile their recommendations and suggestions
derived from the previous four sessions regarding the said theme
and the inter-American agenda. After a brief presentation on a
specific topic by a selected panelist, civil society
representatives had the opportunity to discuss the issues in a
moderated session, contributing their points of view as well as
reconciling their differences of opinion. |
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On-Line Deliberative Forums for Civil Society
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In order to support
substantive civil society participation in the IV Summit of
the Americas on important issues related to regional development
in the Hemisphere, civil society organizations launched the
initiative of organizing online deliberative forums. The results
of these forums will be shared with National Summit Coordinator
currently negotiating the Plan of Action and Declaration for the
November 2005 Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
The forums, entitled Virtual
Deliberation: Creating a shared Hemispheric Agenda, are being
held from April 4 to May 6, 2005 and are focused on eight key
areas related to the next Summit: Indigenous Peoples,
transparency/anticorruption, sustainable environmental
development, peace building, citizen participation, democracy and
political parties, education and labor. Thematic discussions
focused on the subject of the upcoming Summit: “Creating Jobs to
Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.”
Virtual
Deliberation: Creating a shared Hemispheric Agenda is an
initiative of Partners of the Americas’ Center for Civil Society
in collaboration with the Canadian Foundation for the Americas,
the Inter-American Democracy Network and Corporación Participa.
For more information on these virtual forums, please contact
Partners of the Americas at
[email protected] or
visit the OAS web page for civil society
www.civil-society.oas.org or
www.redinter.org/Forums |
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Workshop: “Innovation and Decent Work”
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The Office of Education,
Science and Technology of the Executive Secretariat for Integral
Development in conjunction the Summits of the Americas
Secretariat of the OAS, and the International Labor Organization
(ILO) organized the workshop “Innovation and Decent Work” in
Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 7 – 8.
The purpose of
the workshop was to bring together members of the Trade Union
Technical Advisory Council (COSATE) and the Business Technical
Advisory Committee on Labor Matters (CEATAL) to draft a common
set of recommendations to be presented during the civil society
dialogue at the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) meeting
held immediately after the seminar. COSATE and CEATAL are
the standing advisory committees that work with Ministries of
Labor in a tripartite arrangement and that will be fully engaged
in the preparation of the XIV Inter-American Conference of
Ministers of Labor (IACML) to be held in Mexico, on September
26-27, 2005. A consensus document was produced as a result of
the workshop and presented jointly by union and business
representatives to National Summit Coordinators during the second
day of the SIRG. (see
www.oest.oas.org for the text of
the document and presentations made at the seminar.) |
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Seminar “Democracy and the IV Summit of the Americas”
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The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, International Trade and Worship of the Republic of
Argentina and the Summits of the Americas Secretariat, in
collaboration with the Office for the Promotion of Democracy of
the OAS, organized the seminar "Democracy and the IV Summit of
the Americas" as part of the preparatory activities leading to
the IV Summit of the Americas that will be held in Mar del Plata,
Argentina, on November 4 - 5, 2005. This seminar was held on
March 11, 2005, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and addressed the
theme of the IV Summit of the Americas: "Creating Jobs to
Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance" This
seminar contributed to the preparatory debates for the next
Summit of the Americas by giving Governments and representatives
from different sectors of society the opportunity to present
their opinions and recommendations on the theme of the IV
Summit of the Americas proposed
by Argentina.
The objective
of this seminar was to analyze the pending challenges for the
strengthening and defense of democracy and to promote an open
debate with civil society regarding the implementation of
democracy mandates from the Quebec Summit and the Special Summit
of the Americas that took place in Monterrey, Mexico. The event
was organized in three panels: the first panel addressed the
contents and relevance of the Inter-American Democratic Charter
as an instrument for the defense and strengthening of democracy;
the second panel analyzed the participation of civil society in
the strengthening of democracy; and the third panel discussed the
theme of the IV Summit of the Americas. This session sought to
reflect on and analyze this subject from the economic, social,
and political points of view in order to make substantive
recommendations to the National Summit Coordinators. (seminar’s
program) |
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The Andean Region: “Challenges in the Area of Democratic
Governance and Labor”
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The OAS
Summits of the Americas Secretariat, the General Secretariat of
the Andean Community and the International Labor Organization
organized the Andean Sub-regional Seminar on “Democratic
Governance and Employment Issues in the Andean Subregion” held in
the headquarters of the Andean Community Headquarters in Lima,
Peru on April 14-15, 2005. This meeting is one of the several
activities in preparation for the Fourth Summit of the Americas
which theme is: "Creating Jobs to Confront Poverty and Strengthen
Democratic Governance".
