“Threats” and “instability” lead the OAS to revisit the Inter-American Democratic Charter

The promotion of “authoritarian tendencies” in several countries of the region, the lack of judicial independence in others and the constant “threats” to free expression and the full freedom of citizens in areas of the American continent pose “challenges” in the face of compliance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter, according to a discussion held this Tuesday within the Organization of American States (OAS).

At the initiative of the United States and accompanied by Canada, Peru and Guyana, the OAS plenary session discussed the validity of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and “its challenges” in the face of the obligatory compliance of that pact for the countries of the region ratified in Lima, Peru in 2001.

The US ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, said that by submitting this discussion to the plenary it is because there is a clear aspect of “authoritarianism” and instability in several countries of the region and where institutional and democratic norms are in “constant threat”. .

“This meeting is an opportunity to refocus and implement the principles of the Inter-American Charter and move towards the objectives of the United States in the OAS. We would like and want the OAS to promote the emergence of democracy,” said Ambassador Mora.

Check the scope of the Letter A few weeks before the OAS General Assembly in Washington is “vital” for some delegations of the countries represented in the hemispheric body in Washington.

The Uruguayan ambassador to the OAS, Washington Abdala, current president pro tempore of the Permanent Council of the organization, said that “when democracy works it is because the separation of powers is respected, and it is applied in a territory where citizens are free and can exercise all their rights”, and that democracy “should not be given surnames” as happens from time to time in the region; then he opened the forum for debate with experts and the positions of the governments of the region.

The OAS Secretary for Legal Affairs, Jean Michel Arrighi, summoned to put into perspective the essence and scope of the document on which he worked for its preparation in 2001, said that the Inter-American Democratic Charter is supported by the Constitutive Charter that governs the organization and the obligations of the States since 1948, so it is before a piece of international law and the consensus of nations.

It was “the last of a long, difficult, but pioneering evolution that we are experiencing in the inter-American legal system,” he said, before also considering that it “reinforced” the effective exercise of representative democracy as a requirement in the political organization of the Latin American States.

Countries plant position

In the successive presentations of each one of the countries, the diplomatic courtesy that usually prevails in the meeting room of the organization in the US capital flowed on Tuesday, but each delegation adjusted its participation and reading of the Inter-American Democratic Charter to its government goals.

The Mexican ambassador to the OAS, Luz Elena Baños, told the plenary session that her country has a commitment to the Democratic Charter and the protection of human rights, but for Mexico “there is no single model of democracy” rather it must be understand as “endogenous” processes of the peoples.

Mexico rejects the “interventionism” of others in the internal affairs of the countries because it respects the “free determination and self-determination” of the countries, he pointed out.

For the Chilean ambassador, Sebastián Kraljevich Chadwick, the Charter must be adjusted to face current challenges -such as the growing power of technology companies, the matrix of the avalanches of “misinformation, hate speech” that are promoted and put into ” high risk” to democracy- and to reassess those tools that at first it was suggested that they would enrich democracy, but that are currently questioned due to their negative effect.

In the cases of other countries in the region. such as the Central Americans Guatemala and El Salvador, where the international community views with concern internal processes, and warning of setbacks in institutionality, their representatives stressed that their countries are respectful of the international agreement. Guatemala, for example, assured that it was approaching “free and fair” elections, and El Salvador argued that it “guarantees the security” and economic prosperity of its citizens, as mandated by the document ratified 22 years ago.

Reinforcement to improve application

The legal secretary Arrighi said that pointing out the breach of the Democratic Charter in countries where there are setbacks “does not violate the principle of non-intervention, on the contrary, it reaffirms the commitment to respect the agreed international law,” he said.

The expert Hugo de Zela, former ambassador of Peru to the OAS and former official of the organization in Washington, said that “today we are living in a difficult situation,” especially accepting that there are populations in the member countries of the hemispheric organization where a “degree of disenchantment with the state” prevails. of representative democracy” and that there are many voices that criticize the democratic system and speak of replacing it, which poses “serious challenges”.

Given this, he said that member states must “make a realistic approximation” in the absence of consensus in the OAS, and that the steps for an “effective application” of the Charter could come in various ways, said the diplomat, who was invited to participate in the discussion.

One would be to remove the monopoly of application of the Charter in the OAS only to the Executive apparatus of the countries and transfer power to other instances of State such as the judicial system and electoral systems.

“It would be worth studying that other State powers can resort to the application of the Charter, I mean the legislative, judicial and electoral powers,” said the expert.

He also said that it must be addressed in the OAS and a “collective understanding” must be achieved about what is considered an alteration of the democratic order in a country because it is an issue that is not clear.

In addition, the state of democracy in the region must be constantly monitored with specific reports for each country, which would establish parameters to see its operation.

Along these lines, the US ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, said that the organization should prioritize monitoring the democratic state in the region and maintain a “review of processes and best practices” for democratic coexistence in the Americas.

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