Championing Democracy.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: Madeleine Albright at Organization of American States - Brief Article

IF REGIONAL organizations are to be effective and relevant, they must be active "champions of democracy," former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright said recently at the OAS. Such organizations can help countries build stronger democratic institutions and integrate more fully into the global economy, and can come to the aid of democracies that are under siege, she said.

Albright cited the OAS response to the 1994 coup in Haiti--a strong resolution calling for the constitutional government's return--as an example of an effective response to a crisis.

"If the OAS had not acted, we would never have gained UN Security Council approval for a multinational force," said Albright, who at that time represented the United States at the United Nations.

"Today, this hemisphere is a leader in helping and protecting democracies in trouble," she said, in her first major speech since leaving office. "In addition to Haiti, recent examples include Paraguay, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru."

Albright spoke at a meeting on "The Role of Regional and Multilateral Organizations in the Defense and Promotion of Democracy." The meeting was organized by the OAS and the Convening Group of the Community of Democracies, a coalition of more than one hundred countries committed to the democratic path.

The two-day conference brought together high-level representatives of regional organizations from around the world, as well as from the United Nations and the World Bank. The meeting grew out of the Community of Democracies' Warsaw Declaration, endorsed in June 2000, which called for a permanent dialogue among regional and multilateral organizations, including international financial institutions, on their role in supporting and sustaining democracy.

In the opening...