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Technical Preparatory Meeting for the 8th Annual First Ladies Conference, June 22-26, 1998 [Chile] Ms. Nicole Rabner [2]
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Technical Preparatory Meeting for the 8th Annual First Ladies Conference, June 22-26, 1998 [Chile] Ms. Nicole Rabner [2]
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INFORMATIVE BULLETIN
on the dissemination and follow-up of the recommendations for education, Strengthening of Civil
********
-
Society, the Role of Women in the Eradication of Poverty and Discrimination and Transparency as
PARTICIPA
a Means of Combating Corruption
Educación y Desarrollo
March 1998
Santiago, Chile
Parallel Meeting to the IV
citizen alternatives to the FTAA
trade issues such as the FTAA.
Business Forum of the Americas
process.
Nevertheless, Ambassador Martabit
to be Held in San José
has also mentioned in some
The National Audubon Society and
Creation of the Project Advisory
opportunities, the effort to
National Wildlife Federation are
Committee for the ISP
incorporate private organizations
sponsoring a series of activities
In the framework of the Inter-
into the preparatory activities for the
parallel to the IV Business Forum of
American Strategy for Public
Summit. Another issue that has
the Americas where trade ministers
Participation, the Project Advisory
stood out in the news related to the
from around the continent will
Committee (PAC) was established.
Summit has been the importance of
attend. Among the planned
This Committee is made of 7 civil
following up on the agreement made
activities are: a meeting on the Free
society
organizations,
7
to ensure that they result in concrete
Trade Agreement of the Americas
governmental representatives and 3
advances.
(FTAA), the participation of between
donors (GEF/UNEP, UNESCO,
20-25 NGOs in the Business Forum
USAID). The first Committee
Various News
to discuss the process and principles
meeting was held in Guatemala
Teócrito Pinedo, from the
of free trade and the environment, a
February 23-24 where the groups
organization CEPCO, located in
panel con Competitiveness and
discussed the issues of the role of the
Tarapoto, Peru, informed us that they
Sustainability, a seminar held in
Committee and possible alternatives
were able to publish a summarized
conjunction with the Intel
for the participation of civil society
version of the conclusions of the
Corporation and a reception which
in OAS forums, among other issues.
November meeting in the newspaper
will focus on the importance of
The seven civil society
"Ahora" and also sent copies to
opening dialogue between NGOs,
representatives are: International
various institutions in the country as
government and business. These
Institute
for
Sustainable
well as in Ecuador.
activities will take place March 14-
Development
from
Canada,
18 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Ms.
Sustainable
Community
Ethel Abarca informed us that Costa
Laura Novoa, President of the Board
Development Focus Group from
Rica has placed great importance on
of Directors of PARTICIPA will
Jamaica, Parlamento Amazónico
the issues raised by Afroamerica XXI
participate in all the scheduled
from Venezuela, Confederación
and is working to see that these
activities.
Nacional
de
Trabajadores
issues are included in the Santiago
Organizados from Panamá,
Summit.
"Alternative Summit" to be
Organization of Africans in the
Held
Americas from the USA, Fundación
During the second week of March,
Between April 15-18, trade unions,
Futuro Latinoamericano from
the publication including the
environmentalists and indigenous
Ecuador,
and
Corporación
recommendations that resulted from
organizations will hold a parallel
PARTICIPA from Chile. The seven
the August and November meetings
meeting to the Summit of the
governmental representatives are
were sent to the 34 SIRG
Americas, to called "Summit of the
from: Bolivia, USA, Guatemala,
representatives and to all of the
Peoples
of
America".
Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, and the
participants in the two meetings.
Representatives from Brazil,
Dominican Republic. For more
Argentina, Mexico, USA. Canada
information on the ISP or the PAC,
You can find information on the
and Central America will participate
contact Zoila Giron at the OAS
Santiago Summit as well as the
in this event is a series of forums
([email protected], tel: 202-458-3236,
reports by PARTICIPA in the
which will address various issues
fax: 202-458-3568)
following
web
page:
such as human rights, ethics, the
http://americas.fiu.edu/americas/
Press Coverage of Summit
americas-frames-noblue. html
environment or education. This
event was motivated by the absence
Issues
This bulletin was prepared by
of participation of civil society in the
The issue of the next Summit of the
Corporación PARTICIPA. Address:
Summits held by Heads of State.
Americas has been quite present in
Almirante Simpson 014, Providencia,
One objective of this encounter is to
the Chilean national press. The
Santiago, Chile. Tel: (562) 222-5384;
transform civil society into an active
majority of the coverage on Summit
fax:
(562) 222-1374; e-mail:
and positive player and to suggest
preparations has been relation with
[email protected]
Santiago Summit of
the Americas
Documents
Santiago, Chile
April 18-19, 1998
DECLARATION OF SANTIAGO
We, the democratically-elected Heads of State and Government of the countries
of the Americas, have met in Santiago, Chile, in order to continue the dialogue and
strengthen the cooperation we began in Miami in December 1994. Since that time,
significant progress has been made in the formulation and execution of joint plans
and programs in order to take advantage of the great opportunities before us. We
reaffirm our will to continue this most important undertaking, which requires
sustained national efforts and dynamic international cooperation.
The strengthening of democracy, political dialogue, economic stability, progress
towards social justice, the extent to which our trade liberalization policies
coincide, and the will to expedite a process of ongoing Hemispheric integration
have made our relations more mature. We will redouble our efforts to continue
reforms designed to improve the living conditions of the peoples of the Americas
and to achieve a mutually supportive community. For this reason, we have decided
that education is a key theme and is of particular importance in our deliberations.
We approve the attached Plan of Action and undertake to carry out its initiatives.
Since our meeting in Miami, we have seen real economic benefits in the Americas
resulting from more open trade, transparency in economic regulations, sound,
market-based economic policies, as well as efforts by the private sector to increase
its competitiveness. Even as countries in our region have been tested by financial
and other economic pressures, and as countries in other regions have experienced
serious economic setbacks, the overall course in the Americas has been one of
faster economic growth, lower inflation, expanded opportunities, and confidence in
facing the global marketplace. A major reason for this positive record has been our
countries' steadfast and cooperative efforts to promote prosperity through
increased economic integration and more open economies. New partnerships have
been formed and existing ones strengthened and expanded. A positive role is being
played by sub-regional and bilateral integration and free trade agreements. We are
confident that the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will improve the well-
being of all our people, including economically disadvantaged populations within
our respective countries.
2
Hemispheric integration is a necessary complement to national policies aimed at
overcoming lingering problems and obtaining a higher level of development. In its
broadest sense, a process of integration based on respect for cultural identities will
make it possible to shape a common, interwoven set of values and interests that
helps us in these objectives.
Globalization offers great opportunities for progress to our countries and opens
úp new areas of cooperation for the hemispheric community. However, it can also
heighten the differences among countries and within our societies. With steadfast
determination to reap its benefits and to face its challenges, we will give special
attention to the most vulnerable countries and social groups in the Hemisphere.
Education is the determining factor for the political, social, cultural, and
economic development of our peoples. We undertake to facilitate access of all
inhabitants of the Americas to preschool, primary, secondary, and higher
education, and we will make learning a lifelong process. We will put science and
technology at the service of education to assure growing levels of knowledge and
so that educators may develop their skills to the highest level. The Plan of Action
that accompanies this Declaration defines the objectives and goals we intend to
achieve and the actions that will make them a reality. In order to meet our goals
within the agreed timeframes, we reaffirm our commitment to invest greater
resources in this important area, and to encourage civil society to participate in
developing education.
The decisions adopted by our Ministers of Education at the Conference held in
Mérida, Mexico, last February, reflect our desire to promote specific joint
initiatives designed to improve access to education, with fairness, quality,
relevancy, and effectiveness. In order to consolidate and lend continuity to our
decisions, we have instructed that another Conference be held in Brasilia, Brazil,
in July of this year.
3
Today, we direct our Ministers Responsible for Trade to begin negotiations for
the FTAA, in accordance with the March 1998 Ministerial Declaration of San José.
We reaffirm our determination to conclude the negotiation of the FTAA no later
than 2005, and to make concrete progress by the end of the century. The FTAA
agreement will be balanced, comprehensive, WTO-consistent and constitute a
single undertaking.
We note with satisfaction the preparatory work by the Ministers Responsible for
Trade over the past three years which has strengthened our trade policies, fostered
understanding of our economic objectives and facilitated dialogue among all
participating countries. We appreciate the significant contribution of the Inter-
American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS),
and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), acting as the Tripartite Committee.
The FTAA negotiating process will be transparent, and take into account the
differences in the levels of development and size of the economies in the
Americas, in order to create opportunities for the full participation by all countries.
We encourage all segments of civil society to participate in and contribute to the
process in a constructive manner, through our respective mechanisms of dialogue
and consultation and by presenting their views through the mechanism created in
the FTAA negotiating process. We believe that economic integration, investment,
and free trade are key factors for raising standards of living, improving the
working conditions of the people of the Americas and better protecting the
environment. These issues will be taken into account as we proceed with the
economic integration process in the Americas.
The region has made significant advances in both monetary and fiscal policy as
well as in price stability and liberalizing our economies. The volatility of capital
markets vindicates our decision to strengthen banking supervision in the
Hemisphere and to establish regulations relating to disclosure and reporting of
banking information.
4
The strength and meaning of representative democracy lie in the active
participation of individuals at all levels of civic life. The democratic culture must
encompass our entire population. We will strengthen education for democracy and
promote the necessary actions for government institutions to become more
participatory structures. We undertake to strengthen the capabilities of regional
and local governments, when appropriate, and to foster more active participation
by civil society.
Respect for and promotion of human rights and the fundamental freedoms of all
individuals is a primary concern of our governments. In commemorating the
fiftieth anniversary of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we agree on the need to promote
the ratification and implementation of the international agreements aimed at
preserving them and to continue strengthening the pertinent national and
international institutions. We agree that a free press plays a fundamental role in
this area and we reaffirm the importance of guaranteeing freedom of expression,
information, and opinion. We commend the recent appointment of a Special
Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, within the framework of the Organization
of American States.
Confident that an independent, efficient, and effective administration of justice
plays an essential role in the process of consolidating democracy, strengthens its
institutions, guarantees the equality of all its citizens, and contributes to economic
development, we will enhance our policies relating to justice and encourage the
reforms necessary to promote legal and judicial cooperation. To that end, we will
strengthen national entities involved in the study of the administration of justice
and expedite the establishment of a hemispheric center for studies on this subject.
We will combat all forms of discrimination in the Hemisphere. Equal rights and
opportunities between men and women and the objective of ensuring active
participation of women in all areas of national endeavor are priority tasks. We will
continue to promote the full integration of indigenous populations and other
vulnerable groups into political and economic life, with due respect for the
5
characteristics and expressions that affirm their cultural identity. We will make a
special effort to guarantee the human rights of all migrants, including migrant
workers and their families.
Overcoming poverty continues to be the greatest challenge confronted by our
Hemisphere. We are conscious that the positive growth shown in the Americas in
past years has yet to resolve the problems of inequity and social exclusion. We are
determined to remove the barriers that deny the poor access to proper nutrition,
social services, a healthy environment, credit, and legal title to their property. We
will provide greater support to micro and small enterprises, promote core labor
standards recognized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), and use new
technologies to improve the health conditions of every family in the Americas,
with the technical support of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO),
achieving greater levels of equity and sustainable development.
With deep satisfaction, we note that peace, an essential value for human
coexistence, is a reality in the Hemisphere. We underscore that Central America
has become a zone of peace, democracy, and development and we recognize
efforts to eliminate antipersonnel mines and to rehabilitate their victims. We will
continue to foster confidence and security among our countries through such
measures as those mentioned in the Santiago and San Salvador Declarations on
Confidence- and Security-Building Measures. We encourage the pacific settlement
of disputes.
We will lend new impetus to the struggle against corruption, money laundering,
terrorism, weapons trafficking, and the drug problem, including illicit use, and
work together to ensure that criminals do not find safe haven anywhere in the
Hemisphere. We are determined to persevere in this direction.
In forging an alliance against drugs and applying the Hemispheric Anti-Drug
Strategy, we welcome the start of formal negotiations at the May 4 meeting of
Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) to be held in
6
Washington within the framework of the Organization of American States (OAS),
to establish an objective procedure for the multilateral evaluation of actions and
cooperation to prevent and combat all aspects of the drug problem and related
crimes, based on the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity of States, shared
responsibility, and with a comprehensive and balanced approach.
We will strengthen national, hemispheric, and international efforts aimed at
environmental protection as a basis for sustainable development that provides
human beings a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. The
commitments undertaken at the Miami Summit and the Summit on Sustainable
Development held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, provide a solid basis for
strengthening our actions. As parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change, we underscore the importance of working together to further
fulfillment of the agreement reached at the Conference in Kyoto, Japan, and to
promote its ratification in our countries. Moreover, we will work closely to make
preparations for a Conference of the Parties to be held in November of this year in
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
We acknowledge that the development of energy links between our countries and
the intensification of trade in the energy sector strengthen and foster the integration
of the Americas. Energy integration, based on competitive and transparent
activities, and in compliance with national conditions and objectives, contributes to
the sustainable development of our nations and to the improvement of the quality
of life of our people with minimum impact on the environment.
Recognizing the importance of, and positive role played by hemispheric
institutions, particularly the Organization of American States (OAS), we instruct
our Ministers to examine the strengthening and modernizing of these institutions.
We reaffirm our will to continue strengthening intra-hemispheric dialogue and
cooperation within the framework of friendship and solidarity that inspires our
nations.
*****
PLAN OF ACTION
SANTIAGO SUMMIT
OF THE AMERICAS
INDEX
I.
EDUCATION: THE KEY To PROGRESS
1
II.
PRESERVING AND STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
6
-
Democracy and Human Rights
7
-
Education for Democracy
9
-
Civil Society
9
-
Migrant Workers
10
-
Strengthening Municipal and Regional
Administrations
12
-
Corruption
12
-
Prevention and Control of Illicit Consumption
of and Traffic in Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances and other Related Crimes
14
-
Terrorism
17
-
Building Confidence and Security Among
States
17
-
Strengthening of Justice Systems and
Judiciaries
19
-
Modernization of the State in Labor Matters
21
III.
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND FREE TRADE
22
-
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
22
-
Strengthening, Modernizing and Integrating
Financial Markets
23
-
Science and Technology
24
Regional Energy Cooperation
25
-
-
Hemispheric Infrastructure
26
IV.
ERADICATION OF POVERTY AND DISCRIMINATION
29
-
Fostering the Development of Micro, Small and
Medium Size Enterprises
30
-
Property Registration
31
-
Health Technologies
32
-
Women
33
-
Basic Rights of Workers
34
-
Indigenous Populations
35
-
Hunger and Malnutrition
36
-
Sustainable Development
37
-
Cooperation
37
SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS FOLLOW-UP
37
1
PLAN OF ACTION
We, the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the
Americas, recognizing the need to make a collective effort that
complements the actions being developed and executed at the national level
to improve the economic well-being and the quality of life of our peoples,
mindful of our commitment to the continued implementation of the Miami
Plan of Action, affirm our resolute determination to carry out this Plan of
Action, which constitutes a body of concrete initiatives intended to promote
the overall development of the countries of the Hemisphere and ensure
access to and improve the quality of education, promote and strengthen
democracy and the respect for human rights, deepen economic integration
and free trade and eradicate poverty and discrimination. We have adopted
this Plan of Action conscious that all the initiatives are inter-related and
equally important to the attainment of our common endeavor.
I.
EDUCATION: THE KEY To PROGRESS
The Hemisphere's commitment to education is reflected in the sweeping
reform processes encompassing all levels of educational systems, and is
based on broad consensus with respect to the problems confronting
education and the shared commitment and effort of societies as a whole to
overcome them. These processes are based on the principles of equity,
quality, relevance and efficiency. Equity is defined as the creation of
conditions that ensure that all people have the opportunity to receive quality
education services, thereby significantly reducing the effects of inequalities
based on socio-economic status, disability and ethnic, cultural and gender
discrimination. Quality implies the achievement of high levels of cognitive
development, skills, capabilities and ethical attitudes. Relevance is defined
as the ability of an educational system to meet the needs and aspirations of
society as a whole, taking into account its social, cultural, ethnic and
linguistic diversity. Lastly, efficiency is defined as the provision of
adequate resources, used optimally, in order to enhance educational
achievements.
2
Therefore, the Governments, fully recognizing and respecting national
sovereignty and the responsibilities of the institutions of our respective
countries with regard to education, reiterate the commitment of the Miami
Summit to ensure, by the year 2010, universal access to and completion of
quality primary education for 100 percent of children and access for at least
75 percent of young people to quality secondary education, with increasing
percentages of young people who complete secondary education, and
assume responsibility for providing the general population with
opportunities for life-long learning. If these objectives are met, we are
confident that we will provide our people with the tools, skills and
knowledge necessary for and suited to the development of capabilities that
ensure better. conditions of competitiveness and productivity required by
modern economies, thus allowing our people to contribute as worthy
citizens to their respective societies.
To achieve these objectives, Governments will:
Implement targeted and inter-sectoral educational policies, as
necessary, and develop programs that focus specifically on groups at
a disadvantage in the areas of education, functional illiteracy and
socio-economic conditions, with attention to women, minorities and
vulnerable populations. Inter-sectoral programs in education, health
and nutrition, as well as early childhood educational strategies, will
be priorities, inasmuch as they contribute more directly to plans to
combat poverty.
Establish or strengthen national or subnational and, where
applicable, subregional systems to evaluate the quality of education,
which permit assessment of the performance of various educational
actors, innovations and factors associated with achievements in
learning. To that end, information and national or subnational or,
where applicable, subregional indicators will be made available that
can be used to design, carry out and evaluate quality-improvement
programs based on equity. Standards for reading and writing,
mathematics and science shall receive special attention. Also, where
appropriate, criteria and methodologies for collecting data that
permit comparison of some educational indicators across countries in
the Hemisphere shall be established.
3
-
Develop comprehensive programs to improve and increase the level
of professionalism among teachers and school administrators that
combine pre-service and in-service training, exploring incentive
mechanisms tied to updating their skills and to meeting such
standards as may have been agreed upon. Higher education must
collaborate in this endeavor through research and pedagogy, both of
which should be strengthened in order to meet this goal.
Strengthen education management and institutional capacity at the
national, regional, local and school levels, furthering, where
appropriate, decentralization and the promotion of better forms of
community and family involvement. Encourage the mass media to
contribute to bolstering efforts being made by educational systems.
Strengthen preparation, education and training for the world of work
so that an increasing number of workers can improve their standard
of living and, together with employers, have the opportunity to
benefit from hemispheric integration. In this regard, consideration
will be given to the adoption of new technology based on different
options and alternatives, ranging from specific occupational training
to strengthening general employability competencies. Special
attention will also be paid to the establishment or strengthening of
mechanisms that permit workers to obtain certification of job-related
competencies acquired through formal education and work
experience. In order to confront changes in the labor market and to
enhance employability prospects, actions that take into account the
development of entrepreneurial skills will be included and will
involve the different sectors and offer various options and
alternatives.
Establish or improve, according to their internal legal framework,
educational strategies relevant to multicultural societies, so as to be
able to shape, with the participation of indigenous populations and
migrants, models for bilingual and intercultural basic education.
Similarly, the content of basic education will have to be enhanced,
together with respect and appreciation for the cultural diversity of
peoples, as well as to expand the knowledge of the different
4
languages spoken in the countries of the Hemisphere, where
resources and possibilities permit.
Develop, within and outside schools, with the assistance of families
and other actors and social organizations, educational strategies that
foster the development of values, with special attention to the
inclusion of democratic principles, human rights, gender-related
issues, peace, tolerance and respect for the environment and natural
resources.