The objective
of the Seminar was to promote an ample debate about the situation
and the future of democracy in the actual context of social
crisis and unemployment, and to analyze the base for a
subregional strategy for the promotion of decent jobs that will
contribute to the development, the competitiveness and the
strengthening of democratic governance. The Seminar was organized
in three panels. The first panel discussed the Summits of the
Americas: Strengthening Democratic Governance and Job Creation.
The second panel was on social inclusion and democratic
governance; and the third panel focused on Employment,
Competitiveness and Social Inclusion: Strengthening Democratic
Governance. Each panel included participants from civil society
organizations and the academia from the Andean countries. (Background
Information and Agenda: Spanish only) |
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Gender Forum of the Americas
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In the framework of civil
society participation for the Fourth Summit of the Americas,
hemispheric organizations dedicated to gender issues gathered at
the Gender Forum that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on
April 7-9, 2005.
Several issues like poverty, violence against
women, employment, training and empowerment, and strengthening of
democracy were discussed. A Declaration was drafted with the
proposals presented at the meeting. This Declaration will be
presented to the Summit Implementation and Review Group (SIRG)
which is in charge to negotiate the documents that will be
approved by the Heads of State and Government in the Fourth
Summit of the Americas which will be held in Mar del Plata,
Argentina in November 4-5, 2005.
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Indigenous Peoples Caucus
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Forty representatives of
indigenous peoples from the Western Hemisphere gathered at the
headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in
Washington, DC on May 2-6, 2005 to hold the Indigenous Caucus.
This was a preparatory meeting for the Sixth Negotiation Session
in the Quest for Points of Consensus of the Working Group to
Prepare the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
The Indigenous Caucus Meeting
had as a main objective the revision and discussion of the
proposals related with the articles of the Declaration about
lands, territories, and natural resources; indigenous peoples in
voluntary isolation; labor rights; cultural patrimony and
intellectual property rights; development; and armed conflict, as
well as discussions on negotiation process with OAS Member
States. The results of this Indigenous Caucus Meeting will be
presented to the Working Group to Prepare the Draft American
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which will be
held in Antigua, Guatemala in September 2005. |
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Did You know that ….
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Between 2003 and 2004 in Latin America, the
confidence in political parties raised 7%, in the Judiciary
12% and in the Police 8%. (A)
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According to Transparency International's Global Barometer in
Corruption, 5 out of 10 Latin American people consider that
corruption affects in a significant way their personal and
familiar lives (B)
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In Latin America and the
Caribbean 89.3 % of the potential voters are inscribed in
electoral registrations, 62.7% of the registers vote, and
56.1 % issue a valid vote. (C)
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Between 2005 and 2006, there will be in the
Hemisphere more than 20 electoral process. 11 of them will be
of presidential nature. (D)
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Since 1960, the OAS has watched more than 115 electoral
processes including: general elections, Presidential
elections, Parliamentary elections and municipal elections. (E)
(A) Source:
Latinobarómetro 2004 UNA DÉCADA DE MEDICIONES
Santiago de Chile.
(B)
Source: Transparency International: Barómetro Global de
la Corrupción
(C)
Source:
United Nations Development Programme,
"Ideas and Contributions: Democracy in Latin America"
(D)
Source:
Office for the Promotion of Democracy
(E)
Source:
Office for the Promotion of Democracy
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Summits of
the Americas Secretariat
1889 F Street NW,
Washington DC 20006
Tel : 202-458-3127
Fax : 202-458-3665
E-mail:
[email protected]
www.summitsoftheamericas.org
Copyright @
2004
Summits of the
Americas Secretariat
Organization of American States
All rights
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Unless otherwise indicated, the materials published on this website,
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