The future role of the OAS in service to its member states and the peoples of the hemisphere.

• Position: Organization of American States

INTRODUCTION

by OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza

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I am honored to be heading the Organization of American States (OAS) as we celebrate the 100th birthday of our emblematic historic headquarters in Washington, DC, the House of the Americas. As we reach this important milestone in our history, it is appropriate to take a moment to review the strengths of the Organization and to reflect on how to build on them to best confront the challenges we will face in the years to come.

The essays by leading hemispheric voices that you will find in this special edition of Américas demonstrate deep admiration for the central mission of the OAS, as well as the need to revisit our capacities to fulfill this mission to the satisfaction of the population the OAS now serves: the 900 million people living in our Americas.

The House of the Americas was built in 1910 as the home of the Pan American Union, a union of the independent nations of Latin America and the United States in a common commitment to peaceful cooperation. With the creation of the modern OAS in 1948, the 21 founding member states raised this standard of cooperation to "promoting and facilitating, through cooperative action, peace; security; the consolidation of representative democracy; economic, social and cultural development; and the eradication of extreme poverty." These shared values are embedded in the institution's principles and mandates.

It is my strong belief that the founding charter's call for adherence to the values of consensus and the principle of nonintervention is one of the key sources of the OAS' legitimacy as the premier forum for frank political dialogue in this hemisphere. The independent nations that make up the OAS know that they can always bring difficult and sometimes contentious issues to air at their Permanent Council; and that they will have a say in the decisions taken. This is one of our great strengths, which will keep this Organization relevant to our member states for many more years to come.

The OAS is unique in its role as the forum for political dialogue encompassing our entire hemisphere. The Charter's insistence on "cooperative action" has encouraged member states to reach broad agreement on hemisphere-wide problems and to create a system of hemispheric institutions that serve the common good. Through its regular summit meetings of heads of state and government, the annual General Assembly of foreign ministers, weekly Permanent Council meetings, and a range of specialized councils, the OAS consistently works to meet its goals in five primary areas, or "pillars:" democracy, human rights, prosperity/ development [esp. poverty alleviation], security, and inter-American law. Hemispheric action in each of these areas is difficult and sometimes contentious, but our collective effort to achieve these hard-fought goals is the real strength of the OAS.

The OAS was founded as an inter-governmental organization and governments remain our primary actors. However, modern innovations are giving civil society and the private sector a space within the OAS to engage with governments on a wide range of issues. In this way, we ensure that governments are not just speaking to each other, but are also hearing from other important actors in democratic societies. This approach to inclusion is codified in the OAS Inter-American Democratic Charter which was signed in 2001 and remains one of the strongest collective commitments to democracy in the world today.

The inclusiveness that characterizes the OAS is another of its great strengths. All members--countries large and small, rich and poor, island and mainland, Caribbean and Latin, Anglophone and Latino--can and do participate with equal voice. This diversity of opinion ensures that no one member state can impose its views unilaterally. Rather, member states must engage in dialogue and attempt to convince those with whom they disagree. Only by resisting the urge to exclude those member states with whom we disagree, can the OAS remain relevant and avoid being supplanted by the other political groupings with whom we coexist in the Americas.

Not only is the OAS more inclusive in terms of the member states who participate in the Organization, but over the past 100 years the OAS has also grown more inclusive as an institution. For example, when the Pan American Union--later the OAS--was founded, there were no women seated at the Permanent Council; and Haiti was the only representative of the peoples of African descent in our hemisphere. As the nations of the Caribbean Community began to join the OAS, starting in 1967 with Trinidad and Tobago, the color of the institution changed to be more representative of the peoples of the Americas. Today's Permanent Council includes not only more people of African descent, but also more indigenous peoples. More women are representing their countries at the OAS today, as well. For example, the United States, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay are today all represented by dynamic women ambassadors. The OAS is finally reflecting the kind of diversity and inclusiveness we promote within our member states.

Another significant, but often ignored strength of the OAS over these past 100 years, is our generation and preservation of an impressive base of inter-American law, which seeks, among other things, to protect and promote basic human rights, especially of vulnerable groups; to strengthen the practice of democracy; and to fight corruption.

Of course, managing complex political issues in a truly cooperative manner, rather than by the dictates of a superpower or in emergency action, can be a difficult and messy proposition. As I know well, the OAS leadership must respond to a diverse range of sometimes diverging priorities and concerns.

This task is further complicated by the fact that the legal instruments available for action, particularly in the case of interruptions in democratic order, are far from perfect. For example, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the document supported by all of the OAS member states, only provides an avenue for representatives of the executive branch of government to approach the OAS Permanent Council to seek recourse for a breach of the Charter. As several recent cases illustrate, while we must respect the self-determination of member countries, it would be important to have some tools for early warning and preventative action that could be utilized by the Secretary General and the Permanent Council to prevent breaks in democracy.

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Furthermore, in recent years, the tone of the dialogue at the OAS has grown more combative. Our great strength has always been our willingness to discuss issues among ourselves with respect, no matter how much we disagree. If our dialogue degenerates into name-calling and recriminations then we will have forgotten the reason why the OAS was created in the first place. Perhaps this is a reflection of a shift in power and alignments in the Americas, but our goal continues to be to provide a civilized space for dialogue and to find common ground for action according to our shared principles.

Finally, the inter-American system continues to produce a plethora of ambitious mandates to be implemented by the OAS. Yet, the same member states who are introducing these new mandates are providing insufficient funding to make them a reality. The Organization must therefore navigate thousands of very important paragraphs on the work to be done to promote democracy, justice, prosperity, and peace, but without a sufficient budget to implement them. This is not only an untenable position for the OAS as an institution, but also generates enormous skepticism within the populations we are attempting to serve. Written commitments without implementation, follow-up, or measurable results are, as our critics say, "just words."

I am optimistic about the future of the OAS. Our principles and practice of consensus are of great value in the world today. Compared to many areas of the world, our member states have a very strong foundation of common values and a long history of working together. Our inter-American system of institutions is strong and improving. If we have the courage of our convictions to face the institutional and political challenges ahead with confidence and clarity of purpose, the next generations will be able to celebrate the second centennial of the House of the Americas with pride.

AN HISTORIC STEP FORWARD

by Lloyd Axworthy

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Ten years ago, I had the honor of presiding as Chair of the OAS General Assembly held in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It promised to be a stormy affair as the hot topic on the agenda was the hard-hitting report from Guatemalan foreign minister Eduardo Stein that concluded that Peru's election of President Alberto Fujimori had been a fraud.

The assembly was divided and perplexed. On the one hand there was the clear evidence provided by the highly respected minister Stein outlining the blatant way in which the election had been corrupted, running counter to declarations at both the OAS and Summit of the Americas meetings which enunciated the need to advance and protect democratic rights. On the other, there was the strong tradition of the OAS in non-interference in the affairs of its member states. Several members were clearly going to raise the issue and ask for the election to be overturned. It could not be ignored.

There ensued two days of intense debate, accompanied by a behind-the-scenes search for a way to resolve the...