Promote access to and use of the most effective information and
communication technologies in education systems, with special
emphasis on the use of computers, in combination with revised
pedagogical methods and proper training for teachers in the use of
these technologies. Special attention shall be paid to the ethical
imperative of including the most vulnerable sectors. To that end,
distance education programs shall be strengthened and information
networks established.
Make efforts to increase the availability of teaching materials in
collaboration with official institutions and, depending on the specific
conditions in each country, with the private sector.
-
Seek to use technology to link schools and communities as a way of
establishing ties in the Hemisphere while encouraging the
participation of higher education institutions that have advantages in
this field.
Further scholarship and exchange programs for students, teachers,
researchers and educational administrators using different strategies,
including institution-to-institution ties, communications technology
and internships which permit exposure to pedagogical and
management innovations in the other countries of the Hemisphere.
This will contribute to strengthening the institutional capacity of
Ministries or Departments of Education, decentralized administrative
entities and centers of higher learning.
5
Funding, Horizontal Multilateral Cooperation Strategies and Follow-up
We, the Heads of State and Government, recognizing the cardinal
importance of education as a foundation for development, agree, in
accordance with our respective legislative processes, to promote allocation
of the resources necessary for educational expenditure with a view to
attaining greater levels of equity, quality, relevance and efficiency in the
educational processes, emphasizing the optimal use of resources and a
greater participation of other social actors.
We also reaffirm our commitment to promote horizontal and multilateral
cooperation in the area of education. To that end, we:
Instruct the Organization of American States (OAS) and request the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and World Bank, together
with the other national and multilateral technical and financial
cooperation agencies operating in the Hemisphere, to provide, within
their respective areas of action, support for programs and initiatives
that are consistent with the goals, objectives, and actions proposed in
this Chapter of the Plan of Action. To this end, the IDB is
encouraged to work with member countries to substantially increase
the share of new lending for primary and secondary education, by
more than doubling the quantity over the next three years, compared
to the previous three years. We also request that the IDB establish a
special regional fund for education in the Hemisphere, utilizing the
existing resources of this institution. This fund would support efforts
to raise educational standards and performance throughout the
Region.
Instruct the OAS and request the IDB, the World Bank, and United
Nations Economic Commission on Latin-American and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), among other institutions, to use the
mechanisms within their scope to develop and strengthen regional
cooperation in areas such as distance education, using, among other
means, satellite technology; internships and exchange programs; the
development and use of information technology for education; the
updating of education statistics; and quality assessment, while
6
striving to ensure that this cooperation is in keeping with the specific
needs of each country. We recognize the role and interest in these
efforts of specialized international organizations, such as United
Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Likewise, we recognize the contributions of the private sector,
philanthropic foundations, and pertinent non-governmental
organizations.
Instruct the OAS to foster, articulate and facilitate, through
ministerial meetings and other mechanisms being developed by
member States in the framework of the Inter-American Council for
Integral Development (CIDI), collaboration and joint effort in the
Hemisphere and, to that end, to convene, in consultation with the
coordinating countries, technical consultation forums of the countries
in the Hemisphere in order to contribute to the implementation of the
commitments included in this Chapter of the Plan of Action.
Entrust the Meeting of Ministers of Education, to be convened by the
OAS within the framework of CIDI's Strategic Plan for Partnership
for Development, to be held in Brazil in July 1998, with the
development of an implementation plan for this education initiative.
Instruct the OAS and request the IDB, World Bank, ECLAC, and
other multilateral institutions to report on the execution of this Plan
to the Government representatives responsible for review and
follow-up of the commitments of the Summit of the Americas.
II.
PRESERVING AND STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
The strengthening of democracy, justice and human rights is a vital
hemispheric priority. In this Plan of Action, we endorse new initiatives
designed to deepen our commitment to these important principles.
Specifically, we will intensify our efforts to promote democratic reforms at
the regional and local level, protect the rights of migrant workers and their
families, improve the capabilities of our justice systems and labor ministries
to respond to the needs of our peoples, and encourage a strong and active
7
civil society. We further resolve to defend democracy against the serious
threats of corruption, terrorism, and illegal narcotics, and to promote peace
and security among our nations. Taken together, these measures consolidate
our democratic gains, reaffirm our commitment to democratic institutions,
and commit us to building a Hemisphere of shared values.
Democracy and Human Rights
Governments will:
Define and develop, with the participation of civil society,
comprehensive policies aimed at promoting and protecting human
rights at a domestic level, in accordance with relevant international
norms and principles, incorporating those policies, where
appropriate, into national human rights plans and programs, as
recommended by the World Conference of Vienna, 1993; and
underscore as well the importance of promoting respect for the
universally recognized principles of international humanitarian law.
Guarantee that all individuals have the right to due process of law,
including the presumption of innocence and the right to trial within a
reasonable period of time and the full respect for their constitutional
and other legal rights. Governments will, in accordance with their
legal framework, adopt measures intended to ensure that no person
awaiting trial shall be detained for a period longer than permitted by
law, taking fully into account the rights of the accused, the protection
of society, crime prevention, the promotion of respect for the law,
the rights of victims and other relevant considerations. Governments
will continue their efforts to improve conditions of detention and
enhance human rights education for the respective officials involved
in the administration of justice.
Promote a review of their respective national legislation in order to
eliminate or amend those provisions which may lead to any type of
discrimination, for any reason, in contravention of their international
commitments. In particular, they will seek to attain legal equality
between men and women by the year 2002. In this context, priority
should be given to the rights to equal treatment in the workplace,
8
property, inheritance and child custody, as well as combating
domestic violence.
-
Promote the adoption of legal, educational and social measures, as
well as international cooperation, to combat the physical and sexual
abuse of children, traffic in minors, child prostitution and child
exploitation in all its forms, including pornography. At the same
time, they will strengthen international cooperation through the
implementation of a regional information system on affected
children, based on national information systems, with the
participation of and promotion by concerned international
organizations, to analyze their condition and evaluate social policies
to facilitate decision making in this sphere.
Promote the signature, ratification and accession to international
human rights instruments to which they are not party, as well as
observe the provisions contained in the instruments to which they are
party.
Governments will also enhance cooperation with and support for the
activities of the Organization of American States (OAS) in order to:
-
Strengthen the inter-American human rights system through concrete
initiatives and measures which aim to reinforce its institutional
structure and promote its links with national systems and regional
entities that promote and protect human rights. In this context,
Governments consider important the institutional strengthening of
the Inter-American Human Rights Institute.
-
Support States that so request in the processes of promoting and
consolidating democratic values, practices and institutions by
strengthening the respective organs of the Organization, including
the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD).
Strengthen the exercise of and respect for all human rights and the
consolidation of democracy, including the fundamental right to
freedom of expression and thought, through support for the activities
of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in this field, in
9
particular the recently created Special Rapporteur for Freedom of
Expression.
Promote programs of cooperation, through the use of advanced
information technology and with the support of the international
institutions that deal with administration of justice, in areas identified
by the OAS Working Group on Democracy and Human Rights,
which include:
Training of police and correctional officers;
Necessary steps to remedy inhumane conditions in prisons
and reduce drastically the number of pre-trial detainees; and
Enhancing human rights education for judges, magistrates and
other court officials.
Education for Democracy
Governments will:
Include in educational programs, within the legal framework of each
country, objectives and contents that develop democratic culture at
all levels, in order to teach individuals ethical values, a spirit of
cooperation and integrity. To that end, the participation of teachers,
families, students and outreach workers will be stepped up in their
work related to conceptualizing and implementing the plans for
shaping citizens imbued with democratic values.
Civil Society
Governments will:
Promote, with the participation of civil society, the development of
principles and recommendations for institutional frameworks to
stimulate the formation of responsible and transparent, non-profit
and other civil society organizations, including, where appropriate,
programs for volunteers, and encourage, in accordance with national
priorities, public sector-civil society dialogue and partnerships in the
areas that are considered pertinent in this Plan of Action. In this
10
context the Organization of American States (OAS) may serve as a
forum for the exchange of experiences and information.
-
In this process, draw upon existing initiatives that promote increased
participation of civil society in public issues, such as relevant
successful experiences from the National Councils for Sustainable
Development and the Inter-American Strategy for Public
Participation, among others. As soon as possible, Governments will
adopt work plans to implement legal and institutional frameworks
based on the principles and recommendations in their respective
countries.
-
Entrust the OAS to encourage support among Governments and civil
society organizations, and to promote appropriate programs to carry
out this initiative, and request the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) to develop and implement, along with interested States and
other inter-American institutions, hemispheric financial mechanisms
specially devoted to the implementation of programs oriented toward
strengthening civil society and public participation mechanisms.
Migrant Workers
Governments will:
-
Reaffirm that the promotion and protection of human rights and the
fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction by reasons of race,
gender, language, nationality, or religion, is a priority for the
international community and is the responsibility of every state.
-
Comply with the applicable international human rights instruments
and, consistent with the legal framework of each country, guarantee
the human rights of all migrants, including migrant workers and their
families.
-
Seek full compliance with, and protection of, the human rights of all
migrants, including migrant workers, and their families, and adopt
effective measures, including the strengthening of public awareness,
11
to prevent and eradicate violations of human rights and eliminate all
forms of discrimination against them, particularly racial
discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.
Reaffirm the sovereign right of each State to formulate and apply its
own legal framework and policies for migration, including the
granting of permission to migrants to enter, stay, or exercise
economic activity, in full conformity with applicable international
instruments relating to human rights and in a spirit of cooperation.
Seek full respect for, and compliance with, the 1963 Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations, especially as it relates to the right
of nationals, regardless of their immigration status, to communicate
with a consular officer of their own State in case of detention.
Protect the rights of all migrant workers and their families, consistent
with each country's internal legal framework, by taking steps, in case
they do not exist, to: 1) provide, with respect to working conditions,
the same legal protection as for national workers; 2) facilitate, as
appropriate, the payment of full wages owed when the worker has
returned to his/her country, and allow them to arrange the transfer of
their personal effects; 3) recognize the rights of citizenship and
nationality of the children of all migrant workers who may be
entitled to such rights, and any other rights they may have in each
country; 4) encourage the negotiation of bilateral or multilateral
agreements, regarding the remission of social security benefits
accrued by migrant workers; 5) protect all migrant workers and their
families, through law enforcement and information campaigns, from
becoming victims of exploitation and abuse from alien smuggling; 6)
prevent abuse and mistreatment of all migrant workers by employers
or any authorities entrusted with the enforcement of migration
policies and border control; and 7) encourage and promote respect
for the cultural identity of all migrants.
Support the activities of the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights with regard to the protection of the rights of migrant workers
and their families, particularly through the Special Rapporteur for
Migrant Workers.
12
Strengthening Municipal and Regional Administrations
Governments will:
-
Within their legal framework and within a reasonable time, establish
or strengthen mechanisms for the participation of groups of society
in the process of local and other subnational decision-making, such
as open public hearings and public budget reviews, and promote
transparency in local and other subnational Government finance
operations.
-
In accordance with legislation at all levels, provide for financing
options for local and other subnational Governments, including
groups of local Governments, such as through transfers of national
revenue, access to private capital markets, and authority for raising
revenue locally, in order to expand the delivery of quality services as
well as provide for training opportunities to strengthen local and
other subnational administrative capabilities.
In accordance with circumstances and the legal framework of each
country, study the possible transfer of additional national
governmental functions to local and other subnational levels as well
as the possibility for enhancing such authorities.
Share their experiences and information from existing and future
programs supported by multilateral and bilateral cooperation
institutions such as the Organization of American States (OAS), the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank, to
facilitate the implementation of this initiative.
Corruption
Governments will:
-
Resolutely support the "Inter-American Program to Combat
13
Corruption" and implement the actions established therein,
particularly the adoption of a strategy to achieve prompt ratification
of the 1996 Inter-American Convention against Corruption, the
drafting of codes of conduct for public officials, in accordance with
respective legal frameworks, the study of the problem of laundering
assets or proceeds derived from corruption, and the promotion of
information campaigns on the ethical values that sustain the
democratic system.
-
Sponsor in Chile a Symposium on Enhancing Probity in the
Hemisphere to be held no later than August 1998, in order to
consider, among other topics, the scope of the Inter-American
Convention against Corruption, and the implementation of the
aforementioned program. They will also resolutely support the
holding of workshops sponsored by the Organization of American
States (OAS) to disseminate the provisions set forth in the Inter-
American Convention against Corruption.
Foster within the OAS framework, and in accordance with the
mandate set forth in the Inter-American Program to Combat
Corruption, appropriate follow-up on the progress achieved under
the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
Promote in their domestic legislation the obligation for senior public
officials, and those at other levels when the law so establishes, to
declare or disclose their personal assets and liabilities to the
appropriate agency.
Encourage the approval of effective and specific measures to combat
all forms of corruption, bribery, and related unlawful practices in
commercial transactions, among others.
Financing of Electoral Campaigns
Governments will:
-
Propose the exchange of experiences that may be used as a support
14
for each country so that, according to their own realities and legal
systems, they adopt or develop internal rules that regulate
contributions to electoral campaigns and independent internal control
mechanisms.
Consider the proposals resulting from the Meeting of Government
Representatives on Contributions to Electoral Campaigns, held in
Caracas in February 1998, under the auspices of the OAS.
-
Adopt or consider, as appropriate, measures to prevent financial
contributions to electoral campaigns derived from organized crime
and drug trafficking. Similarly, they will promote the adoption of
measures designed to ensure transparency in the origin of all
contributions.
Prevention and Control of Illicit Consumption of and Traffic in Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances and other Related Crimes
Governments will:
-
Continue to develop their national and multilateral efforts in order to
achieve full application of the Hemispheric Anti-Drug Strategy, and
will strengthen this alliance based on the principles of respect for the
sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction of the States, reciprocity,
shared responsibility and an integrated, balanced approach in
conformity with their domestic laws.
-
With the intention of strengthening mutual confidence, dialogue and
hemispheric cooperation and on the basis of the aforementioned
principles, develop, within the framework of the Inter-American
Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD-OAS), a singular and
objective process of multilateral governmental evaluation in order to
monitor the progress of their individual and collective efforts in the
Hemisphere and of all the countries participating in the Summit, in
dealing with the diverse manifestations of the problem.
Strengthen national efforts and international cooperation in order to:
Enhance their national policies and plans with regard to the
15
prevention of illicit drug consumption, and step up measures,
particularly at the community level, in schools and those
aimed at the most vulnerable groups, such as children and
young people, in order to prevent the growth and spread of
this consumption and to eliminate financial incentives to illicit
trafficking;
Develop appropriate treatment, rehabilitation and
reintegration programs with a view to alleviating the serious
social effects, human suffering and other adverse effects
associated with drug abuse;
Increase cooperation in areas such as the collection and
analysis of data, standardization of systems that measure
illicit consumption, scientific and technical training and
exchange of experiences;
Develop or encourage the development of campaigns to foster
greater social awareness of the dangers of drug abuse for
individuals, the family and society as well as community
participation plans;
Sensitize public opinion as to the serious effects of drug abuse
and the activities of criminal organizations that deal with
them, including at the wholesale and retail level;
Improve and update cooperative mechanisms to prosecute and
extradite individuals charged with the traffic in narcotics and
psychotropic substances and other related crimes, in
accordance with international agreements, constitutional
requirements, and national laws;
Establish or strengthen existing, duly trained and equipped
specialized central units responsible for requesting, analyzing
and exchanging among the competent State authorities
information relating to the laundering of the proceeds, assets
and instrumentalities used in criminal activities (also known
16
as money laundering);
Reinforce international and national control mechanisms to
impede the illicit traffic and diversion of chemical precursors;
Promote the rapid ratification and entry into force of the Inter-
American Convention Against the Illicit Production and
Trafficking of Firearms; promote the approval and prompt
application of the Model Regulations on the Control of Arms
and Explosives Connected with Drug Trafficking of CICAD;
encourage States, that have not already done so, to adopt the
necessary legislative or other measures to ensure effective
international cooperation to prevent and combat illicit
transnational traffic in firearms and ammunition, while
establishing, or strengthening, systems to enhance the tracing
of firearms used in criminal activity; and
Eliminate illicit crops through the increased support of
national alternative development programs as well as
eradication and interdiction.
Strengthen national drug control commissions, with a view to
improving coordination in each country in the planning and
implementation of their respective national plans and in streamlining
international assistance in this area.
-
Underscore the valuable contribution of civil society, through its
different organizations, in the areas of prevention of illicit
consumption, treatment, rehabilitation, and social reintegration of
drug addicts.
-
Encourage financial institutions to redouble their efforts to prevent
money laundering and the appropriate business sectors to strengthen
its controls to prevent the diversion of chemical precursors.
-
Give full support to the upcoming Special Session of the United
Nations General Assembly which will be held in June 1998 for the
purpose of promoting international cooperation with respect to illicit
drugs and related crimes and encourage all States to participate
actively, at the highest level, in that international meeting. They will
17
make every effort to ensure effective implementation of international
narcotics agreements to which they have subscribed, at regional and
subregional levels, and for these to operate in consonance with the
hemispheric effort and reaffirm their support for CICAD and its
fundamental role in the implementation of these agreements.
Terrorism
Governments will:
-
Take measures, as agreed in the Declaration and Plan of Action of
Lima, in order to prevent, combat and eliminate terrorism, applying
for that purpose the most decisive will to comply with the general
objectives set forth therein.
-
Encourage States that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, or accede
to, as appropriate, the international conventions related to terrorism,
in accordance with their respective internal legislation.
-
Convene, under the auspices of the Organization of American States
(OAS), the Second Specialized Inter-American Conference to
evaluate the progress attained and to define future courses of action
for the prevention, combat and elimination of terrorism.
Building Confidence and Security Among States
Governments will:
-
Promote regional dialogue with a view to revitalizing and
strengthening the institutions of the Inter-American system, taking
into account the new political, economic, social and strategic-
military factors in the Hemisphere and in its subregions. To that end,
they will seek to expand further a climate of confidence and security
among the States of the Hemisphere.
-
Carry out, in the manner in which they are set forth, the measures
and recommendations resulting from the Regional Conferences on
Confidence and Security Building Measures, held in November
1995, in Santiago, Chile, and in February 1998, in San Salvador, El
18
Salvador, under the auspices of the Organization of American States
(OAS).
-
Continue to support the efforts of small-island States to address their
special security concerns, which are multidimensional in nature, and
economic, financial, and environmental matters, taking into account
the vulnerability and level of development of these States.
-
In furtherance of efforts to transform the Western Hemisphere into
an antipersonnel mine-free zone, and in recognition of the
contribution in this regard of the Convention on the Prohibition of
the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel
Mines and on Their Destruction, including its early entry into force,
they will encourage actions and support international humanitarian
demining efforts in this area, with the goal of ensuring that priority is
given to mines that threaten civilians and of ensuring that land can be
restored for productive purpose. The latter will take place through
effective regional and international cooperation and coordination, as
requested by the affected States, to survey, mark, map, and remove
mines; effective mine awareness for the civilian population and
assistance to victims; and development and deployment of new mine
detection and clearance technologies, as appropriate.
-
Continue promoting transparency in matters related to defense
policy, among other aspects, with regard to modernizing the Armed
Forces, comparing military expenditure in the Region, and
strengthening the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.
-
Increase cooperation with United Nations peacekeeping efforts.
-
Encourage the development of cooperative programs to deal with
natural disasters and humanitarian search and rescue operations.
-
Pledge their efforts to ensure that the peaceful resolution of pending
conflicts and disputes is achieved through existing mechanisms for
the peaceful settlement of disputes within the Inter-American System
and in keeping with international law and treaties in force, and
19
express that said mechanisms and instruments should be
strengthened.
