OAS, May 19, 2015 -- The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today reviewed his main achievements at the head of the hemispheric institution in the presentation of his book "Democratic Governance, OAS: 2005-2015" held in the framework of the Lecture of the Americas at the headquarters of the international Organization in Washington, DC.
In the words of hemispheric leader, the book aims to be a review and a "balance of the main things that were done in this institution, unique in the Americas, not only because it is a space for dialogue, but also due to the importance of the programs it carries out," among which he mentioned electoral observation, programs of judicial facilitators, gender equality, public security, demining and the destruction of weapons.
The Secretary General noted that "the general idea that runs throughout this text is the need for the adaptation of the Organization of American States to the major changes that the nations of our hemisphere have experienced in recent decades, and the possibility of the OAS to adapt to them," and added that, while is not a complete account of the tasks performed by the Organization, it reveals those that he believes it should continue doing.
"The world and the Americas have changed in a very definitive way. Many of these changes have directly affected our region, altering hemispheric power relations," the Secretary General said, adding that his conclusion is that "there is no more room for unilateral policies, but there is space for a common agenda, which cannot be declared unilaterally, but must be formulated and implemented in common."
The leader of the OAS, whose term ends next Tuesday, said that this common agenda needs to take into account new common challenges that occur at all levels. As an example, he recalled that "democracy is no longer an aspiration; now we say in our Inter-American Democratic Charter that it is a right of peoples and their governments are obliged to give them that democracy and the fundamental duty of the OAS is to work, within the framework of its attributions, to make that happen."
On the issue of development, he noted that there are still sizeable pockets of poverty affecting 25% of the population throughout the hemisphere, and that "the lessons of the last decade and the beginning of the current show the need to protect growth and substantively deal with inequality, which is a blight at all levels."
In his address, Secretary General Insulza added that "in security matters, we are no longer engaged, as we were originally, in external security, but there is the big problem of drug trafficking, organized crime, cybercrime, and high homicide rates."
"In terms of human rights there is a much greater emphasis on the extent and validity of those rights. At the same time, the issue of equality continues to be a demand and the greatest threat to the system, which is solid and strong, is that not all countries fully participate in it," he said.
In summary, Secretary General Insulza said the OAS has the capacity to address new issues that arise, but added that the instruments change over time "and we have pointed out many times that our choice must be for inclusion, dialogue and cooperation, not exclusion and sanctions or impositions."
In his conclusion, the leader of the hemispheric Organization said that "what I try to show in this book is that the great feature of the OAS is, on one hand, to be the place where dialogue takes place and on the other, the richness of its programs, all in the service of the community of the Americas and around which I wish there was a better understanding. The times for just making speeches are gone and there can be no thought that the problems of countries can be solved from outside, without dialogue and inclusion," he concluded.
Before ending his presentation, the OAS leader expressed his particular thanks for the contributions of all the directors of the General Secretariat who, as those responsible for their respective areas, contributed with data and edition of many chapters. He also expressed his gratitude to the former Presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Chile, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, who wrote prologues to the book, as well as the support provided by San Martin de Porres University of Peru for printing the book and organizing the Lecture Series of the Americas.
During the event, the President of the Inter-American Dialogue, Michael Shifter, and the Latin American Program Director of the Wilson Center, Cynthia Arnson, delivered their commentaries on the book.
The President of the Inter-American Dialogue, Michael Shifter, highlighted the efforts of Secretary General Insulza during his decade at the helm of the OAS to include Cuba in the Inter-American political debate. "The OAS has been involved in the last decade in the organization of four Summits of the Americas, as the Secretary General said in the book, starting with Argentina (2005) and ending with Panama (2015), if you compared Argentina and Panama there have been developments that reflect some important achievements, such as the entry of Cuba into the Summit.” Shifter attributed to Insulza an important role in the return of Cuba to the Inter-American stage, recalling that since Secretary General Insulza took the office in 2005, he "put this issue on the table." He considered that the outcome of this effort was seen in December last year when the U.S. President, Barack Obama, and the Cuban President, Raul Castro, announced the resumption of diplomatic relations between their countries.
The President of the Inter-American Dialogue said that the Secretary General Insulza "had experienced difficult times" but stressed that the book also shows that the OAS has comparative advantages with other multilateral agencies in areas such as law, and other areas such as the defense of human rights and freedom of expression.
For her part, the Director of the Wilson Center's Latin American Program praised the positive impact of the Report on the Drug Problem in the Americas, that the OAS published under the leadership of Secretary General Insulza, in compliance with a mandate from the 2012 Summit of the Americas. "I think that the OAS, with responsibility and solidity, has produced a report that has served to push and encourage a debate throughout the region," she said.
In addition, Director Arnson mentioned that under the leadership of Secretary General Insulza "the priority role" of the OAS Electoral Observation Missions was strengthened in the countries of the region, an aspect in which she highlighted the "experience" and "capacity" of the teams deployed on the ground. She also noted the importance of the OAS reports and proposals made to address the problem of security during the tenure of Secretary General Insulza.
The event was also attended by the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin, representatives of the diplomatic corps and of think tanks based in Washington.
A gallery of photos of the event is available here.
The video news of the event is available here.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
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