Reaffirming the commitment to Democracy at the OAS Editorma

By Rubén M. Perina 

Today’s “leftist” governments (Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela frequently question and seek to relegate or even replace the OAS because of its supposed “interventionist” actions, but at its latest General Assembly in Washington, DC (June 22-23), member states reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening democracy in the Western Hemisphere; they even approved a significant increase in its budget. Unfortunately, its decisions did not receive much media coverage.

What did have some international resonance was the foreign ministers’ call to the Nicaraguan government to “cease the violation of human rights and to respect civil and political rights and the rule of law…” to “refrain” from harassing “the media, religious communities and non-governmental organizations…”; to “immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners…” and to repeal “norms that arbitrarily deprive citizens of their nationality…”

They also reiterated to the Working Group on Haiti, to OAS members and Permanent Observers (PC) the urgent need to support the government of Haiti in its efforts to confront the violence and the humanitarian crisis beleaguering the country, to protect human rights and to organize free and fair elections that would transition the country to full democracy.

Additionally, a majority of member states managed to stop the attempt by Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico to reduce the secretary-general’s autonomy to organize Electoral Observation Missions (EOM). Their governments claimed that secretary-general Luis Almagro and his EOM interfered in the 2019 Bolivian election and helped stage a coup against Evo Morales, when, in fact, he resigned after the Mission observed his attempt to commit fraud to stay in power.

The foreign ministers also urged its Permanent Council to form a Voluntary Working Group to identify good practices for strengthening democracy and ways to energized the Inter-American Democratic Charter; and instructed the General Secretariat to prepare a work plan for the promotion of democratic values and practices. Likewise, “recognizing the essential role played by legislators in the exercise of representative democracy…,” they instructed the PC to foster interparliamentary cooperation.

Legislators’ greater knowledge of the accords adopted at the General Assembly concerning the challenges facing the hemisphere would facilitate the internalization of required norms. The foreign ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to the protection of human rights and to the fight against corruption.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken used the assembly to repeat the Biden administration’s interest in engaging more robustly with its neighbours in the hemisphere. A welcome “return” after the neglect and distancing of the Trump presidency. The US government appears to be back with a desire and promise to interact with the region as a “good neighbour and a good partner.” And not out of altruism. The shift responds to the perceived threat of China’s economic and geopolitical penetration in the hemisphere, as well as the challenge posed by irregular migration from south of the Rio Grande.

Both require a hemisphere’s concerted response, which could be attained by strengthening the democratic alliance crystallized in the OAS and its Democratic Charter.

In his address to the assembly, Blinken underlined the progress made in implementing the various economic, migration and democratic governance initiatives approved at the 2022 Los Angeles Summit of the Americas.

He asserted the importance of multilateralism and cooperation in addressing the common challenges of the hemisphere and rejected the attempt by some members to discredit and weaken the Organization’s role in defense of democracy; he stressed his government’s support for democracy and the Democratic Charter and his belief in “the eternal capacity of democracy to renew and revitalize itself”, and sustained that “it is still the best system to solve people’s problems.” Likewise, he expressed his belief in the ability of the OAS to support its members’ democracies, and to unite the continent in its efforts to solve problems that no one can do alone.

He asked his fellow foreign ministers to defend its strengths such as its Electoral Observation Missions, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Democratic Charter, and he urged them to raise their voices and condemn the repression of autocratic if not dictatorial regimes, which violate human rights and the rule of law, persecute opponents and the independent media and commit fraud to re-elect themselves. But Blinken also admitted that his country is not immune from threats to its own democracy, as evidenced by the challenges it faced in recent electoral times.

Member states also indicated again that integral development (all-inclusive socio-economic development) remains one of the OAS priorities and instructed the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) and its Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) to continue providing technical assistance and training program to its members in areas such as” education, competitiveness, small and medium-sized enterprises, labor, culture, science and technology, resource management, renewable energy, tourism, sustainable development and port development.”

No one doubts the symbiotic relation between integral development and democracy. But the OAS has not the financial and human resources to contribute significantly to the integral development of its members. Its annual budget is a meager US$9M to cover such an agenda. A more strategic and effective path to obtain development aid would be for CIDI to prioritize and facilitate political dialogue at the ministerial level of different sectors, to identify areas of cooperation among members, but not to engage in technical cooperation – of doubtful impact.

The CIDI/SEDI would be more useful if they were dedicated only to transmitting requests for technical assistance to the IDB, CAF, the Central American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank or European or US or Canadian development agencies, which would be asked to consider their financing.

The resources saved with this strategic change would go to bolster the Secretariat for the Strengthening of Democracy (SEFD), which has only US$4M for its operation. An incongruity, given the centrality of the subject. The SEFD should incorporate into its agenda programs related to the promotion of democracy which are dispersed and not articulated in the General Secretariat (such as education for democracy, training of young leaders, transparency and probity in public administration, inter-parliamentary cooperation, etc).

The change would strengthen and consolidate the role of the OAS in the promotion and defense of democracy, its raison d’être today, particularly, in view of the democratic erosion in countries such as Nicaragua and Venezuela or the advance of global autocracies, such as China and Russia, in the hemisphere.

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