FORMER LATIN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS MEET AT UN TODAY

TO DISCUSS FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IN REGION

NEW YORK, 12 November (UNDP) –- Six former presidents from Latin America met today with Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other United Nations senior officials to discuss the future of democracy in the region.

The six presidents –- from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay –- are collaborating in a study launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  The study addresses the needs and vulnerabilities of Latin American democracies -– an issue of special concern for the Secretary-General, who has called for the stronger democratic practices in the region.

“No State could be truly labelled democratic if it does not offer its people a way out from poverty.  And no country can truly develop if it excludes its own people from power”, Mr. Annan said during the meeting.

“If the principle of democracy is now recognized by all, our challenge now is to make its practice equally universal”, he said.

Former Argentine Government Minister Dante Caputo presented the preliminary results of the study to the Secretary-General and the former presidents.  The presentation was followed by an exchange of views on how to strengthen the democratic processes through more equitable political, economic and social conditions in the region.  The outcome of today’s discussions will be reflected in a report scheduled for release in 2003.

Participants in the discussions were the former Presidents of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo; Chile, Eduardo Frei; Bolivia, Jorge Quiroga; Colombia, Belisario Betancourt; Honduras, Carlos Roberto Reina; and Uruguay, Julio María Sanguinetti. The Executive Director of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Antonio Ocampo, and UNDP Associate Administrator Zéphirin Diabré also attended the meeting.

Just 25 years ago, only a handful of the countries of Latin America could be classified as democratic.  Today, nearly all Latin Americans live under democratically elected governments.  But the region still has the world’s most inequitable income distribution, with more than 40 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.

Moreover, serious institutional problems are affecting governance and the rule of law, as well as the independence of the three branches of government, the

functioning of electoral systems, the organization of political parties and political practice.

The UNDP considers good governance a critical element of economic and social development.  The Human Development Report 2002, the UNDP flagship publication, focused on democratic governance as the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development.

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