DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY OF ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES SHOULD BE EMULATED
Press Release
DSG/SM/3/Rev.1*
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY OF ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES SHOULD BE EMULATED
19980429 ADVANCE TEXT Following is the text of the statement by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, to be delivered tomorrow at the ceremony to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Organization of American States, in Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia:I am very happy to be here with you today, and for a number of reasons. First, because the occasion that brings us here is a happy one: we are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of an organization which has been able to demonstrate its usefulness and its vitality. Next because I feel in a way at home in South America, where I was stationed for several years. Lastly -- and I hope you will forgive me this lack of modesty -- because I take some pride in having contributed to the entry of my country, Canada, into Organization of American States (OAS).
It will be nothing new for you if I tell you that OAS is in a sense the doyen of the international organizations, in that the First International Conference of the American Republics, which led to the establishment of the International Union of American Republics, was held in 1889.
But what is more striking than anything else when one looks at the history of your organization is its flexibility and its extraordinary adaptability, which deserve to be emulated.
Thus you were not afraid, even before the ending of the cold war, to amend your Charter on a number of occasions and adopt the innovative texts called for by the realities of the times.
In 1985 you adopted the Protocol of Cartagena de Indias, amending the Charter and adding to its preamble the assertion that representative democracy is an indispensable condition for the stability, peace and development of the region. The sentence is short, but full of meaning.
_---------_ * Reissued to incorporate the English translation of parts of the speech that were in French and Spanish.
The Secretary-General of OAS was also authorized to bring to the attention of the General Assembly or the Permanent Council any issue which, in the judgement of OAS could affect the peace and security of the continent or the development of the member States.
Like Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations, which is worded in very similar terms, this provision has been invoked only in extremely serious cases.
In 1990, resolution 1080 adopted in Santiago de Chile provided that the Ministers for Foreign Affairs should meet in the case of a coup or other interruption to a democratically elected government, and authorized them to take "any decisions deemed appropriate" in accordance with the Charter and international law.
In the same year, the OAS General Assembly approved the Protocol of Washington, allowing the organization to suspend the participation of any regime which comes to power by deposing a democratically elected government.
All these initiatives form part of a continuum, and mark a real turning point in the history of OAS; they constitute, in effect, a recognition that domestic political circumstances may become grounds for collective action.
On the basis of this principle, OAS was able in 1993 to conduct a joint operation with the United Nations, the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH).
This Mission, which continues to monitor respect for human rights, contribute to institution-building and promote the country's development, is among the most convincing examples of cooperation between our two organizations, which have further strengthened the links between them by signing, in April 1995, an agreement on cooperation between the two secretariats.
This example is, however, far from being the only one. Before the establishment of MICIVIH, OAS observers had already worked jointly with the United Nations Observer Group for the Verification of the Elections in Haiti. In Guatemala, OAS contributed to the success of the demobilization of the combatants of the Unión Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca.
In the past 10 years, the continent has made remarkable progress in terms of democracy. Its successes undoubtedly deserve to be emphasized. However, here as elsewhere and perhaps more than elsewhere, the forces that we now call "uncivil" society pose a serious threat to peace and security and are giving rise to new forms of violence that tend to destabilize democratic society.
- 3 - Press Release DSG/SM/3/Rev.1 29 April 1998
Drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime are only some of the dangers that threaten democracy and development. Others are corruption, blatant inequalities and the endemic poverty from which certain sectors of the population are suffering.
Nor have you been slow to recognize this: for a number of years now, you have been focusing your efforts on strengthening democracy and the State ruled by law, combating corruption and drug trafficking, mitigating poverty and promoting education and the rights of the individual.
The ideals of our two organizations - peace and security, economic and social progress and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms - have lost nothing of their topicality and their validity. What is more, because of globalization, we shall have to resolve tomorrow problems which can be grasped only on a worldwide scale.
I am thinking of phenomena as diverse as climate change, terrorism, transborder crime and migratory flows, which no nation, however powerful, can hope to deal with alone.
As your Secretary-General said not long ago, our era is truly one of multilateralism and collective action. More than ever, regional and international organizations can make the difference, because fortunately consensus-building, rather than confrontation, is now the order of the day.
That is why we need to do everything we can to adapt the instruments available to us to the new international context, in order to make our organizations more flexible and better able to respond to the expectations of their Member States.
We in the United Nations, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, have launched a vast and ambitious programme of reforms aimed precisely at attaining these objectives. The General Assembly of the United Nations has approved the greater part of the reforms proposed by the Secretary-General. But we do not intend to lose the momentum we have built up, for reform is not an event, it is a process.
The Organization of American States is keeping pace with us. Under the leadership of your Secretary-General, you too are making great efforts to modernize your organization and give it the means of performing its duties more effectively.
Lastly, I should like to extend my congratulations to OAS, which has served the continent so well for half a century and will, I am convinced, be able to continue resolutely on the course it has charted for itself.
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