Acknowledge the value of ministerial or high-level meetings on the
topics of international defense and security, such as the Defense
Ministerials of Williamsburg and Bariloche, as an important
contribution to regional dialogue on these matters, and, in this
context, encourage interested countries to hold other meetings.
Entrust the OAS, through the Committee on the Hemispheric
Security, to:
Follow up on and expand topics relating to confidence and
security building measures;
Analyze the meaning, scope, and implications of international
security concepts in the Hemisphere, with a view to
developing the most appropriate common approaches by
which to manage their various aspects, including disarmament
and arms control; and
Pinpoint ways to revitalize and strengthen the institutions of
the Inter-American System related to the various aspects of
Hemispheric Security.
This process will culminate in a Special Conference on
Security, within the framework of the OAS, to be held, at the
latest, at the beginning of the next decade.
Support the convening of a follow-up Regional Conference to the
Santiago and San Salvador Regional Conferences on Confidence and
Security Building Measures, to further build mutual confidence in
the Americas.
The progress achieved in these matters will be reported to States, thereby
ensuring appropriate follow-up through the OAS, so that these topics may
be discussed at the next Summit of the Americas.
Strengthening of Justice Systems and Judiciaries
20
Governments will:
-
Develop mechanisms that permit easy and timely access to justice by
all persons, with particular reference to persons with low income, by
adopting measures to enhance the transparency, efficiency and
effectiveness of the courts. In this context, they will promote,
develop and integrate the use of alternative methods of conflict
resolution in the justice system.
-
Strengthen, as appropriate, systems of criminal justice founded on
the independence of the judiciary and the effectiveness of public
prosecutors and defense counsels, recognizing the special importance
of the introduction of oral proceedings in those countries that
consider it necessary to implement this reform.
-
Step up efforts to combat organized crime, and transnational crime,
and, if necessary, foster new laws and international conventions, as
well as procedures and mechanisms for continuing to combat these
scourges.
-
Adapt legislation and proceed, as soon as possible, with necessary
institutional reforms and measures to guarantee the comprehensive
protection of the rights of children and youths to meet the obligations
established under the United Nations Convention on the Right of the
Child and other international instruments.
-
Adopt as appropriate a clear distinction between procedures and
consequences of violations of criminal law and measures established
to protect children and youths whose rights are threatened or
violated, and will promote social and educational measures to
rehabilitate young offenders.
-
Foster the establishment and strengthening of specialized tribunals or
courts for family matters, as appropriate, and in accordance with
their respective legal systems.
-
Expedite the establishment of a justice studies center of the
Americas, which will facilitate training of justice sector personnel,
the exchange of information and other forms of technical
21
cooperation in the Hemisphere, in response to particular
requirements of each country. To this end, they request the Ministers
of Justice or other competent authorities to analyze and define the
most suitable actions for the organization and establishment for such
a center.
Promote, in accordance with the legislation of each country, mutual
legal and judicial assistance that is effective and responsive,
particularly with respect to extraditions, requests for the delivery of
documents and other evidentiary materials, and other bilateral or
multilateral exchanges in this field, such as witness protection
arrangements.
Support the convening of periodic meetings of Ministers of Justice
and Attorneys General of the Hemisphere within the framework of
the Organization of American States (OAS).
Modernization of the State in Labor Matters
Governments will:
-
Promote measures by their Ministries of Labor to provide high
quality programs and assistance for workers and employers, placing
emphasis on greater decentralization of their functions, the
incorporation of new technologies, active labor market policies,
better and more timely information regarding the labor market, and
improvement of safety and health conditions in the workplace.
Give special attention to the incorporation of socially-disadvantaged
groups into the workforce, including women, minorities, youth, the
disabled and other vulnerable populations, and to the services offered
by the Ministries of Labor that take into consideration their special
needs. At the same time, Governments will further strengthen their
overall efforts, and coordination among involved agencies, to
address the issue of children at work. The Ministries of Labor will
exchange experiences on best practices in these areas.
Take actions towards assuring that the Ministries of Labor have the
necessary means to carry out this Plan of Action in areas within their
22
jurisdiction.
Request the participation of the International Labor Organization
(ILO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the
Organization of American States (OAS) to assist Labor Ministries to
support international activities and exchange information on
modernization methods and strategies.
III.
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND FREE TRADE
A.
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
I.
We instruct our Ministers Responsible for Trade to take the
following actions:
1.
Initiate the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA), in accordance with the principles,
objectives, structure, modalities and all other decisions as set
out in the San José Ministerial Declaration, by convening the
Trade Negotiations Committee no later than June 30, 1998,
and the Negotiating Groups no later than September 30, 1998.
2.
Exercise the ultimate oversight and management of the
negotiations.
3.
Achieve concrete progress in the negotiations by the year
2000 and agree on specific business facilitation measures to
be adopted before the end of the century.
4.
Ensure that the negotiating process is transparent and takes
into account the differences in the levels of development and
size of the economies in the Americas, in order to create
opportunities for the full participation of all countries,
including the smaller economies.
5.
Conduct the negotiations in such a manner as to build broad
public understanding of and support for the FTAA, and to
consider views on trade matters from different sectors of our
23
civil societies, such as business, labor, consumer,
environmental and academic groups, presented to the
committee of Government representatives established at the
Fourth Meeting of Trade Ministers in Costa Rica.
II.
We instruct our Representatives in the institutions of the Tripartite
Committee, in particular the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB), to allocate appropriate existing resources within those
institutions to support the Administrative Secretariat for the FTAA
negotiations.
III.
We urge the Tripartite Committee to continue to respond positively
to requests for technical support from FTAA entities. We ask the
three institutions to consider requests for technical assistance related
to FTAA issues from member countries -in particular from the
smaller economies in order to facilitate their integration to the FTAA
process- according to their respective procedures.
B.
Further Actions
In addition to initiating the negotiations for the FTAA, we have defined a
series of further actions which must be consistent with the FTAA
negotiation, aimed at deepening the process of economic integration, as
well as to create opportunities for the full participation of all countries,
including the smaller economies. We have prepared a series of proposals to
advance the modernization of financial markets, programs of science and
technology, energy cooperation, and hemispheric infrastructure, in
particular in the fields of transportation and telecommunications.
Strengthening, Modernizing and Integrating Financial Markets
Governments will:
-
Strengthen banking supervision in the Hemisphere through:
implementation of the Basle Core Principles for Effective Banking
Supervision; training programs to strengthen supervisory capacity;
and establishment of sound, high-quality reporting and disclosure
standards for banks, and creation of a Working Group to assist
24
countries in this process.
-
Improve banking and securities market clearance and settlement
systems in the Hemisphere, in order to facilitate the transparency,
efficiency and security of internal and cross-border transactions.
Science and Technology
Governments will:
-
Recognize that science and technology are related to various areas
and objectives of this Plan of Action within and beyond economic
integration, free trade and sustainable development.
-
Continue implementing the Cartagena Plan of Action, agreed to in
1996, with emphasis on strengthening the capacity of the countries in
the Hemisphere to participate and benefit from the knowledge-based
global economy, promoting, among other actions, the growth of the
communications and information industries as strategic components
of national, subregional and regional integration processes. In the
context of the Cartagena Declaration, recognize the important role
that existing regional institutions play in implementing this Plan of
Action.
-
Apply science and technology to mitigate the damages caused by the
effects of "El Niño" and other natural hazards, such as volcanic
eruptions, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods, and their impact on
the economy and ecosystems, based on improved forecasting,
prevention and response capacity, improved research and training
methods to deal with natural hazards, and the application of science
and technology to address the effects of climate variability on health,
agriculture and water. In this context, cooperative research and
exchange of information about "El Niño" and other natural hazards
will be emphasized.
-
Support the development and use of science, technology and
innovation indicators in fulfillment of the Cartagena Plan.
-
Promote actions to foster alliances among all sectors of society to
25
advance cooperation and innovation in science and technology. It is
recognized that university-industry relations, training in technology
management and other human resource development programs, as
well as participation of small and medium-sized companies, are
important elements for utilizing science and technology to achieve
hemispheric objectives.
Regional Energy Cooperation
In accordance with the legal and constitutional rules of every State, as well
as with the commitments that our Governments assume in the context of the
negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), in order to
ensure sustainable energy development and further the energy integration of
the Hemisphere,
Governments will:
-
Promote policies and processes that facilitate the trade of products,
goods and services related to the energy sector.
-
Give impetus to, in the shortest possible time, policies and processes
that facilitate the development of infrastructure, including across
international boundaries, to further the integration of energy markets.
-
Foster the creation and strengthening of transparent and predictable
regulatory systems, which take into account the needs of the
different parties involved.
-
Promote legal, fiscal and regulatory systems in order to stimulate
local and foreign private investment in the energy sector in those
areas permitted by respective Constitutions.
-
Increase access of rural inhabitants to energy services.
-
Support policies and programs that will stimulate the development of
renewable energy and energy efficiency.
26
To support these actions, we will continue our cooperation efforts through
the Hemispheric Energy Initiative.
Climate Change
Governments will:
In light of their commitments in the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change and the decisions made at the Third Conference of
Parties in Kyoto, Japan, and in view of the Fourth Conference of Parties to
be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November, 1998:
-
Encourage the Parties to work toward achieving the objectives and
goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change.
-
Recognize the key role that technology plays in managing the
environmental aspects related to energy, and encourage the exchange
of technology, information and experiences, as well as share views
on the Clean Development Mechanism.
Hemispheric Infrastructure
A.
General Infrastructure
Governments will:
-
Charge the Inter-American Development Bank with the preparation
of a draft set of voluntary principles to be adopted by each of the
countries, to facilitate private sector participation in local and
transnational infrastructure projects, that can serve as a basis for
bilateral and multilateral agreements. This draft will be submitted to
Governments not later than December 1998, to be further discussed
during a meeting of ministers responsible for infrastructure to be
held in 1999.
B.
Transportation
Governments will:
27
Undertake the necessary actions to implement, to the fullest extent
possible, and taking into account subregional sectoral agreements,
decisions, and projects, the Joint Ministerial Declaration of the
Second Hemispheric Summit on Transportation, held in Santiago,
Chile, in April 1996, aimed at: a) promoting market-oriented,
integrated, financially viable, and environmentally sustainable
transportation systems and services, and b) providing safe, efficient,
and reliable passenger and cargo services that foster the economic
growth and development of our countries.
Develop a plan aimed at ensuring the highest level of safety in air,
sea and land transportation systems, improving infrastructure and
increasing environmental protection by improving compliance with
international standards and recommended practices established, such
as those established by the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Engage in discussions to develop a cooperation program, taking into
account the Santiago and San Salvador Declarations of the Regional
Conferences on Confidence and Security Building Measures, which
would address maritime and air transport of nuclear and other
hazardous wastes and, where appropriate, work with the relevant
international organizations to strengthen or develop standards
governing the transport of such goods and its safety.
Prepare a profile, with the cooperation of United Nations Economic
Commission on Latin-American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), of
regional transportation systems and services taking into account
agreements, decisions, projects and studies already prepared by
regional and hemispheric organizations. Such a profile will identify
the main problems and opportunities faced by the countries in the
Hemisphere as a first step toward establishing regional transportation
priorities and policies, with respect to, among other things, the
harmonization of standards and the exchange of technology.
Seek, from international financial institutions, resources necessary to
undertake, as soon as possible, transportation infrastructure projects
in the Americas, including those which take into account the specific
28
needs of the smallest economies.
C.
Telecommunications
Governments will:
-
Establish strategies to support the development and continuous
updating of a regional telecommunications infrastructure plan, taking
into account national plans, the need for universal access to basic
telecommunications services throughout the Region and the
evolution of Global Information Society.
Work together in close cooperation with the private sector to rapidly
build out the telecommunications infrastructure in the Region,
adopting strategies to make affordable access available to all for
basic telephone service and the INTERNET, such as implementing
the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL)
guidelines on value added services and encouraging, the
development of community information service centers that provide
access to basic telephone and value-added services, computers, the
INTERNET and multimedia services bearing in mind the diverse
needs of the countries of the Region and divergent levels of
development..
Promote, in cooperation with the private sector, the exchange and
distribution of information concerning regulatory matters such as
universal access/service, interconnection and the establishment of
independent regulatory bodies, taking into account the commitments
made in the World Trade Organization's Agreements on Trade in
Basic Telecommunications Services (the GBT Agreement),
developments in the Free Trade Area of the Americas process, and
the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the 1996 Senior
Telecommunications Officials Meeting held in Washington D.C.
with a view to developing, wherever possible, and subject to national
constraints, best practice guidelines and requesting when needed the
assistance of CITEL, regional telecommunications organizations, the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) and others as appropriate.
29
-
Foster, together with the private sector, the development of
applications over electronic networks, such as the INTERNET,
broadcast television and radio, that taking into account different
socio-economic conditions and languages, will support education,
health, agriculture and sustainable rural development, electronic
commerce and other applications assisting small savers, Micro-
enterprises and Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) and
modernization of the State.
Encourage CITEL to address, with some urgency, studies of the
standards coordination aspects of the telecommunications
infrastructure, including the areas of Telecommunications
Management Network (TMN) and Intelligent Networks (IN) so that
the network can evolve to meet the interconnection requirements and
to support the implementation of new applications in the regional
context.
Continue to examine ways to develop consistent regulatory
approaches among member countries leading to the promotion of
greater commonality in the certification processes for
telecommunications equipment and to the establishment of a
framework and to move toward the negotiation and implementation
of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for telecommunications
equipment encompassing all the countries of the Region.
IV. ERADICATION OF POVERTY AND DISCRIMINATION
Extreme poverty and discrimination continue to afflict the lives of many of
our families and impede their potential contribution to our nations' progress.
To move toward a prosperous future for all, we will facilitate the provision
of legal title to urban and rural properties and redouble our efforts to
increase access to credit and to provide technical support for
microenterprises, and protect the basic rights of workers. We will remove
all forms of discrimination against women, indigenous communities,
disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities, and other vulnerable groups. We
will seek to enhance the quality of life of all people of the Americas through
efforts that ensure access to adequate health services, to improved health
technologies, to clean water and proper nutrition. Taken together, these
30
measures will facilitate the inclusion of all inhabitants, without exception,
in the economic and democratic transformation of the Hemisphere.
Fostering the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Size
Enterprises
As a means to combat poverty and taking into account national differences,
the Governments pledge to strengthen the development of micro, small and
medium size enterprises by undertaking the following specific actions:
Governments will:
Ensure that a significant number of the 50 million micro, small and
medium size enterprises in the Hemisphere, whose owners and
workers are persons with low incomes, especially women from these
enterprises, have access to financial services by the year 2000.
Design and implement programs, with the support of the Inter-
American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations
Economic Commission on Latin-America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC) and in coordination with the World Bank and other
development cooperation agencies, that promote appropriate
financial policy reforms that: accelerate the entry of formal-sector
financial institutions into this market; support the development of
institutions that work in the sector; and eliminate impediments that
limit the access of micro, small and medium size enterprises to
financial services.
Simplify and expedite the procedures for registration, obtaining
licenses, complying with labor and tax regulations, and the
formalization, where appropriate, of micro, small and medium size
enterprises.
Support private-sector providers of non-financial services to enable
them to expand access to new technologies and training for micro,
small and medium size enterprises, which will permit them to
enhance their competitiveness in national and global markets.
31
-
Promote partnerships of micro, small, and medium size enterprises to
allow them to take advantage of cooperative assistance in doing
business and in modernizing business management.
-
Promote inter-institutional coordination by creating effective
interchange mechanisms between national and local public
institutions that support micro, small and medium size enterprises
and facilitating their links with the private sector.
-
Design national plans for the achievement of the actions previously
defined and convoke a regional meeting of ministers or senior
officials responsible for public policies to support micro, small and
medium size enterprises, for the purpose of exchanging information
on those plans and thus improving the effectiveness of support
policies. To this end, the IDB, in cooperation with ECLAC, will be
asked to provide coordination for this meeting.
-
Request that regional organizations and Government, multilateral,
and bilateral development agencies involved in the Region assist in
policy reform and invest between US$400-$500 million over the
next three years in programs, including training and technical
assistance, that support the actions identified in this Plan of Action.
Property Registration
Governments will:
-
Streamline and decentralize, as necessary, property registration
procedures by: adopting transparent, simplified procedures for titling
and registration; disseminating information regarding these
procedures; utilizing, whenever feasible, state-of-the-art technologies
for property georeferencing, computer-generated mapping and
computerized records storage; incorporating alternative dispute
resolution mechanisms; and avoiding overlapping administrative fees
for titling and registration.
32
Recommend that multilateral and bilateral cooperation institutions,
especially the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the
World Bank, strengthen their financial and technical assistance
programs, including information exchange regarding experiences
among countries, to support simplified property registration
procedures and to assure access for the poor to those systems.
In accord with national legal frameworks, implement measures,
where necessary, to protect rights accorded to indigenous
populations, as well as information programs, if needed, to assure
greater awareness of indigenous populations of their rights, in this
respect.
Health Technologies
Governments will:
-
Seek, through public and private efforts, or partnerships between
them, to enhance the availability, access to, and quality of drugs and
vaccines, especially for the most needy, by promoting efforts to
safeguard the quality, rational selection and use, safety and efficacy
of pharmaceutical products, with special emphasis on vital and
essential drugs; and by supporting regional initiatives that by the
year 2002 will facilitate research, development, production and
utilization of vaccines, which will reduce the incidence of diseases,
such as pneumonia, meningitis, measles, rubella and mumps.
Strengthen and improve existing national and regional networks of
health information and surveillance systems, so that stakeholders
have access to data to address critical health issues in the Region, in
order to make appropriate clinical and managerial decisions. They
will address the development, implementation and evaluation of
needs-based health information systems and technology, including
telecommunications, to support epidemiological surveillance, the
operation and management of health services and programs, health
education and promotion, telemedicine, computer networks and
33
investment in new health technologies.
-
Develop initiatives designed to reduce deficits in access to and
quality of drinking water, basic sanitation and solid waste
management, with special emphasis on rural and poor urban areas,
by applying existing technologies or developing new, appropriate
and effective low-cost technologies.
-
Make every effort to ensure that the necessary resources are
allocated for the development of the lines of action of this Plan, with
the technical support of the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO). They also will promote bilateral and multilateral
collaboration, and will request the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and other financial and technical
cooperation institutions to support the programs and activities
included in this initiative, according to their own specific priorities
and fields of action.
-
Develop mechanisms for evaluating the relevance, cost and efficacy
of the technologies introduced to deal with these and other priority
health problems.
Women
Governments will:
Strengthen and establish, where they do not exist, national
mechanisms and governmental organs, as well as the respective
regional and subregional networks in charge of promoting legal
equality and equality of opportunities between women and men,
focused on gender equity, and provide them with adequate and
timely financial resources to enable these entities to promote,
coordinate and carry out the commitments undertaken by the States
at the World Conference on Human Rights, the International
Conference on Population and Development, the World Summit on
34
Social Development, the Summit of the Americas, the Fourth World
Conference on Women, and the recent "Santiago Consensus" of the
VII Regional Conference on Beijing Follow-up (ECLAC/UN).
Examine the existing laws and their implementation in order to
identify obstacles limiting the full participation of women in the
political, economic, social and cultural life of our countries.
Whenever necessary, promote reforms or create new laws to
eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women
and to guarantee the protection of children's rights.
Implement and follow up on the commitments regarding the status of
women as agreed to at the Summit of the Americas, with the support
of the Inter-American Commission on Women (ICW), in
collaboration with civil society, with the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, United Nations
Economic Commission on Latin-America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), and other entities of international cooperation, using when
appropriate the System of Indicators adopted by the countries of the
Americas at Montelimar, Nicaragua.
Promote policies designed to improve women's health conditions and
the quality of health services at every stage of their lives.
Basic Rights of Workers
Governments will:
-
Exchange informational materials regarding their labor legislation,
with the objective of contributing to better mutual knowledge of such
legislation as well as to promote core labor standards recognized by
the International Labor Organization (ILO) -freedom of association;
the right to organize and bargain collectively; the prohibition of
forced labor; the elimination of all exploitative forms of child labor;
and non-discrimination in employment. Such information will also
include references to the mechanisms and/or legal authorities of
Ministries of Labor to implement core labor standards as a
35
fundamental component of productive workplaces and positive
labor-management relations.
For these purposes carry out the exchanges by, among other means,
furnishing informational materials on relevant changes to their labor
legislation, mechanisms and/or legal authorities for implementation
of core labor standards, and progress in the area of labor-
management relations, to be provided at a meeting of the Inter-
American Conference of Ministers of Labor, to be held in 1998 and
their other meetings, as appropriate, including with the assistance of
the Organization of American States (OAS), International Labor
Organization (ILO) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Further secure their observance and promotion of internationally
recognized core labor standards. In this context, they recognize the
ILO as the competent body to set and deal with these standards and
support the ongoing work of the ILO with regard to exchanges of
information and the negotiation of a new Declaration of Principles
on Fundamental Rights of Workers and appropriate follow-up;
believe that economic growth and development fostered by increased
trade and further trade liberalization contribute to the promotion of
these standards and should lead to higher levels of employment;
similarly reject the use of labor standards for protectionist purposes,
and, in this regard, note that the World Trade Organization (WTO)
and ILO Secretariats shall continue their collaboration.
Indigenous Populations
To promote greater participation of indigenous populations in society
through adequate access to education, health care, and occupational
training, with the aim of improving their standard of living,
Governments will:
-
Support activities in the field of education aimed at improving the
participation of indigenous populations and communities in society.
Such activities would seek to strengthen the identity of indigenous
populations and promote respectful coexistence among different
social groups in communities and States.
36
Promote the widening of basic and secondary education services
with training orientation, mainly in Regions with high percentages of
indigenous populations, through greater support from Governments
and international cooperation, at the request of interested
Governments, so that indigenous and non-indigenous populations
have the opportunity to receive technical training and contribute to
the development of their countries. To the extent possible, the
training areas which are implemented parallel to educational
processes should respond to the needs of the Region and to
productive strategies.
-
In cooperation with regional organizations, development institutions
and NGOs, actively support and promote capacity building activities
and productive projects, including agriculture, handicrafts, small
trade and industry and marketing. To the extent possible, these
should be guided and administered by indigenous populations.
Facilitate the organization of round-tables at the national and
hemispheric level, in partnership with indigenous populations, with a
view to promoting greater understanding of and cooperation in the
areas of education and health, with a particular emphasis on women
and children. Governments will also promote research initiatives on
the relationship between indigenous populations, poverty and
development.
-
Proceed with inter-governmental examination within the
Organization of American States (OAS) framework of the "Proposed
American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" prepared
by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, with a view
toward the possible adoption of a Declaration.
Hunger and Malnutrition
Governments will:
-
Give the highest priority to reducing infant malnutrition,
37
concentrating efforts on health, nutrition and education programs for
the nutrition of infants, particularly those less than three, as those are
the years of greatest vulnerability. To that end, emphasis shall be
given to adequate nutrition and the correction of specific nutritional
deficiencies, specifically with vitamin and mineral supplements
combined with greater use of vaccinations and immunizations and
monitoring during the growth of the child.
-
Give high priority to the nutritional and caloric needs of women
before and during pregnancy and while they are breast-feeding.
Governments therefore will promote breast-feeding as an important
source of nutrition for babies. The nutritional needs of other high risk
groups such as the elderly and the disabled will also be addressed.
-
Continue, as far as possible, with the dialogue begun at the Inter-
American Conference on Hunger, held in Buenos Aires in October
1996, and they will explore the application, in their respective
jurisdictions of the measures suggested there, in particular the
creation of alliances with the private sector to fight hunger and
malnutrition, the creation of food bank networks with volunteer
participation and the creation of an Honorary Council dedicated to
fostering activities to reach Summit objectives in this area.
Sustainable Development
We recognize the effort made by the Organization of American
States (OAS) in terms of follow-up of the Sustainable Development
Summit, and instruct it, through the Inter-American Commission on
Sustainable Development, to continue coordination related to
fulfillment of its mandates. We ask the entities of the Inter-American
System and the United Nations to strengthen cooperation related to
implementation of the Santa Cruz Plan of Action.
Cooperation
-
With the intention of achieving a greater impact in our national and
38
collective efforts, we charge national agencies and organizations
responsible for international cooperation with supporting the
preparation and implementation of programs and projects which flow
from the Plan of Action. Moreover, we request the participation of
the multilateral cooperation institutions with the same objective.
SUMMITS OF THE AMERICAS FOLLOW-UP
-
The Heads of State and Government will continue to meet
periodically to deepen cooperation and understanding among the
countries of the Americas, and, to that end, will strengthen the
hemispheric institutional framework.
-
The Governments will bear primary responsibility for
implementation of the mandates of the Summit. The mechanism
established by their Foreign Ministers, called the "Summit
Implementation Review Group" (SIRG), will continue functioning
under their immediate authority. The National Summit Coordinators
of the Foreign Ministries will guarantee rapid contact, through the
appropriate channels, with all Government agencies involved in
carrying out the mandates resulting from the Summit meetings.
-
The SIRG will meet on a periodic basis (two or three times a year) to
monitor the follow-up process and assess the degree to which the
Summit mandates have been fulfilled. It will be chaired by the
country holding the Summit and co-chaired by both the country that
has most recently served as host and the country that will serve as
the next host ("troika"). Decisions will be adopted by consensus.
-
Senior representatives of the Organization of American States
(OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan
American Health Organization (PAHO), and the United Nations
Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), will be invited to support the Governments participating
in the SIRG in order to follow up on the commitments of the Summit
and to achieve greater coordination and effectiveness of these
institutions in performing this task. To that same end, a
representative of the World Bank will be invited.
39
The OAS Secretariat will be assigned responsibility for operating as
a record-keeping mechanism (the institutional memory of the
process) and for providing technical support to the SIRG.
-
In accordance with Summit decisions, international organizations
will have responsibilities in implementing this process and, as
appropriate, according to Summit mandates, support will be provided
by private sector organizations and civil society.
-
In the case of specific mandates that require the convening of
sectoral ministerials, these meetings, when appropriate, will take
place under the aegis of the OAS Inter-American Council for
Integral Development. Moreover, the OAS, IDB, PAHO, and
ECLAC, as appropriate, will lend technical support to the meetings,
the results of which will be reported to the States through the OAS
Secretariat.
-
The SIRG will annually report on the progress achieved in the
fulfillment of the Plan of Action to the Foreign Ministers, who will
review this information on the occasion of the Regular Session of the
OAS General Assembly.
-
Under the guidance of the Foreign Ministers, the SIRG will make
preparations for the next Summit, bearing in mind the contributions
of the pertinent organs of the OAS and other international
organizations involved.
The Santiago Summit
PREPARING THE AMERICAS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Channels more funds into primary and secondary education as a foundation
for democracy, prosperity, and equal opportunity
Enhances teacher tráining, standards, textbook availability, and distance
Education:
learning programs
Investing in People,
Reforms curricula for a changing global marketplace
Defining our Shared
Increases international student and teacher exchanges
Future
Promotes teaching of democratic values and environmental stewardship
Promotes lifelong learning, including women and displaced workers
Resources from IDB. World Bank, and AID of $8.3 billion over three years
Bolsters fundamental democratic freedoms and establishes a rapporteur for a
free press
Provides for a regional justice studies center to train judges and improve
justice for all
Strengthens local governmental institutions through decentralization
Attacks the global scourges of corruption, terrorism and crime
Launches an Alliance Against Drugs to evaluate and improve performance
Strengthens dispute settlement mechanisms among States and encourages
greater openness in defense policies and arms transfers
Strengthens labor ministries to enhance worker rights and working
conditions, including the elimination of exploitative forms of child labor
Resources from IDB. World Bank, and AID of $5.9 billion over three years
Meets Miami commitment for the Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005
by launching negotiations
Creates healthier, more stable financial markets
Building Our
Wealth Through
Protects the environment for future generations by addressing climate
change and clean energy development
Economic Integration
and Trade
Builds a hemispheric neighborhood for safer and more efficient air, sea, and
land transportation networks
Stimulates development of the Internet and other technologies
Resources from IDB. World Bank, and AID of $18.9 billion over three years
Opens new credit lines. training, and technologies for the microentrepreneur
Rejecting
Streamlines property registration for the poor
Poverty Amid
Enhances the role of women and vulnerable groups in society
Growing
Reduces illness by expanding immunization and improves the quality of
drinking water
Prosperity
Attacks hunger and malnutrition, especially of mothers and infants, the aged,
and the physically disabled
Denotes environmental
Resources from IDB. World Bank, and AID of $12.5 billion over three years
component
Partners of the Americas
Progress Through Partnerships
Partners of the Americas
Progress Through Partnerships
Our Vision:
To be the most effective education and exchange organization in the hemisphere; highly sought after as a training
resource that addresses the economic and social needs of citizens, north and south.
Founded in 1964 as the people-to-people component of the Alliance for Progress, Partners of the
Americas (Partners) is the largest private voluntary organization in the Western Hemisphere engaged in
international cooperation and training. Each of the organization's 60 "partnerships" links a state or region
of the U.S. with an area in Latin America or the Caribbean and represents an indigenous bilateral
organization. For example, Peru is Partnered with Texas and New Jersey with Haiti. Each side of a
partnership - the U.S. chapter and the Latin American or and Caribbean chapter - is organized as a
private, nonprofit institution in its respective community.
Our Mission:
To work together as citizen volunteers from Latin America, the
Caribbean and the United States to improve the lives of people
across the hemisphere.
The two sides of a partnership work together to carry out a
wide range of activities to improve food supplies, deliver
health services, provide job training to young people,
protect the region's natural resources and safeguard the
rights of women and children. Each chapter reaches out to its respective community, state or country to
leverage in-kind and financial contributions to support its work, often multiplying each dollar invested
by another $10 in donated goods and services. In addition, institutional linkages and affiliations -- for
example, a hospital and medical school through the participation of doctors, the 4-H system through a
Partners agronomist, university departments through the involvement of professors and students- help
ensure on-going support to projects.
In all its activities, Partners' network of volunteers and community organizations :
Promotes citizen participation
Mobilizes hemispheric collaboration to address economic and social development issues
Trains community leaders
Strengthens local non governmental organizations
Partners of the Americas, Inc. is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, registered as a private voluntary organization (PVO) with the U.S.
Agency for International Development. Partners is a member of Interaction, a coalition of 150 agencies promoting international humani-
tarian and development issues, and adheres to the "Interaction PVO Standards".
Partners of the Americas
Progress Through Partnerships
Promoting Citizen Participation
Partners believes an involved citizenry is essential to a strong society and healthy communities.
By volunteering in a local Partners chapter, citizens of the western hemisphere share their skills
to solve common problems and promote broader participation in the development issues that
affect the region. In addition, Partners' local chapters reach out to their fellow citizens and help
educate them about international issues and the importance of involvement with other coun-
tries
The Kansas/Paraguay Partners and the League of Women Voters joined forces to
bring Paraguayan community leaders to Kansas to experience the U.S. system of
democratic government; the YWCA of Buffalo took its Institute for Leadership to
Jamaica where it is now
training local women to run
for public office and work on
political campaigns; and
Conciencia, a civic organiza-
tion founded in Argentina,
helped the Southern Califor-
nia Partners design a leader-
ship training workshop for
Hispanic women in Los Angeles. These activities were carried out through Partners'
Civic Education Program.
The Rockland County, New York-St. Lucia Partners organized a town meeting for
100 participants to discuss the importance of U.S. involvement in international
development; and the Vermont-Honduras Partners invited the President of
Honduras to Vermont, where he participated in public meetings and press confer-
ences to underscore the importance of working relationships between the U.S. and
Central America. Both were supported by: Partners' Public Outreach Program.
A project model that uses volunteers to provide counseling services to juvenile
delinquents in Para, Brazil, was adopted by Rolla, Missouri following the visit of a
Brazilian judge involved with Partners' Youth at Risk Program.
Partners of the Americas
Progress Through Partnerships
Mobilizing Hemispheric Collaboration
In an increasingly interdependent hemisphere, Partners is a network of permanent linkages among people,
institutions and communities across the Americas. Citizens come together to find solutions to common problems
In the process, they leverage international
and local resources, recruit expert assistance
and provide technical information to
community projects.
Through Partners' Farmer to Farmer
Program, the Indiana Partners are
working with Brazilian counterparts
to improve pasture management and
forage production in Rio Grande do
Sul, Brazil; the Minnesota-Uruguay
Partners diversified Uruguayan
agriculture by promoting wood products; and the Delaware-Panama Partners revitalized the
beekeeping and honey production industry in Panama.
Partners' Emergency Preparedness Program introduced safety drills and evacuation procedures to
more than 1,000 schools in Honduras, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador and
enabled the Washington-Chile Partners to train two dozen volunteer emergency rescue paramedics
who then trained 5.0 others. A national paramedic training center is now being established in
Santíago.
The partnerships of Bahia-Eastern Pennsylvania, Pernambuco-Georgia and Céara-New Hampshire
are providing social services and job skills to children who live in poverty in the cities of Salvador,
Recife and Fortaleza. Through Partners' Youth At Risk Program, they are focusing on vocational
training, community-based family therapy and programs targeting girls at risk of sexual exploitation.
Through Partners' Family Life Education Program, the Ecuador Partners introduced a program to
encourage breast feeding among low income women in Kentucky; the Grenada-Broome County
Partners trained counselors and set up Grenada's first domestic violence hotline; and the New
Jersey-Haiti Partners are working with other local non-governmental organizations to stem the
spread of AIDS among Haitian women.
Partners of the Americas
Progress Through Partnerships
Training Leaders
Partners identifies emerging leaders across the hemisphere, enhances their skills, and provides opportunities to
share information and ideas with colleagues throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. The result is
an expanding network of leaders and institutions with a broader vision of their respective fields and the shared
needs of the region. Besides preparing these leaders to meet the challenges facing their communities, Partners also
promotes an appreciation for the cultural diversity of the hemisphere.
Nearly 400 community leaders have participated in Partners' International Fellowship in
Community Development, a mid-career program that examines issues of leadership and the
economic and social challenges we share as a hemisphere.
Young people from Mexico are learning how to protect their country's natural resources and
developing skills to lead their communities' efforts to safeguard the environment through an
innovative Mexico Conservation Corps, developed by Partners.
Partners' University Linkages Program has instituted working agreements between 100 U.S.
universities and counterpart institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean that foster student and
faculty exchanges and joint research projects.
Partners provided vocational training in the U.S. for nearly 3000 young and mid-career professionals
from 28 countries of the Americas through the Caribbean and Latin American Peace Scholars
Program.
Following the Beijing
Conference on Women,
Partners' Women in
Development Program
held a workshop in
Trinidad for leaders of 14
Caribbean nations and
their U.S. counterparts to
discuss ways to integrate
the conference's Platform
of Action into their work with government agencies and NGOs.
Partners of the Americas
Progress Through Partnerships
Strengthening NGO's
Partner volunteers know the needs of their counterpart countries and institutions. They are familiar
with the operations of farm cooperatives in Paraguay, the priorities of civic organizations in California,
challenges facing children's rights groups in Brazil, and the work of non governmental organizations
(NGOs) combating drug abuse in New York. They work to strengthen their local volunteer,
organizations and other NGOs in the areas of management, fiscal accountability; fundraising, project
development, monitoring and evaluation.
Partners' project planning, monitoring and evaluation tools are used by NGOs across the
region. The Public Outreach Program
produced a guide for working with
local media for U.S. as well as Latin
and Caribbean community groups.
Through Partners' Institutional
Development Program, leaders of
Brazilian NGOs are working with U.S.
NGOs to strengthen their volunteer
management, membership recruitment,
fundraising, communications and
outreach skills.
Partners' Family Life Education
Program organized a workshop in
Dominica that brought together family planning professionals from 11 Caribbean countries
to design strategies to increase male responsibility in teenage pregnancy prevention.
Partners' Civic Education Program is building the capacity of civic organizations across
the region to carry out activities that encourage dialogue around issues of local and
national significance and promote responsible citizenship.
Partners of the Americas
1424 K Street, NW - Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 628 . 3300 (phone)
(202) 628 . 3306 (fax)
[email protected]
http://www.partners.net
What is the Inter-American
Whom do I contact to get
Democracy Network?
more information about
collaborating with the Network?
T
he Inter-American Democracy Network
Founding Members
Inter-American
is a coalition of civil society organiza-
Asociación Conciencia
Fundación Poder Ciudadano
tions working together to promote
Lelia Mooney
Roberto Saba
Democracy
citizen participation and strengthen
Directora Proyectos
Director Ejecutivo
Florida 633. 3er. Piso
Rodriguez Peña 681. 2do. Piso,
Network
democracies in this hemisphere. Civil
Buenos Aires, Argentina 1005
Of. 4
Tel: 54-1-314-5191
Buenos Aires, Argentina 1020
society organizations belonging to the
Fax: 54-1-314-7196
Tel: 54-1-375-4925/26
Network cooperate across borders to
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: 54-1-375-0398
E-mail: [email protected]
share knowledge and experience in
Corporación Participa
Andrea Sanhueza Echeverria
INIAP (Instituto de
supporting efforts by citizens to partici-
Sub-Directora
Investigación
Almirante Simpson 014
y Autoformación Política)
INTER
MEMBER
pate more actively in their democracies.
Santiago. Chile
Elfidio Cano
Tel: 56-2-222-5384
Director Ejecutivo
Fax: 56-2-222-1374
30 Avenida 5-25 Zona 7 Tikal 1
Member organizations collaborate to
E-mail: [email protected]
Ciudad de Guatemala. Guatemala
Tel: 502-474-1629
carry out projects and advocate policies
Departamento de Ciencia Política
Fax: 502-474-2261
Universidad de los Andes
E-mail: [email protected]
to strengthen civil society in their coun-
Gabriel Murillo
DEMOCRACY
NETWORK
tries. This is accomplished through
Director Proyecto
Partners of the Americas
Carrera I Este # 18A-10
Martha Cecilia Villada
technical cooperation, workshops and
Santa Fé de Bogotá. Colombia
Director, Citizen Participation
Tel: 57-1-283-9848. ext. 2610
1424 K Street NW #700
dissemination of information.
Fax: 57-1-284-1890/284-1570
Washington. DC 20005 USA
E-mail:
Phone: 202-628-3300, Ext. 220
Civil society organizations
[email protected]
Fax: 202-628-3306
collaborating to increase
E-mail: [email protected]
citizen participation and
build stronger democracies...
This publication was produced by Partners of the Americas
USAID
with funding from the US Agency for International Development
Areas of Collaboration
Examples of Activities Carried out by Network Members
With the support of a grant to Partners of the Americas
from the United States Agency for International Develop-
Deliberation for Citizen Participation
ment, six organizations joined forces to establish the
Network in late 1995. To date, these Founding Members
INIAP trained 22 non-governmental organizations in Guatemala, Honduras. Nicaragua and El Salvador to carry out 57 public issue forums in
have developed programs in six areas:
1996-97.
Deliberation for Citizen Participation
The UNIANDES Department of Political Science cooperated with Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper to hold 5 forums prior to the 1997 mayoral
Member organizations facilitate discussions of national
elections in Bogotá on issues of local concern identified by that city's inhabitants. Candidates were asked what they proposed to do about these issues,
and community-level policy issues in public forums.
and the views of citizens and candidates were widely disseminated by El Tiempo.
Citizens learn to appreciate each others' views and create
a public voice on topics of common concern. These
Mobilizing Citizens for Community Action
efforts are carried out in coordination with the Kettering
Foundation, which develops and disseminates methodolo-
In cooperation with several citizen organizations, Participa held workshops in 6 municipalities in Paraguay and Bolivia to promote collaboration
gies for public deliberation.
among citizens and local officials. Groups of citizens and municipal officials then visited successful projects in Chile, and are now developing their
own pilot projects.
Mobilizing Citizens for Community Action
Founding Members collaborate with civil society organi-
Conciencia trained members of a civic organization in Uruguay and Brazil in the use of a model for mobilizing citizens in rural municipalities to agree
zations in neighboring countries to
adapt approaches for citizen-based
efforts to organize communities and
develop projects.
INTER
AMERICAN
on community needs, and design and carry out projects to address them.
Civic and Voter Education
Poder Ciudadano sponsored a workshop for NGOs from 10 countries on the development and publication of data banks by citizen organizations
Civic and Voter Education
containing information on candidates running for office.
Founding Members train other
organizations in the Network to
Poder Ciudadano cooperated with the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights to carry out a workshop for representatives from 12 countries on
carry out citizen education projects.
election monitoring by citizen organizations. Poder Ciudadano also joined with Transparency International to sponsor a workshop on methods citizen
Social Responsibility
Member organizations endeavor to
increase collaboration among citizen
DEMOCRACY
NETWORK
groups can use to monitor the actions of government officials.
Social Responsibility
organizations, businesses and
Participa is carrying out workshops and training on fund-raising techniques for citizen organizations in Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. It is cooperating
governmental agencies to mobilize
with the UNIANDES Department of Political Science to produce a manual for use by civil society organizations wishing to promote social responsibility
resources and engage volunteers in programs to address
within their communities.
community problems.
Partners of the Americas is organizing a visit by a group of Paraguayan business and NGO leaders to see how the business and the nonprofit sectors
Organizational Capacity Building
in the U.S. and other countries collaborate to meet community needs.
Leaders of member organizations share information on
approaches to improving organizational management
and effectiveness.
Organizational Capacity Building
Representatives of 25 citizen organizations in Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay learned about strategic planning. volunteer management and effective
Advocacy
communication at a workshop organized by Participa and Partners of the Americas.
Members of the Network cooperate to influence public
policy decisions on issues affecting the development of
An association of women business executives and professionals in Porto Alegre sponsored a workshop for 27 NGOs at which Conciencia provided
civil society.
training that addressed legal incorporation. internal and external communication, project development and fund-raising.
Advocacy
To date, efforts have consisted of a series of structured consultations (among citizen organizations, and with governmental representatives) to develop
and convey recommendations on environmental and democracy-related topics to heads of state prior to hemispheric summit meetings.
Red Interamericana para la
Miembros Fundadores de la Red
Democracia
Interamericana que organizan este
seminario
Deliberació
Asociación Conciencia
Fundación Poder
La Red Interamericana para la Democracia
Lelia Mooney
Ciudadano
es una coalición de organizaciones de la
Florida 633, 3er. Piso
Cristina Reynals
para la
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rodríguez Peña 681, 2do.
sociedad civil que trabajan conjuntamente
1005
Piso, Of. 4. Buenos Aires,
[email protected]
Argentina 1020
Participació 1
para incentivar la participación de los
[email protected]
ciudadanos y fortalecer las democracias en
Ciudadana
Corporación Participa
INIAP (Instituto de
el hemisferio. Las organizaciones no
Andrea Sanhueza
Investigación
Echeverría
y Autoformación Política)
gubernamentales que pertenecen a la Red
Almirante Simpson 014
Elfídio Cano
Santiago, Chile
30 Avenida 5-25, Zona 7,
cooperan compartiendo conocimientos y
[email protected]
Tikal 1
Guatemala, Guatemala.
experiencias que ayudan a lograr la
[email protected]
participación democrática de los
Departamento de
Compañeros de las
RED
ciudadanos.
Ciencias Políticas
Américas
Universidad de los
Martha Cecilia Villada
Los miembros de la Red promueven la
Andes
Directora del Programa de
Gabriel Murillo
Participación Ciudadana
PIRALA
adopción de políticas que fortalecen y
Carrera I Este # 18A-10
1424 K Street NW #700
DEMOCRA
UNITED
Santa Fé de Bogotá,
Washington, DC 20005
apoyan el crecimiento de la sociedad civil
Colombia
Estados Unidos
[email protected]
[email protected]
en nuestros países. La Red logra sus
objetivos a través de la cooperación técnica,
talleres de trabajo y mediante la publicación
Seminario Internacional
Colaboración especial de:
Cartagena, Colombia,
y divulgación de información.
Fundación Kettering
200 Commons Road
del 3 al 5 de junio de 1998.
Dayton, OH 45459-2799
Estados Unidos
Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil-trabajando.juntas.para promover la participación
ciudadana construir democracias más fuertes
Deliberación para la Participación Ciudadana
Deliberación para la participación es el
ejercicio colectivo de discusión crítica de los
temas de la agenda ciudadana para alcanzar
Participantes
Contenido General
a comprender la complejidad de los
El seminario está dirigido a profesionales de
problemas públicos y desarrollar las
organizaciones de la sociedad civil que están
habilidades necesarias para compartir la
asociadas a la Red Interamericana para la
Los Ciudadanos y los procesos
responsabilidad de tomar decisiones en
Democracia y que han aplicado la
políticos
conjunto.
metodología de la deliberación.
Por qué y para qué usamos la
deliberación?
Los Foros de Interés Ciudadano, que son el
Observadores
ambito o medio en que se promueve la
Para deliberar hay que delimitar.
deliberación tienen como propósito estimular
El seminario está invitando observadores
Expectativas de los ciudadanos
la participación ciudadana para la
internacionales interesados en los procesos
deliberación y búsqueda de soluciones a los
de deliberación en América Latina.
participantes en los procesos
deliberativos.
principales problemas que afectan a nuestras
comunidades.
Fechas y Lugar
De la deliberación a la acción.
Del 3 al 5 de junio de 1998
Cómo hacer interesante lo
La Red Interamericana para la Democracia
Hotel Las Américas
importante.
ha venido promoviendo la práctica de la
Anillo Vial Sector Cielo Mar
Foro con la comunidad
deliberación y los Foros de Interés Ciudadano
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Cartagenera.
en Latino América en esta oportunidad la
Red desea congregar a las organizaciones y.
Secretaría del Seminario
Retos de los procesos de la
a los profesionales que en la región han
deliberación.
venido practicando este enfoque con el
Martha Cecilia Villada
Proyectando el futuro de la
propósito de intercambiar experiencias,
Tel. (202) 637-6220 y Fax (202) 628-3306
deliberación en América Latina.
lecciones aprendidas y considerar el futuro
[email protected]
de la deliberación en la región.
USAID
Este seminario es auspiciado por-la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para
el Desarrollo Internacional, a través de Compañeros de las Américas
Teen pug
Progress made - % dicline wisteen preg;
activities funding - company - Memory of Health
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of
Cancer Pracent
(for for Buast care careers and - ones -
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of of Me FL and carried out by the Mineshy of Health
and Human services.
Violence Vs
Pris Chaton established - with the sup. of the First lody 1
a new ministry focusing on Nacional
Domestic Violene the u.s. has J by xx 70- whe perod
of xx to xx. The U.S. also supports region wide viles
Mugh USAID ?
Taternal Mortiding alm
who PAHO
suy any the FL, the u.s. Im funds regional actuantes to
reduce makinal mortality Through USAD. In the
united Shiles, The line of promoting womens health
is the reg. of The Maristry of Heal Mothma services.
Children's Rights $ Onl
apportis
Child welfare falle under me olearing of Health & HS -
suppoited by melor, The limbed States Mised new legin
country and addreas The needs of children who are
1927 to support streng men child welfare in our
absed & regrected
Ed systems strengther at - under Min of to (supp
Programs
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early d. do maller clarice in early
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100% (b) Memory of Ed reppents
Va free publ uc ed system for and A- Children
Women
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women's por - participation In Today
Cabmet 4 Admin record #s of
high level decim maher arewomen
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that material montality in N. Ameica 25 1/130 ? of
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as well Also, E thank states are usually
reported per 100 thousand ? Does that
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Excellent!
84 CONFERENCIA DE
ESPOSAS DE JEFES DE ESTADO
USA
Y DE GOBIERNO DE LAS AMERICAS
just addid on on one last para + women's
Early Pregnancy Prevention
poticipation to the
The teen pregnancy vate in the U.S.A. has declined
and XX wath over the part years). year
Educational campayns have been implemented by
the Memority of Heath and Human Services and
by a nongovernmtal organization called The
Companyn to Reduce Teen Pregnancy of The efforts
have been repported by The office of the
First lady
Cancer Preventon
Prevent in and research activities for breast cance
and other cancers are supported by me office
of the First lady and carred out by the
Misistry of Halth and Human terrices. The official
The First lady has been particulary active 100
the campaign to promote mammography as
an important way to detect breast cancer among
women.
Material Mortality
continues to funds regr my nal activities, 1a partnership ml PAHO,
Supported me of of the First Cady me U.S.A
to reduce maternal mortality, thioughoure
U.S. A. LD.
GABINETE DE LA SENORA DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPUBLICA DE CHILE
Teléfonos (56-2) -6904207 /6904470 / 6904955 Fax (56-2) 6904969 / 6904783 E-mail: [email protected] / vmunoz@ presidencia.cl
Palacio de La Moneda Santiago Chile
Children's Rights
Child welfare Health activities are carred out primarly by the
pleastry The F.L., of The and u.s. Human Services. Superted activery
by recently in 1997 passed new legislatic
to strengthen The programs That support child reu who
have been abused of and negleckd and that promole
adoptm for these children.
Educational Systems
in the ust
Programs are administered by the Numshy of Education;
current activities include supporting technology in the
public schools, strengthening early child wood,
reducing clack size in the early 5rade, and
promoting child wood liferacy The U.SA also so
supports regional activities to support 19 supporting
topromote summent goals
education quality, improved info refection school and enhavied
completer of primary school.
mush
LUSAND
The
Women
The US.A. supports regional of effort To promote incne
political participation thing women In The
U.S. a record number of high Leved
Senior you- off wals are women. social The USG arenas
you could
perhaps
supports, economic, political and
the participation of women in the]
add this?
in batin America and the Caribbean through
U.S.A.ID.
List of Documents
Agenda for the Technical Preparatory Meeting for
the 8th Annual First Ladies' Conference
Declaration of Panama
Declaration of La Paz
Declaration of Paraguay
FLOTUS Speech to PAHO in Santiago
FLOTUS Speech at Domestic Violence Conference
Transcript: First Lady and Secretary State in San Jose
FLOTUS Speech in Panama
FLOTUS Speech in Paraguay
Education Briefers
Maternal Mortality Initiative Update
Update on Measles
Update on PERA (PREAL)
Pamphlet on Deliberation Conference (Spanish)
Pamphlet on the Inter-American Democracy Network
Background Notes on Chile
Fact Sheet on U.S. Chile Partnership
Chile Briefers
Economic Statistics on Chile
Potential Announcements/Signings
Santiago Summit Summary Sheet
Santiago Summit Declaration and Plan of Action
Miami Summit Declaration and Plan of Action
IIHR Newsletter
PARTICIPA Informative Bulletin on Summit Initiatives
Pamphlet on Partners of the Americas
United States - Follow-Up for the 8th Conference of
Wives of Heads of State and Government
Early Pregnancy Prevention
The teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. has declined over the past year. Educational and health
campaigns have been implemented by the Ministry of Health and Human Services and by a non-
governmental organization called the Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. The efforts have
been supported by the Office of the First Lady.
Cancer Prevention
Prevention and research activities for breast cancer and other types of cancer are supported by the
Office of the First Lady and carried out by the Ministry of Health and Human Services. The
Office of the First Lady has been particularly active in the campaign to promote mammography
as an important method for detection of breast cancer in women.
Maternal Mortality
Supported by the Office of the First Lady, the U.S. continues to fund regional activities, in
partnership with PAHO, to reduce maternal mortality, through the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID).
Children's Rights
Child welfare activities are carried out primarily by the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
Supported actively by the First Lady, in 1997 the U.S. passed new legislation to strengthen the
programs that support children who have been abused and neglected and that promote adoption
of these children.
Educational Systems
Programs in the U.S. are administered by the Ministry of Education. Current activities include
supporting technology in the public schools, strengthening early childhood education, reducing
class size in the early grades, and promoting childhood literacy. The U.S. also supports regional
activities to promote the Summit of the Americas goals of supporting quality education,
improvement of school retention rates, and completion of primary school.
Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women
The U.S. established, with the support of the First Lady, a new Ministry focussing on violence
against women. Over the past year, domestic violence has decreased in the United States. Also,
the U.S. supports regional activities aimed at increasing awareness and prevention of domestic
violence. The First Lady continues to work on this issue. In 1997, Mrs. Clinton participated in
an IDB forum focussing on domestic violence in our hemisphere.
Participation of Women
The U.S. supports regional efforts to promote increased participation of women. Through
USAID, the U.S. supports women's participation in all aspects of economic, political and social
life.
Fair Access of Children to Education
The U.S. supports regional activities to promote the Summit of the Americas goals of supporting
access to quality education, improvement of school retention rates, and completion of primary
school.
Follow-Up for the 8th Conference of
Wives of Heads of State and Government -- United States
Early Pregnancy Prevention
The teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. has declined over the past year. Educational and health
campaigns have been implemented by the Ministry of Health and Human Services and by a non-
governmental organization called the Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. The efforts have
been supported by the Office of the First Lady.
Cancer Prevention
Prevention and research activities for breast cancer and other types of cancer are supported by the
Office of the First Lady and carried out by the Ministry of Health and Human Services. The
Office of the First Lady has been particularly active in the campaign to promote mammography
as an important method for detection of breast cancer in women.
Maternal Mortality
Supported by the Office of the First Lady, the U.S. continues to fund regional activities, in
partnership with PAHO, to reduce maternal mortality, through the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID). The First lady has continued to work person with
PALSO to promote its regional campaign & Mr. Clinton
Children's Rights
Child welfare activities are carried out primarily by the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
Supported actively by the First Lady, in 1997 the U.S. passed new legislation to strengthen the
programs that support children who have been abused and neglected and that promote adoption
of these children.
Educational Systems
+
Programs in the U.S. are administered by the Ministry of Education. Current activities include
supporting technology in the public schools, strengthening early childhood education, reducing
It's
class size in the early grades, and promoting childhood literacy. The U.S. also supports regional
activities to promote the Summit of the Americas goals of supporting quality education,
here
improvement of school retention rates, and completion of primary school.
Women
The U.S. supports regional efforts to promote increased participation of women. Through
USAID, the U.S. supports women's participation in all aspects of economic, political and social
life.
over-
Qoopa I forgot Elimination of all Forme of
Violence Against women
The U.S. established with The support of the FINA Cody,
(Iti in
The DaJ)
a new when ministry focuse mg in violeme against
women. Over The part years, domestic Slence has
decreased in the lunted states. Also, the d.s.
supports regional activitues armed at increasing
and preventing domotic violence.
The First Cody continues to work on This assue; in
yes 1997? 1998, Wr. Clinton participated in an IDB
form focusing on domestic violence in our
hemosphane.
Segunda Cumbre de las Américas
Page 1 of 5
PRESIDENCIA
FINAL
DECLARATION:
The following document is the complete text of de Declaration of Santiago signed by
the Heads of State and Government participating in the Second Summit of the
Americas:
DECLARATION OF SANTIAGO
II SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
We, the democratically-elected Heads of State and Government of the countries of the
Americas, have met in Santiago, Chile, in order to continue the dialogue and strengthen
the cooperation we began in Miami in December 1994. Since that time, significant
progress has been made in the formulation and execution of joint plans and programs in
order to take advantage of the great opportunities before us. We reaffirm our will to
continue this most important undertaking, which requires sustained national efforts and
dynamic international cooperation.
The strengthening of democracy, political dialogue, economic stability, progress
towards social justice, the extent to which our trade liberalization policies coincide, and
the will to expedite a process of ongoing Hemispheric integration have made our
relations more mature. We will redouble our efforts to continue reforms designed to
improve the living conditions of the peoples of the Americas and to achieve a mutually
supportive community. For this reason, we have decided that education is a key theme
and is of particular importance in our deliberations. We approve the attached Plan of
Action and undertake to carry out its initiatives.
Since our meeting in Miami, we have seen real economic benefits in the Americas
resulting from more open trade, transparency in economic regulations, sound, market-
based economic policies, as well as efforts by the private sector to increase its
competitiveness. Even as countries in our region have been tested by financial and other
economic pressures, and as countries in other regions have experienced serious
economic setbacks, the overall course in the Americas has been one of faster economic
growth, lower inflation, expanded opportunities, and confidence in facing the global
marketplace. A major reason for this positive record has been our countries' steadfast
and cooperative efforts to promote prosperity through increased economic integration
and more open economies. New partnerships have been formed and existing ones
strengthened and expanded. A positive role is being played by sub-regional and bilateral
integration and free trade agreements. We are confident that the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) will improve the well-being of all our people, including
economically disadvantaged populations within our respective countries.
Hemispheric integration is a necessary complement to national policies aimed at
overcoming lingering problems and obtaining a higher level of development. In its
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4/20/98
Segunda Cumbre de las Américas
Page 2 of 5
broadest sense, a process of integration based on respect for cultural identities will make
it possible to shape a common, interwoven set of values and interests that helps us in
these objectives.
Globalization offers great opportunities for progress to our countries and opens up new
areas of cooperation for the hemispheric community. However, it can also heighten the
differences among countries and within our societies. With steadfast determination to
reap its benefits and to face its challenges, we will give special attention to the most
vulnerable countries and social groups in the Hemisphere.
Education is the determining factor for the political, social, cultural, and economic
development of our peoples. We undertake to facilitate access of all inhabitants of the
Americas to preschool, primary, secondary, and higher education, and we will make
learning a lifelong process. We will put science and technology at the service of
education to assure growing levels of knowledge and so that educators may develop
their skills to the highest level. The Plan of Action that accompanies this Declaration
defines the objectives and goals we intend to achieve and the actions that will make
them a reality. In order to meet our goals within the agreed timeframes, we reaffirm our
commitment to invest greater resources in this important area, and to encourage civil
society to participate in developing education.
The decisions adopted by our Ministers of Education at the Conference held in Mérida,
Mexico, last February, reflect our desire to promote specific joint initiatives designed to
improve access to education, with fairness, quality, relevancy, and effectiveness. In
order to consolidate and lend continuity to our decisions, we have instructed that
another Conference be held in Brasilia, Brazil, in July of this year.
Today, we direct our Ministers Responsible for Trade to begin negotiations for the
FTAA, in accordance with the March 1998 Ministerial Declaration of San José. We
reaffirm our determination to conclude the negotiation of the FTAA no later than 2005,
and to make concrete progress by the end of the century. The FTAA agreement will be
balanced, comprehensive, WTO-consistent and constitute a single undertaking.
We note with satisfaction the preparatory work by the Ministers Responsible for Trade
over the past three years which has strengthened our trade policies, fostered
understanding of our economic objectives and facilitated dialogue among all
participating countries. We appreciate the significant contribution of the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the United
Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), acting
as the Tripartite Committee.
The FTAA negotiating process will be transparent, and take into account the differences
in the levels of development and size of the economies in the Americas, in order to
create the opportunities for full participation by all countries. We encourage all
segments of civil society to participate in and contribute to the process in a constructive
manner, through our respective mechanisms of dialogue and consultation and by
presenting their views through the mechanism created in the FTAA negotiating process.
We believe that economic integration, investment, and free trade are key factors for
raising standards of living, improving the working conditions of the people of the
Americas and better protecting the environment. These issues will be taken into account
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Segunda Cumbre de las Américas
Page 3 of 5
as we proceed with the economic integration process in the Americas.
The region has made significant advances in both monetary and fiscal policy as well as
in price stability and liberalizing our economies. The volatility of capital markets
vindicates our decision to strengthen banking supervision in the Hemisphere and to
establish regulations relating to disclosure and reporting of banking information.
The strength and meaning of representative democracy lie in the active participation of
individuals at all levels of civic life. The democratic culture must encompass our entire
population. We will strengthen education for democracy and promote the necessary
actions for government institutions to become more participatory structures. We
undertake to strengthen the capabilities of regional and local governments, when
appropriate, and to foster more active participation in civil society.
Respect for and promotion of human rights and the fundamental freedoms of all
individuals is a primary concern of our governments. In commemorating the fiftieth
anniversary of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we agree on the need to promote the
ratification and implementation of the international agreements aimed at preserving
them and to continue strengthening the pertinent national and international institutions.
We agree that a free press plays a fundamental role in this area and we reaffirm the
importance of guaranteeing freedom of expression, information, and opinion. We
commend the recent appointment of a Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression,
within the framework of the Organization of American States.
Confident that an independent, efficient, and effective administration of justice plays an
essential role in the process of consolidating democracy, strengthens its institutions,
guarantees the equality of all its citizens, and contributes to economic development, we
will enhance our policies relating to justice and encourage the reforms necessary to
promote legal and judicial cooperation. To that end, we will strengthen national entities
involved in the study of the administration of justice and expedite the establishment of a
hemispheric center for studies on this subject.
We will combat all forms of discrimination in the Hemisphere. Equal rights and
opportunities between men and women and the objective of ensuring active
participation of women in all areas of national endeavor are priority tasks. We will
continue to promote the full integration of indigenous populations and other vulnerable
groups into political and economic life, with due respect for the characteristics and
expressions that affirm their cultural identity. We will make a special effort to guarantee
the human rights of all migrants, including migrant workers and their families.
Overcoming poverty continues to be the greatest challenge confronted by our
Hemisphere. We are conscious that the positive growth shown in the Americas in past
years has yet to resolve the problems of inequity and social exclusion. We are
determined to remove the barriers that deny the poor access to proper nutrition, social
services, a healthy environment, credit, and legal title to their property. We will provide
greater support to micro and small enterprises, promote core labor standards recognized
by the International Labor Organization (ILO), and use new technologies to improve the
health conditions of every family in the Americas, with the technical support of the Pan-
American Health Organization (PAHO), achieving greater levels of equity and
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Segunda Cumbre de las Américas
Page 4 of 5
sustainable development.
With deep satisfaction, we note that peace, an essential value for human coexistence, is
a reality in the Hemisphere. We underscore that Central America has become a zone of
peace, democracy, and development and we recognize efforts to eliminate antipersonnel
mines and to rehabilitate their victims. We will continue to foster confidence and
security among our countries through such measures as those mentioned in the Santiago
and San Salvador Declarations on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures. We
encourage the pacific settlement of disputes.
We will lend new impetus to the struggle against corruption, money laundering,
terrorism, weapons trafficking, and the drug problem, including illicit use, and work
together to ensure that criminals do not find safe haven anywhere in the Hemisphere.
We are determined to persevere in this direction.
In forging an alliance against drugs and applying the Hemispheric Anti-Drug Strategy,
we welcome the start of formal negotiations at the May 4 meeting of Inter-American
Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) to be held in Washington within the
framework of the Organization of American States (OAS), to establish an objective
procedure for the multilateral evaluation of actions and cooperation to prevent and
combat all aspects of the drug problem and related crimes, based on the principles of
sovereignty, territorial integrity of States, shared responsibility, and with a
comprehensive and balanced approach.
We will strengthen national, hemispheric, and international efforts aimed at
environmental protection as a basis for sustainable development that provides human
beings a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. The commitments
undertaken at the Miami Summit and the Summit on Sustainable Development held in
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, provide a solid basis for strengthening our actions. As
parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we
underscore the importance of working together to further fulfillment of the agreement
reached at the Conference in Kyoto, Japan, and to promote its ratification in our
countries. Moreover, we will work closely to make preparations for a Conference of the
Parties to be held in November of this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
We acknowledge that the development of energy links between our countries and the
intensification of trade in the energy sector strengthen and foster the integration of the
Americas. Energy integration, based on competitive and transparent activities, and in
compliance with national conditions and objectives, contributes to the sustainable
development of our nations and to the improvement of the quality of life of our people
with minimum impact on the environment.
Recognizing the importance of, and positive role played by hemispheric institutions,
particularly the Organization of American States (OAS), we instruct our Ministers to
examine the strengthening and modernizing of these institutions.
We reaffirm our will to continue strengthening intra-hemispheric dialogue and
cooperation within the framework of friendship and solidarity that inspires our nations.
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Segunda Cumbre de las Américas
Page 1 of 25
PLAN OF ACTION:
The following document is the complete text of the Plan of Action signed by the Heads of
State and Government participating in de Second Summit of the Americas:
PLAN OF ACTION II SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
We, the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas,
recognizing the need to make a collective effort that complements the actions being
developed and executed at the national level to improve the economic well-being and the
quality of life of our peoples, mindful of our commitment to the continued
implementation of the Miami Plan of Action, affirm our resolute determination to carry
out this Plan of Action, which constitutes a body of concrete initiatives intended to
promote the overall development of the countries of the Hemisphere and ensure access to
and improve the quality of education, promote and strengthen democracy and the respect
for human rights, deepen economic integration and free trade and eradicate poverty and
discrimination. We have adopted this Plan of Action conscious that all the initiatives are
inter-related and equally important to the attainment of our common endeavor.
I. EDUCATION: THE KEY TO PROGRESS
The Hemisphere's commitment to education is reflected in the sweeping reform processes
encompassing all levels of educational systems, and is based on broad consensus with
respect to the problems confronting education and the shared commitment and effort of
societies as a whole to overcome them. These processes are based on the principles of
equity, quality, relevance and efficiency. Equity is defined as the creation of conditions
that ensure that all people have the opportunity to receive quality education services,
thereby significantly reducing the effects of inequalities based on socio-economic status,
disability and ethnic, cultural and gender discrimination. Quality implies the achievement
of high levels of cognitive development, skills, capabilities and ethical attitudes.
Relevance is defined as the ability of an educational system to meet the needs and
aspirations of society as a whole, taking into account its social, cultural, ethnic and
linguistic diversity. Lastly, efficiency is defined as the provision of adequate resources,
used optimally, in order to enhance educational achievements.
Therefore, the Governments, fully recognizing and respecting national sovereignty and
the responsibilities of the institutions of our respective countries with regard to education,
reiterate the commitment of the Miami Summit to ensure, by the year 2010, universal
access to and completion of quality primary education for 100 percent of children and
access for at least 75 percent of young people to quality secondary education, with
increasing percentages of young people who complete secondary education, and assume
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responsibility for providing the general population with opportunities for life-long
learning. If these objectives are met, we are confident that we will provide our people
with the tools, skills and knowledge necessary for and suited to the development of
capabilities that ensure better conditions of competitiveness and productivity required by
modern economies, thus allowing our people to contribute as worthy citizens to their
respective societies.
To achieve these objectives, Governments will:
- Implement targeted and inter-sectoral educational policies, as necessary, and develop
programs that focus specifically on groups at a disadvantage in the areas of education,
functional illiteracy and socio-economic conditions, with attention to women, minorities
and vulnerable populations. Inter-sectoral programs in education, health and nutrition, as
well as early childhood educational strategies, will be priorities, inasmuch as they
contribute more directly to plans to combat poverty.
- Establish or strengthen national or subnational and, where applicable, subregional
systems to evaluate the quality of education, which permit assessment of the performance
of various educational actors, innovations and factors associated with achievements in
learning. To that end, information and national or subnational or, where applicable,
subregional indicators will be made available that can be used to design, carry out and
evaluate quality-improvement programs based on equity. Standards for reading and
writing, mathematics and science shall receive special attention. Also, where appropriate,
criteria and methodologies for collecting data that permit comparison of some educational
indicators across countries in the Hemisphere shall be established.
- Develop comprehensive programs to improve and increase the level of professionalism
among teachers and school administrators that combine pre-service and in-service
training, exploring incentive mechanisms tied to updating their skills and to meeting such
standards as may have been agreed upon. Higher education must collaborate in this
endeavor through research and pedagogy, both of which should be strengthened in order
to meet this goal.
- Strengthen education management and institutional capacity at the national, regional,
local and school levels, furthering, where appropriate, decentralization and the promotion
of better forms of community and family involvement. Encourage the mass media to
contribute to bolstering efforts being made by educational systems.
- Strengthen preparation, education and training for the world of work so that an
increasing number of workers can improve their standard of living and, together with
employers, have the opportunity to benefit from hemispheric integration. In this regard,
consideration will be given to the adoption of new technology based on different options
and alternatives, ranging from specific occupational training to strengthening general
employability competencies. Special attention will also be paid to the establishment or
strengthening of mechanisms that permit workers to obtain certification of job-related
competencies acquired through formal education and work experience. In order to
confront changes in the labor market and to enhance employability prospects, actions that
take into account the development of entrepreneurial skills will be included and will
involve the different sectors and offer various options and alternatives.
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- Establish or improve, according to their internal legal framework, educational strategies
relevant to multicultural societies, so as to be able to shape, with the participation of
indigenous populations and migrants, models for bilingual and intercultural basic
education. Similarly, the content of basic education will have to be enhanced, together
with respect and appreciation for the cultural diversity of peoples, as well as to expand the
knowledge of the different languages spoken in the countries of the Hemisphere, where
resources and possibilities permit.
- Develop, within and outside schools, with the assistance of families and other actors and
social organizations, educational strategies that foster the development of values, with
special attention to the inclusion of democratic principles, human rights, gender-related
issues, peace, tolerance and respect for the environment and natural resources.
- Promote access to and use of the most effective information and communication
technologies in education systems, with special emphasis on the use of computers, in
combination with revised pedagogical methods and proper training for teachers in the use
of these technologies. Special attention shall be paid to the ethical imperative of including
the most vulnerable sectors. To that end, distance education programs shall be
strengthened and information networks established.
- Make efforts to increase the availability of teaching materials in collaboration with
official institutions and, depending on the specific conditions in each country, with the
private sector.
- Seek to use technology to link schools and communities as a way of establishing ties in
the Hemisphere while encouraging the participation of higher education institutions that
have advantages in this field.
- Further scholarship and exchange programs for students, teachers, researchers and
educational administrators using different strategies, including institution-to-institution
ties, communications technology and internships which permit exposure to pedagogical
and management innovations in the other countries of the Hemisphere. This will
contribute to strengthening the institutional capacity of Ministries or Departments of
Education, decentralized administrative entities and centers of higher learning.
Funding, Horizontal Multilateral Cooperation Strategies and Follow-up
We, the Heads of State and Government, recognizing the cardinal importance of
education as a foundation for development, agree, in accordance with our respective
legislative processes, to promote allocation of the resources necessary for educational
expenditure with a view to attaining greater levels of equity, quality, relevance and
efficiency in the educational processes, emphasizing the optimal use of resources and a
greater participation of other social actors.
We also reaffirm our commitment to promote horizontal and multilateral cooperation in
the area of education. To that end, we:
- Instruct the Organization of American States (OAS) and request the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) and World Bank, together with the other national and
multilateral technical and financial cooperation agencies operating in the Hemisphere, to
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provide, within their respective areas of action, support for programs and initiatives that
are consistent with the goals, objectives, and actions proposed in this Chapter of the Plan
of Action. To this end, the IDB is encouraged to work with member countries to
substantially increase the share of new lending for primary and secondary education, by
more than doubling the quantity over the next three years, compared to the previous three
years. We also request that the IDB establish a special regional fund for education in the
Hemisphere, utilizing the existing resources of this institution. This fund would support
efforts to raise educational standards and performance throughout the Region.
- Instruct the OAS and request the IDB, the World Bank, and United Nations Economic
Commission on Latin-American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), among other institutions,
to use the mechanisms within their scope to develop and strengthen regional cooperation
in areas such as distance education, using, among other means, satellite technology;
internships and exchange programs; the development and use of information technology
for education; the updating of education statistics; and quality assessment, while striving
to ensure that this cooperation is in keeping with the specific needs of each country. We
recognize the role and interest in these efforts of specialized international organizations,
such as United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Likewise, we recognize the contributions of the private sector, philanthropic foundations,
and pertinent non-governmental organizations.
- Instruct the OAS to foster, articulate and facilitate, through ministerial meetings and
other mechanisms being developed by member States in the framework of the Inter-
American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), collaboration and joint effort in the
Hemisphere and, to that end, to convene, in consultation with the coordinating countries,
technical consultation forums of the countries in the Hemisphere in order to contribute to
the implementation of the commitments included in this Chapter of the Plan of Action.
- Entrust the Meeting of Ministers of Education, to be convened by the OAS within the
framework of CIDI's Strategic Plan for Partnership for Development, to be held in Brazil
in July 1998, with the development of an implementation plan for this education
initiative.
- Instruct the OAS and request the IDB, World Bank, ECLAC, and other multilateral
institutions to report on the execution of this Plan to the Government representatives
responsible for review and follow-up of the commitments of the Summit of the Americas.
II. PRESERVING AND STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
The strengthening of democracy, justice and human rights is a vital hemispheric priority.
In this Plan of Action, we endorse new initiatives designed to deepen our commitment to
these important principles. Specifically, we will intensify our efforts to promote
democratic reforms at the regional and local level, protect the rights of migrant workers
and their families, improve the capabilities of our justice systems and labor ministries to
respond to the needs of our peoples, and encourage a strong and active civil society. We
further resolve to defend democracy against the serious threats of corruption, terrorism,
and illegal narcotics, and to promote peace and security among our nations. Taken
together, these measures consolidate our democratic gains, reaffirm our commitment to
democratic institutions, and commit us to building a Hemisphere of shared values.
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Democracy and Human Rights
Governments will:
- Define and develop, with the participation of civil society, comprehensive policies
aimed at promoting and protecting human rights at a domestic level, in accordance with
relevant international norms and principles, incorporating those policies, where
appropriate, into national human rights plans and programs, as recommended by the
World Conference of Vienna, 1993; and underscore as well the importance of promoting
respect for the universally recognized principles of international humanitarian law.
- Guarantee that all individuals have the right to due process of law, including the
presumption of innocence and the right to trial within a reasonable period of time and the
full respect for their constitutional and other legal rights. Governments will, in accordance
with their legal framework, adopt measures intended to ensure that no person awaiting
trial shall be detained for a period longer than permitted by law, taking fully into account
the rights of the accused, the protection of society, crime prevention, the promotion of
respect for the law, the rights of victims and other relevant considerations. Governments
will continue their efforts to improve conditions of detention and enhance human rights
education for the respective officials involved in the administration of justice.
- Promote a review of their respective national legislation in order to eliminate or amend
those provisions which may lead to any type of discrimination, for any reason, in
contravention of their international commitments. In particular, they will seek to attain
legal equality between men and women by the year 2002. In this context, priority should
be given to the rights to equal treatment in the workplace, property, inheritance and child
custody, as well as combating domestic violence.
- Promote the adoption of legal, educational and social measures, as well as international
cooperation, to combat the physical and sexual abuse of children, traffic in minors, child
prostitution and child exploitation in all its forms, including pornography. At the same
time, they will strengthen international cooperation through the implementation of a
regional information system on affected children, based on national information systems,
with the participation of and promotion by concerned international organizations, to
analyze their condition and evaluate social policies to facilitate decision making in this
sphere.
- Promote the signature, ratification and accession to international human rights
instruments to which they are not party, as well as observe the provisions contained in the
instruments to which they are party.
Governments will also enhance cooperation with and support for the activities of the
Organization of American States (OAS) in order to:
- Strengthen the inter-American human rights system through concrete initiatives and
measures which aim to reinforce its institutional structure and promote its links with
national systems and regional entities that promote and protect human rights. In this
context, Governments consider important the institutional strengthening of the Inter-
American Human Rights Institute.
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- Support States that so request in the processes of promoting and consolidating
democratic values, practices and institutions by strengthening the respective organs of the
Organization, including the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD).
- Strengthen the exercise of and respect for all human rights and the consolidation of
democracy, including the fundamental right to freedom of expression and thought,
through support for the activities of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in
this field, in particular the recently created Special Rapporteur for Freedom of
Expression.
- Promote programs of cooperation, through the use of advanced information technology
and with the support of the international institutions that deal with administration of
justice, in areas identified by the OAS Working Group on Democracy and Human Rights,
which include:
Training of police and correctional officers;
Necessary steps to remedy inhumane conditions in prisons and reduce drastically the
number of pre-trial detainees; and
Enhancing human rights education for judges, magistrates and other court officials.
Education for Democracy
Governments will:
- Include in educational programs, within the legal framework of each country, objectives
and contents that develop democratic culture at all levels, in order to teach individuals
ethical values, a spirit of cooperation and integrity. To that end, the participation of
teachers, families, students and outreach workers will be stepped up in their work related
to conceptualizing and implementing the plans for shaping citizens imbued with
democratic values.
Civil Society
Governments will:
- Promote, with the participation of civil society, the development of principles and
recommendations for institutional frameworks to stimulate the formation of responsible
and transparent, non-profit and other civil society organizations, including, where
appropriate, programs for volunteers, and encourage, in accordance with national
priorities, public sector-civil society dialogue and partnerships in the areas that are
considered pertinent in this Plan of Action. In this context the Organization of American
States (OAS) may serve as a forum for the exchange of experiences and information.
- In this process, draw upon existing initiatives that promote increased participation of
civil society in public issues, such as relevant successful experiences from the National
Councils for Sustainable Development and the Inter-American Strategy for Public
Participation, among others. As soon as possible, Governments will adopt work plans to
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implement legal and institutional frameworks based on the principles and
recommendations in their respective countries.
- Entrust the OAS to encourage support among Governments and civil society
organizations, and to promote appropriate programs to carry out this initiative, and
request the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to develop and implement, along
with interested States and other inter-American institutions, hemispheric financial
mechanisms specially devoted to the implementation of programs oriented toward
strengthening civil society and public participation mechanisms.
Migrant Workers
Governments will:
- Reaffirm that the promotion and protection of human rights and the fundamental
freedoms for all, without distinction by reasons of race, gender, language, nationality, or
religion, is a priority for the international community and is the responsibility of every
state.
- Comply with the applicable international human rights instruments and, consistent with
the legal framework of each country, guarantee the human rights of all migrants,
including migrant workers and their families.
- Seek full compliance with, and protection of, the human rights of all migrants, including
migrant workers, and their families, and adopt effective measures, including the
strengthening of public awareness, to prevent and eradicate violations of human rights
and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them, particularly racial discrimination,
xenophobia, and related intolerance.
- Reaffirm the sovereign right of each State to formulate and apply its own legal
framework and policies for migration, including the granting of permission to migrants to
enter, stay, or exercise economic activity, in full conformity with applicable international
instruments relating to human rights and in a spirit of cooperation.
- Seek full respect for, and compliance with, the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular
Relations, especially as it relates to the right of nationals, regardless of their immigration
status, to communicate with a consular officer of their own State in case of detention.
- Protect the rights of all migrant workers and their families, consistent with each
country's internal legal framework, by taking steps, in case they do not exist, to: 1)
provide, with respect to working conditions, the same legal protection as for national
workers; 2) facilitate, as appropriate, the payment of full wages owed when the worker
has returned to his/her country, and allow them to arrange the transfer of their personal
effects; 3) recognize the rights of citizenship and nationality of the children of all migrant
workers who may be entitled to such rights, and any other rights they may have in each
country; 4) encourage the negotiation of bilateral or multilateral agreements, regarding
the remission of social security benefits accrued by migrant workers; 5) protect all
migrant workers and their families, through law enforcement and information campaigns,
from becoming victims of exploitation and abuse from alien smuggling; 6) prevent abuse
and mistreatment of all migrant workers by employers or any authorities entrusted with
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the enforcement of migration policies and border control; and 7) encourage and promote
respect for the cultural identity of all migrants.
- Support the activities of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with regard
to the protection of the rights of migrant workers and their families, particularly through
the Special Rapporteur for Migrant Workers.
Strengthening Municipal and Regional Administrations
Governments will:
- Within their legal framework and within a reasonable time, establish or strengthen
mechanisms for the participation of groups of society in the process of local and other
subnational decision-making, such as open public hearings and public budget reviews,
and promote transparency in local and other subnational Government finance operations.
- In accordance with legislation at all levels, provide for financing options for local and
other subnational Governments, including groups of local Governments, such as through
transfers of national revenue, access to private capital markets, and authority for raising
revenue locally, in order to expand the delivery of quality services as well as provide for
training opportunities to strengthen local and other subnational administrative
capabilities.
- In accordance with circumstances and the legal framework of each country, study the
possible transfer of additional national governmental functions to local and other
subnational levels as well as the possibility for enhancing such authorities.
- Share their experiences and information from existing and future programs supported by
multilateral and bilateral cooperation institutions such as the Organization of American
States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank, to
facilitate the implementation of this initiative.
Corruption
Governments will:
- Resolutely support the "Inter-American Program to Combat Corruption" and implement
the actions established therein, particularly the adoption of a strategy to achieve prompt
ratification of the 1996 Inter-American Convention against Corruption, the drafting of
codes of conduct for public officials, in accordance with respective legal frameworks, the
study of the problem of laundering assets or proceeds derived from corruption, and the
promotion of information campaigns on the ethical values that sustain the democratic
system.
- Sponsor in Chile a Symposium on Enhancing Probity in the Hemisphere to be held no
later than August 1998, in order to consider, among other topics, the scope of the Inter-
American Convention against Corruption, and the implementation of the aforementioned
program. They will also resolutely support the holding of workshops sponsored by the
Organization of American States (OAS) to disseminate the provisions set forth in the
Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
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- Foster within the OAS framework, and in accordance with the mandate set forth in the
Inter-American Program to Combat Corruption, appropriate follow-up on the progress
achieved under the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
- Promote in their domestic legislation the obligation for senior public officials, and those
at other levels when the law so establishes, to declare or disclose their personal assets and
liabilities to the appropriate agency.
- Encourage the approval of effective and specific measures to combat all forms of
corruption, bribery, and related unlawful practices in commercial transactions, among
others.
Financing of Electoral Campaigns
Governments will:
- Propose the exchange of experiences that may be used as a support for each country so
that, according to their own realities and legal systems, they adopt or develop internal
rules that regulate contributions to electoral campaigns and independent internal control
mechanisms.
- Consider the proposals resulting from the Meeting of Government Representatives on
Contributions to Electoral Campaigns, held in Caracas in February 1998, under the
auspices of the OAS.
- Adopt or consider, as appropriate, measures to prevent financial contributions to
electoral campaigns derived from organized crime and drug trafficking. Similarly, they
will promote the adoption of measures designed to ensure transparency in the origin of all
contributions.
Prevention and Control of Illicit Consumption of and Traffic in Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances and other Related Crimes
Governments will:
- Continue to develop their national and multilateral efforts in order to achieve full
application of the Hemispheric Anti-Drug Strategy, and will strengthen this alliance based
on the principles of respect for the sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction of the States,
reciprocity, shared responsibility and an integrated, balanced approach in conformity with
their domestic laws.
- With the intention of strengthening mutual confidence, dialogue and hemispheric
cooperation and on the basis of the aforementioned principles, develop, within the
framework of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD-OAS), a
singular and objective process of multilateral governmental evaluation in order to monitor
the progress of their individual and collective efforts in the Hemisphere and of all the
countries participating in the Summit, in dealing with the diverse manifestations of the
problem.
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- Strengthen national efforts and international cooperation in order to:
Enhance their national policies and plans with regard to the prevention of illicit drug
consumption, and step up measures, particularly at the community level, in schools and
those aimed at the most vulnerable groups, such as children and young people, in order to
prevent the growth and spread of this consumption and to eliminate financial incentives to
illicit trafficking;
Develop appropriate treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration programs with a view to
alleviating the serious social effects, human suffering and other adverse effects associated
with drug abuse;
Increase cooperation in areas such as the collection and analysis of data, standardization
of systems that measure illicit consumption, scientific and technical training and
exchange of experiences;
Develop or encourage the development of campaigns to foster greater social awareness
of the dangers of drug abuse for individuals, the family and society as well as community
participation plans;
Sensitize public opinion as to the serious effects of drug abuse and the activities of
criminal organizations that deal with them, including at the wholesale and retail level;
Improve and update cooperative mechanisms to prosecute and extradite individuals
charged with the traffic in narcotics and psychotropic substances and other related crimes,
in accordance with international agreements, constitutional requirements, and national
laws;
Establish or strengthen existing, duly trained and equipped specialized central units
responsible for requesting, analyzing and exchanging among the competent State
authorities information relating to the laundering of the proceeds, assets and
instrumentalities used in criminal activities (also known as money laundering);
Reinforce international and national control mechanisms to impede the illicit traffic and
diversion of chemical precursors;
Promote the rapid ratification and entry into force of the Inter-American Convention
Against the Illicit Production and Trafficking of Firearms; promote the approval and
prompt application of the Model Regulations on the Control of Arms and Explosives
Connected with Drug Trafficking of CICAD; encourage States, that have not already
done so, to adopt the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure effective
international cooperation to prevent and combat illicit transnational traffic in firearms and
ammunition, while establishing, or strengthening, systems to enhance the tracing of
firearms used in criminal activity; and
Eliminate illicit crops through the increased support of national alternative development
programs as well as eradication and interdiction.
- Strengthen national drug control commissions, with a view to improving coordination in
each country in the planning and implementation of their respective national plans and in
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streamlining international assistance in this area.
- Underscore the valuable contribution of civil society, through its different organizations,
in the areas of prevention of illicit consumption, treatment, rehabilitation, and social
reintegration of drug addicts.
- Encourage financial institutions to redouble their efforts to prevent money laundering
and the appropriate business sectors to strengthen its controls to prevent the diversion of
chemical precursors.
- Give full support to the upcoming Special Session of the United Nations General
Assembly which will be held in June 1998 for the purpose of promoting international
cooperation with respect to illicit drugs and related crimes and encourage all States to
participate actively, at the highest level, in that international meeting. They will make
every effort to ensure effective implementation of international narcotics agreements to
which they have subscribed, at regional and subregional levels, and for these to operate in
consonance with the hemispheric effort and reaffirm their support for CICAD and its
fundamental role in the implementation of these agreements.
Terrorism
Governments will:
- Take measures, as agreed in the Declaration and Plan of Action of Lima, in order to
prevent, combat and eliminate terrorism, applying for that purpose the most decisive will
to comply with the general objectives set forth therein.
- Encourage States that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, or accede to, as appropriate,
the international conventions related to terrorism, in accordance with their respective
internal legislation.
- Convene, under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Second
Specialized Inter-American Conference to evaluate the progress attained and to define
future courses of action for the prevention, combat and elimination of terrorism.
Building Confidence and Security Among States
Governments will:
- Promote regional dialogue with a view to revitalizing and strengthening the institutions
of the Inter-American system, taking into account the new political, economic, social and
strategic-military factors in the Hemisphere and in its subRegions. To that end, they will
seek to expand further a climate of confidence and security among the States of the
Hemisphere.
- Carry out, in the manner in which they are set forth, the measures and recommendations
resulting from the Regional Conferences on Confidence and Security Building Measures,
held in November 1995, in Santiago, Chile, and in February 1998, in San Salvador, El
Salvador, under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS).
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- Continue to support the efforts of small-island States to address their special security
concerns, which are multidimensional in nature, and economic, financial, and
environmental matters, taking into account the vulnerability and level of development of
these States.
- In furtherance of efforts to transform the Western Hemisphere into an antipersonnel
mine-free zone, and in recognition of the contribution in this regard of the Convention on
the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines
and on Their Destruction, including its early entry into force, they will encourage actions
and support international humanitarian demining efforts in this area, with the goal of
ensuring that priority is given to mines that threaten civilians and of ensuring that land
can be restored for productive purpose. The latter will take place through effective
regional and international cooperation and coordination, as requested by the affected
States, to survey, mark, map, and remove mines; effective mine awareness for the civilian
population and assistance to victims; and development and deployment of new mine
detection and clearance technologies, as appropriate.
- Continue promoting transparency in matters related to defense policy, among other
aspects, with regard to modernizing the Armed Forces, comparing military expenditure in
the Region, and strengthening the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.
- Increase cooperation with United Nations peacekeeping efforts.
- Encourage the development of cooperative programs to deal with natural disasters and
humanitarian search and rescue operations.
- Pledge their efforts to ensure that the peaceful resolution of pending conflicts and
disputes is achieved through existing mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes
within the Inter-American System and in keeping with international law and treaties in
force, and express that said mechanisms and instruments should be strengthened.
- Acknowledge the value of ministerial or high-level meetings on the topics of
international defense and security, such as the Defense Ministerials of Williamsburg and
Bariloche, as an important contribution to regional dialogue on these matters, and, in this
context, encourage interested countries to hold other meetings.
- Entrust the OAS, through the Committee on the Hemispheric Security, to:
Follow up on and expand topics relating to confidence and security building measures;
Analyze the meaning, scope, and implications of international security concepts in the
Hemisphere, with a view to developing the most appropriate common approaches by
which to manage their various aspects, including disarmament and arms control; and
Pinpoint ways to revitalize and strengthen the institutions of the Inter-American System
related to the various aspects of Hemispheric Security.
This process will culminate in a Special Conference on Security, within the framework of
the OAS, to be held, at the latest, at the beginning of the next decade.
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- Support the convening of a follow-up Regional Conference to the Santiago and San
Salvador Regional Conferences on Confidence and Security Building Measures, to
further build mutual confidence in the Americas.
The progress achieved in these matters will be reported to States, thereby ensuring
appropriate follow-up through the OAS, so that these topics may be discussed at the next
Summit of the Americas.
Strengthening of Justice Systems and Judiciaries
Governments will:
- Develop mechanisms that permit easy and timely access to justice by all persons, with
particular reference to persons with low income, by adopting measures to enhance the
transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the courts. In this context, they will promote,
develop and integrate the use of alternative methods of conflict resolution in the justice
system.
- Strengthen, as appropriate, systems of criminal justice founded on the independence of
the judiciary and the effectiveness of public prosecutors and defense counsels,
recognizing the special importance of the introduction of oral proceedings in those
countries that consider it necessary to implement this reform.
- Step up efforts to combat organized crime, and transnational crime, and, if necessary,
foster new laws and international conventions, as well as procedures and mechanisms for
continuing to combat these scourges.
- Adapt legislation and proceed, as soon as possible, with necessary institutional reforms
and measures to guarantee the comprehensive protection of the rights of children and
youths to meet the obligations established under the United Nations Convention on the
Right of the Child and other international instruments.
- Adopt as appropriate a clear distinction between procedures and consequences of
violations of criminal law and measures established to protect children and youths whose
rights are threatened or violated, and will promote social and educational measures to
rehabilitate young offenders.
- Foster the establishment and strengthening of specialized tribunals or courts for family
matters, as appropriate, and in accordance with their respective legal systems.
- Expedite the establishment of a justice studies center of the Americas, which will
facilitate training of justice sector personnel, the exchange of information and other forms
of technical cooperation in the Hemisphere, in response to particular requirements of each
country. To this end, they request the Ministers of Justice or other competent authorities
to analyze and define the most suitable actions for the organization and establishment for
such a center.
- Promote, in accordance with the legislation of each country, mutual legal and judicial
assistance that is effective and responsive, particularly with respect to extraditions,
requests for the delivery of documents and other evidentiary materials, and other bilateral
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or multilateral exchanges in this field, such as witness protection arrangements.
- Support the convening of periodic meetings of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys
General of the Hemisphere within the framework of the Organization of American States
(OAS).
Modernization of the State in Labor Matters
Governments will:
- Promote measures by their Ministries of Labor to provide high quality programs and
assistance for workers and employers, placing emphasis on greater decentralization of
their functions, the incorporation of new technologies, active labor market policies, better
and more timely information regarding the labor market, and improvement of safety and
health conditions in the workplace.
- Give special attention to the incorporation of socially-disadvantaged groups into the
workforce, including women, minorities, youth, the disabled and other vulnerable
populations, and to the services offered by the Ministries of Labor that take into
consideration their special needs. At the same time, Governments will further strengthen
their overall efforts, and coordination among involved agencies, to address the issue of
children at work. The Ministries of Labor will exchange experiences on best practices in
these areas.
- Take actions towards assuring that the Ministries of Labor have the necessary means to
carry out this Plan of Action in areas within their jurisdiction.
- Request the participation of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Inter-
American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organization of American States (OAS) to
assist Labor Ministries to support international activities and exchange information on
modernization methods and strategies.
III. ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND FREE TRADE
A. Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
I. We instruct our Ministers Responsible for Trade to take the following actions:
1. Initiate the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), in
accordance with the principles, objectives, structure, modalities and all other decisions as
set out in the San José Ministerial Declaration, by convening the Trade Negotiations
Committee no later than June 30, 1998, and the Negotiating Groups no later than
September 30, 1998.
2. Exercise the ultimate oversight and management of the negotiations.
3. Achieve concrete progress in the negotiations by the year 2000 and agree on specific
business facilitation measures to be adopted before the end of the century.
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4. Ensure that the negotiating process is transparent and takes into account the differences
in the levels of development and size of the economies in the Americas, in order to create
opportunities for the full participation of all countries, including the smaller economies.
5. Conduct the negotiations in such a manner as to build broad public understanding of
and support for the FTAA, and to consider views on trade matters from different sectors
of our civil societies, such as business, labor, consumer, environmental and academic
groups, presented to the committee of Government representatives established at the
Fourth Meeting of Trade Ministers in Costa Rica.
II. We instruct our Representatives in the institutions of the Tripartite Committee, in
particular the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to allocate appropriate existing
resources within those institutions to support the Administrative Secretariat for the FTAA
negotiations.
III. We urge the Tripartite Committee to continue to respond positively to requests for
technical support from FTAA entities. We ask the three institutions to consider requests
for technical assistance related to FTAA issues from member countries -in particular from
the smaller economies in order to facilitate their integration to the FTAA process-
according to their respective procedures.
B. Further Actions
In addition to initiating the negotiations for the FTAA, we have defined a series of further
actions which must be consistent with the FTAA negotiation, aimed at deepening the
process of economic integration, as well as to create opportunities for the full
participation of all countries, including the smaller economies. We have prepared a series
of proposals to advance the modernization of financial markets, programs of science and
technology, energy cooperation, and hemispheric infrastructure, in particular in the fields
of transportation and telecommunications.
Strengthening, Modernizing and Integrating Financial Markets
Governments will:
- Strengthen banking supervision in the Hemisphere through: implementation of the Basle
Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision; training programs to strengthen
supervisory capacity; and establishment of sound, high-quality reporting and disclosure
standards for banks, and creation of a Working Group to assist countries in this process.
- Improve banking and securities market clearance and settlement systems in the
Hemisphere, in order to facilitate the transparency, efficiency and security of internal and
cross-border transactions.
Science and Technology
Governments will:
- Recognize that science and technology are related to various areas and objectives of this
Plan of Action within and beyond economic integration, free trade and sustainable
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development.
- Continue implementing the Cartagena Plan of Action, agreed to in 1996, with emphasis
on strengthening the capacity of the countries in the Hemisphere to participate and benefit
from the knowledge-based global economy, promoting, among other actions, the growth
of the communications and information industries as strategic components of national and
regional integration processes. In the context of the Cartagena Declaration, recognize the
important role that existing regional institutions play in implementing this Plan of Action.
- Apply science and technology to mitigate the damages caused by the effects of "El
Niño" and other natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, earthquakes, and
floods, and their impact on the economy and ecosystems, based on improved forecasting,
prevention and response capacity, improved research and training methods to deal with
natural hazards, and the application of science and technology to address the effects of
climate variability on health, agriculture and water. In this context, cooperative research
and exchange of information about "El Niño" and other natural hazards will be
emphasized.
- Support the development and use of science, technology and innovation indicators in
fulfillment of the Cartagena Plan.
- Promote actions to foster alliances among all sectors of society to advance cooperation
and innovation in science and technology. It is recognized that university-industry
relations, training in technology management and other human resource development
programs, as well as participation of small and medium-sized companies, are important
elements for utilizing science and technology to achieve hemispheric objectives.
Regional Energy Cooperation
In accordance with the legal and constitutional rules of every State, as well as with the
commitments that our Governments assume in the context of the negotiations of the Free
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), in order to ensure sustainable energy development
and further the energy integration of the Hemisphere,
Governments will:
- Promote policies and processes that facilitate the trade of products, goods and services
related to the energy sector.
- Give impetus to, in the shortest possible time, policies and processes that facilitate the
development of infrastructure, including across international boundaries, to further the
integration of energy markets.
- Foster the creation and strengthening of transparent and predictable regulatory systems,
which take into account the needs of the different parties involved.
- Promote legal, fiscal and regulatory systems in order to stimulate local and foreign
private investment in the energy sector in those areas permitted by respective
Constitutions.
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- Increase access of rural inhabitants to energy services.
- Support policies and programs that will stimulate the development of renewable energy
and energy efficiency.
To support these actions, we will continue our cooperation efforts through the
Hemispheric Energy Initiative.
Climate Change
Governments will:
In light of their commitments in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change and the decisions made at the Third Conference of Parties in Kyoto, Japan, and in
view of the Fourth Conference of Parties to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in
November, 1998:
- Encourage the Parties to work toward achieving the objectives and goals of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- Recognize the key role that technology plays in managing the environmental aspects
related to energy, and encourage the exchange of technology, information and
experiences, as well as share views on the Clean Development Mechanism.
Hemispheric Infrastructure
A. General Infrastructure
Governments will:
- Charge the Inter-American Development Bank with the preparation of a draft set of
voluntary principles to be adopted by each of the countries, to facilitate private sector
participation in local and transnational infrastructure projects, that can serve as a basis for
bilateral and multilateral agreements. This draft will be submitted to Governments not
later than December 1998, to be further discussed during a meeting of ministers
responsible for infrastructure to be held in 1999.
B. Transportation
Governments will:
- Undertake the necessary actions to implement, to the fullest extent possible, and taking
into account subregional sectoral agreements, decisions, and projects, the Joint
Ministerial Declaration of the Second Hemispheric Summit on Transportation, held in
Santiago, Chile, in April 1996, aimed at: a) promoting market-oriented, integrated,
financially viable, and environmentally sustainable transportation systems and services,
and b) providing safe, efficient, and reliable passenger and cargo services that foster the
economic growth and development of our countries.
- Develop a plan aimed at ensuring the highest level of safety in air, sea and land
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transportation systems, improving infrastructure and increasing environmental protection
by improving compliance with international standards and recommended practices
established, such as those established by the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
- Engage in discussions to develop a cooperation program, taking into account the
Santiago and San Salvador Declarations of the Regional Conferences on Confidence and
Security Building Measures, which would address maritime and air transport of nuclear
and other hazardous wastes and, where appropriate, work with the relevant international
organizations to strengthen or develop standards governing the transport of such goods
and its safety.
- Prepare a profile, with the cooperation of United Nations Economic Commission on
Latin-American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), of regional transportation systems and
services taking into account agreements, decisions, projects and studies already prepared
by regional and hemispheric organizations. Such a profile will identify the main problems
and opportunities faced by the countries in the Hemisphere as a first step toward
establishing regional transportation priorities and policies, with respect to, among other
things, the harmonization of standards and the exchange of technology.
- Seek, from international financial institutions, resources necessary to undertake, as soon
as possible, transportation infrastructure projects in the Americas, including those which
take into account the specific needs of the smallest economies.
C. Telecommunications
Governments will:
- Establish strategies to support the development and continuous updating of a regional
telecommunications infrastructure plan, taking into account national plans, the need for
universal access to basic telecommunications services throughout the Region and the
evolution of Global Information Society.
- Work together in close cooperation with the private sector to rapidly build out the
telecommunications infrastructure in the Region, adopting strategies to make affordable
access available to all for basic telephone service and the INTERNET, such as
implementing the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) guidelines
on value added services and encouraging, the development of community information
service centers that provide access to basic telephone and value-added services,
computers, the INTERNET and multimedia services bearing in mind the diverse needs of
the countries of the Region and divergent levels of development.
- Promote, in cooperation with the private sector, the exchange and distribution of
information concerning regulatory matters such as universal access/service,
interconnection and the establishment of independent regulatory bodies, taking into
account the commitments made in the World Trade Organization's Agreements on Trade
in Basic Telecommunications Services (the GBT Agreement), developments in the Free
Trade Area of the Americas process, and the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by
the 1996 Senior Telecommunications Officials Meeting held in Washington D.C. with a
view to developing, wherever possible, and subject to national constraints, best practice
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guidelines and requesting when needed the assistance of CITEL, regional
telecommunications organizations, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and others as appropriate.
- Foster, together with the private sector, the development of applications over electronic
networks, such as the INTERNET, broadcast television and radio, that taking into account
different socio-economic conditions and languages, will support education, health,
agriculture and sustainable rural development, electronic commerce and other
applications assisting small savers, Micro-enterprises and Small and Medium-size
Enterprises (SMEs) and modernization of the State.
- Encourage CITEL to address, with some urgency, studies of the standards coordination
aspects of the telecommunications infrastructure, including the areas of
Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) and Intelligent Networks (IN) so that
the network can evolve to meet the interconnection requirements and to support the
implementation of new applications in the regional context.
- Continue to examine ways to develop consistent regulatory approaches among member
countries leading to the promotion of greater commonality in the certification processes
for telecommunications equipment and to the establishment of a framework and to move
toward the negotiation and implementation of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA)
for telecommunications equipment encompassing all the countries of the Region.
IV. ERADICATION OF POVERTY AND DISCRIMINATION
Extreme poverty and discrimination continue to afflict the lives of many of our families
and impede their potential contribution to our nations' progress. To move toward a
prosperous future for all, we will facilitate the provision of legal title to urban and rural
properties and redouble our efforts to increase access to credit and to provide technical
support for microenterprises, and protect the basic rights of workers. We will remove all
forms of discrimination against women, indigenous communities, disadvantaged racial
and ethnic minorities, and other vulnerable groups. We will seek to enhance the quality of
life of all people of the Americas through efforts that ensure access to adequate health
services, to improved health technologies, to clean water and proper nutrition. Taken
together, these measures will facilitate the inclusion of all inhabitants, without exception,
in the economic and democratic transformation of the Hemisphere.
Fostering the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Size Enterprises
As a means to combat poverty and taking into account national differences, the
Governments pledge to strengthen the development of micro, small and medium size
enterprises by undertaking the following specific actions:
Governments will:
- Ensure that a significant number of the 50 million micro, small and medium size
enterprises in the Hemisphere, whose owners and workers are persons with low incomes,
especially women from these enterprises, have access to financial services by the year
2000.
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- Design and implement programs, with the support of the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) and United Nations Economic Commission on Latin-America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) and in coordination with the World Bank and other development
cooperation agencies, that promote appropriate financial policy reforms that: accelerate
the entry of formal-sector financial institutions into this market; support the development
of institutions that work in the sector; and eliminate impediments that limit the access of
micro, small and medium size enterprises to financial services.
- Simplify and expedite the procedures for registration, obtaining licenses, complying
with labor and tax regulations, and the formalization, where appropriate, of micro, small
and medium size enterprises.
- Support private-sector providers of non-financial services to enable them to expand
access to new technologies and training for micro, small and medium size enterprises,
which will permit them to enhance their competitiveness in national and global markets.
- Promote partnerships of micro, small, and medium size enterprises to allow them to take
advantage of cooperative assistance in doing business and in modernizing business
management.
- Promote inter-institutional coordination by creating effective interchange mechanisms
between national and local public institutions that support micro, small and medium size
enterprises and facilitating their links with the private sector.
- Design national plans for the achievement of the actions previously defined and
convoke a regional meeting of ministers or senior officials responsible for public policies
to support micro, small and medium size enterprises, for the purpose of exchanging
information on those plans and thus improving the effectiveness of support policies. To
this end, the IDB, in cooperation with ECLAC, will be asked to provide coordination for
this meeting.
- Request that regional organizations and Government, multilateral, and bilateral
development agencies involved in the Region assist in policy reform and invest between
US$400-$500 million over the next three years in programs, including training and
technical assistance, that support the actions identified in this Plan of Action.
Property Registration
Governments will:
- Streamline and decentralize, as necessary, property registration procedures by: adopting
transparent, simplified procedures for titling and registration; disseminating information
regarding these procedures; utilizing, whenever feasible, state-of-the-art technologies for
property georeferencing, computer-generated mapping and computerized records storage;
incorporating alternative dispute resolution mechanisms; and avoiding overlapping
administrative fees for titling and registration.
- Recommend that multilateral and bilateral cooperation institutions, especially the Inter-
American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank, strengthen their financial and
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technical assistance programs, including information exchange regarding experiences
among countries, to support simplified property registration procedures and to assure
access for the poor to those systems.
- In accord with national legal frameworks, implement measures, where necessary, to
protect rights accorded to indigenous populations, as well as information programs, if
needed, to assure greater awareness of indigenous populations of their rights, in this
respect.
Health Technologies
Governments will:
- Seek, through public and private efforts, or partnerships between them, to enhance the
availability, access to, and quality of drugs and vaccines, especially for the most needy,
by promoting efforts to safeguard the quality, rational selection and use, safety and
efficacy of pharmaceutical products, with special emphasis on vital and essential drugs;
and by supporting regional initiatives that by the year 2002 will facilitate research,
development, production and utilization of vaccines, which will reduce the incidence of
diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis, measles, rubella and mumps.
- Strengthen and improve existing national and regional networks of health information
and surveillance systems, so that stakeholders have access to data to address critical
health issues in the Region, in order to make appropriate clinical and managerial
decisions. They will address the development, implementation and evaluation of needs-
based health information systems and technology, including telecommunications, to
support epidemiological surveillance, the operation and management of health services
and programs, health education and promotion, telemedicine, computer networks and
investment in new health technologies.
- Develop initiatives designed to reduce deficits in access to and quality of drinking
water, basic sanitation and solid waste management, with special emphasis in rural and
poor urban areas, by applying existing technologies or developing new, appropriate and
effective low-cost technologies.
- Make every effort to ensure that the necessary resources are allocated for the
development of the lines of action of this Plan, with the technical support of the Pan
American Health Organization (PAHO). They also will promote bilateral and multilateral
collaboration, and will request the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World
Bank, and other financial and technical cooperation institutions to support the programs
and activities included in this initiative, according to their own specific priorities and
fields of action.
- Develop mechanisms for evaluating the relevance, cost and efficacy of the technologies
introduced to deal with these and other priority health problems.
Women
Governments will:
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- Strengthen and establish, where they do not exist, national mechanisms and
governmental organs, as well as the respective regional and subregional networks in
charge of promoting legal equality and equality of opportunities between women and
men, focused on gender equity, and provide them with adequate and timely financial
resources to enable these entities to promote, coordinate and carry out the commitments
undertaken by the States at the World Conference on Human Rights, the International
Conference on Population and Development, the World Summit on Social Development,
the Summit of the Americas, the Fourth World Conference on Women, and the recent
"Santiago Consensus" of the VII Regional Conference on Beijing Follow-up
(ECLAC/UN).
- Examine the existing laws and their implementation in order to identify obstacles
limiting the full participation of women in the political, economic, social and cultural life
of our countries. Whenever necessary, promote reforms or create new laws to eliminate
all forms of discrimination and violence against women and to guarantee the protection of
children's rights.
- Implement and follow up on the commitments regarding the status of women as agreed
to at the Summit of the Americas, with the support of the Inter-American Commission on
Women (ICW), in collaboration with civil society, with the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB), the World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission on Latin-America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and other entities of international cooperation, using when
appropriate the System of Indicators adopted by the countries of the Americas at
Montelimar, Nicaragua.
- Promote policies designed to improve women's health conditions and the quality of
health services at every stage of their lives.
Basic Rights of Workers
Governments will:
- Exchange informational materials regarding their labor legislation, with the objective of
contributing to better mutual knowledge of such legislation as well as to promote core
labor standards recognized by the International Labor Organization (ILO) -freedom of
association; the right to organize and bargain collectively; the prohibition of forced labor;
the elimination of all exploitative forms of child labor; and non-discrimination in
employment. Such information will also include references to the mechanisms and/or
legal authorities of Ministries of Labor to implement core labor standards as a
fundamental component of productive workplaces and positive labor-management
relations.
- For these purposes carry out the exchanges by, among other means, furnishing
informational materials on relevant changes to their labor legislation, mechanisms and/or
legal authorities for implementation of core labor standards, and progress in the area of
labor-management relations, to be provided at a meeting of the Inter-American
Conference of Ministers of Labor, to be held in 1998 and their other meetings, as
appropriate, including with the assistance of the Organization of American States (OAS),
International Labor Organization (ILO) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
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- Further secure their observance and promotion of internationally recognized core labor
standards. In this context, they recognize the ILO as the competent body to set and deal
with these standards and support the ongoing work of the ILO with regard to exchanges
of information and the negotiation of a new Declaration of Principles on Fundamental
Rights of Workers and appropriate follow-up; believe that economic growth and
development fostered by increased trade and further trade liberalization contribute to the
promotion of these standards and should lead to higher levels of employment; similarly
reject the use of labor standards for protectionist purposes, and, in this regard, note that
the World Trade Organization (WTO) and ILO Secretariats shall continue their
collaboration.
Indigenous Populations
To promote greater participation of indigenous populations in society through adequate
access to education, health care, and occupational training, with the aim of improving
their standard of living,
Governments will:
- Support activities in the field of education aimed at improving the participation of
indigenous populations and communities in society. Such activities would seek to
strengthen the identity of indigenous populations and promote respectful coexistence
among different social groups in communities and States.
- Promote the widening of basic and secondary education services with training
orientation, mainly in Regions with high percentages of indigenous populations, through
greater support from Governments and international cooperation, at the request of
interested Governments, so that indigenous and non-indigenous populations have the
opportunity to receive technical training and contribute to the development of their
countries. To the extent possible, the training areas which are implemented parallel to
educational processes should respond to the needs of the Region and to productive
strategies.
- In cooperation with regional organizations, development institutions and NGOs,
actively support and promote capacity building activities and productive projects,
including agriculture, handicrafts, small trade and industry and marketing. To the extent
possible, these should be guided and administered by indigenous populations.
- Facilitate the organization of round-tables at the national and hemispheric level, in
partnership with indigenous populations, with a view to promoting greater understanding
of and cooperation in the areas of education and health, with a particular emphasis on
women and children. Governments will also promote research initiatives on the
relationship between indigenous population, poverty and development.
- Proceed with inter-governmental examination within the Organization of American
States (OAS) framework of the "Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples" prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, with
a view toward the possible adoption of a Declaration.
Hunger and Malnutrition
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Governments will:
- Give the highest priority to reducing infant malnutrition, concentrating efforts on health,
nutrition and education programs for the nutrition of infants, particularly those less than
three, as those are the years of greatest vulnerability. To that end, emphasis shall be given
to adequate nutrition and the correction of specific nutritional deficiencies, specifically
with vitamin and mineral supplements combined with greater use of vaccinations and
immunizations and monitoring during the growth of the child.
- Give high priority to the nutritional and caloric needs of women before and during
pregnancy and while they are breast-feeding. Governments therefore will promote breast-
feeding as an important source of nutrition for babies. The nutritional needs of other high
risk groups such as the elderly and the disabled will also be addressed.
- Continue, as far as possible, with the dialogue begun at the Inter-American Conference
on Hunger, held in Buenos Aires in October 1996, and they will explore the application,
in their respective jurisdictions of the measures suggested there, in particular the creation
of alliances with the private sector to fight hunger and malnutrition, the creation of food
bank networks with volunteer participation and the creation of an Honorary Council
dedicated to fostering activities to reach Summit objectives in this area.
Sustainable Development
- We recognize the effort made by the Organization of American States (OAS) in terms of
follow-up of the Sustainable Development Summit, and instruct it, through the Inter-
American Commission on Sustainable Development, to continue coordination related to
fulfillment of its mandates. We ask the entities of the Inter-American System and the
United Nations to strengthen cooperation related to implementation of the Santa Cruz
Plan of Action.
Cooperation
- With the intention of achieving a greater impact in our national and collective efforts,
we charge national agencies and organizations responsible for international cooperation
with supporting the preparation and implementation of programs and projects which flow
from the Plan of Action. Moreover, we request the participation of the multilateral
cooperation institutions with the same objective.
SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS FOLLOW-UP
- The Heads of State and Government will continue to meet periodically to deepen
cooperation and understanding among the countries of the Americas, and, to that end, will
strengthen the hemispheric institutional framework.
- The Governments will bear primary responsibility for implementation of the mandates
of the Summit. The mechanism established by their Foreign Ministers, called the
"Summit Implementation Review Group" (SIRG), will continue functioning under their
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immediate authority. The National Summit Coordinators of the Foreign Ministries will
guarantee rapid contact, through the appropriate channels, with all Government agencies
involved in carrying out the mandates resulting from the Summit meetings.
- The SIRG will meet on a periodic basis (two or three times a year) to monitor the
follow-up process and assess the degree to which the Summit mandates have been
fulfilled. It will be chaired by the country holding the Summit and co-chaired by both the
country that has most recently served as host and the country that will serve as the next
host ("troika"). Decisions will be adopted by consensus.
- Senior representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-
American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO),
and the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), will be invited to support the Governments participating in the SIRG in order
to follow up on the commitments of the Summit and to achieve greater coordination and
effectiveness of these institutions in performing this task. To that same end, a
representative of the World Bank will be invited.
- The OAS Secretariat will be assigned responsibility for operating as a record-keeping
mechanism (the institutional memory of the process) and for providing technical support
to the SIRG.
- In accordance with Summit decisions, international organizations will have
responsibilities in implementing this process and, as appropriate, according to Summit
mandates, support will be provided by private sector organizations and civil society.
- In the case of specific mandates that require the convening of sectoral ministerials, these
meetings, when appropriate, will take place under the aegis of the OAS Inter-American
Council for Integral Development. Moreover, the OAS, IDB, PAHO, and ECLAC, as
appropriate, will lend technical support to the meetings, the results of which will be
reported to the States through the OAS Secretariat.
- The SIRG will annually report on the progress achieved in the fulfillment of the Plan of
Action to the Foreign Ministers, who will review this information on the occasion of the
Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly.
- Under the guidance of the Foreign Ministers, the SIRG will make preparations for the
next Summit, bearing in mind the contributions of the pertinent organs of the OAS and
other international organizations involved.
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VII CONFERENCE
OF WIVES OF HEADS OF STATE
AND GOVERNMENT OF THE
AMERICAS
CEJEG/PANAMA
Doc. 9
Final Verrion
English
October 9th, 1997
PANAMA
DECLARATION
Panama, Oct ober 8th and 9ᵗʰ.
Oct. 16 '97 14:31 9499 D. PRIMERA DAMA 27-4640
3
PANAMA DECLARATION
We, the First Ladies of Antigua and Barbuda, Brasil, Canada, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,
Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States,
and the designated representatives on behalf of the Governments of
Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico,
Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Uruguay and Venezuela, gathered in
Panama on October 8th and 9th of 1997, to attend the VII Conference of
Wives of Heads of State and Government of the Americas, under the
motto "Let us Build the Future of the Americas with Human Rights and a
Culture of Peace", to evaluate chievements attained and renew our
commitment to address social problems in our Continent, agree to
subscribe to the following Declaration:
1. We acknowledge that our countries face similar social problems and their
solutions demand the participation ind the commitment of all sectors of
society.
2. We fiamly believe that the promotion of and respect for human rights, the
attain nent of equity, and the strengthening of values such as solidarity,
tolera ce, culture of peace, diversity, and respect for pluralism and self-
determination, are fundamental conditions for the sustainable development
and full integration in a community of nations.
3. We recognize that there are certain segments of our populations that are
highly vulnerable to the adverse impact of poverty, unemployment and
2
14:31 D. PRIMERA DAMA 27-4640
4
social disintegration. Among these are children, youth, rural and urban
women, the elderly and the persons with disabilities, who require policies
and programs to enable them to fully participate in and benefit from
development.
4. We reiterate our willingness to be mobilizers, facilitators or convenors for
social policies and programs serving our countries, focusing on vulnerable
groups, in accordance with our respective national interests and inspired by
dialogue, negotiation and mutual respect.
5. We continue to have as a fd me of reference and guidance the
recom mendations and decisions supported by our governments at the
World Summit on Children (1990); United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (192); The Geneva Declaration on Rural
Women (1992), The World Conference on Human Rights (1993); The
International Conference on Population and Development (1994); The
Summit of the Americas (1994), The World Summit on Social
Development (1995); The IV World Conference on Women (1995) and
The World Summit on Food (1996) and The Summit of Sustainable
Development in Santa Cruz, Bolivi (1996).
6. We/acknowledge the accelerated changes happening in the world today, and
we citerate our commitment to ind leasing access and improving education,
training, information and technolog systems. This will enable us to
provide our people with the tools to successfully assume their responsibility
to ontribute to their development.
Eradication of Measles
Eradication of all Forms of Violence
Reduction of Maternal Mortality
Compliance of the Rights and Duties of Boys and Girls
Improving the Quality of Children's Education
Equal Access of Boys and Girls to Formal and Non-Formal
Education.
Equal Access of Women to the Decision-Making Process
8. We value the work done in the countries of the region which support the
elimination of measles and other preventable diseases in the Americas. We
also reiterate our commitment to continue our assistance toward this effort
until measles is eradicated.
9. We continue to be deeply concerned about the persistent poverty and
inequity of rural women in the Americas. This is why we are satisfied with
the advances accomplished regarding the elaboration and execution of a
agional proposal to strengthen the integration of rural women in
educational, productive and commercial activities. We request the Pro-
Tempore Secretariat to present the project as it may deem appropriate at
the next meeting of the Interamerican Board of Agriculture and other
regional organizations that manifest their interest.
10. We consider that the formative process of children and adolescents include
the development of knowledge, skills and a sense of responsibility to care
4
for their health in an integrated way. This will guarantee and promote their
rights and foster peaceful coexistence, non-discrimination, gender equity
and the resolution of conflicts through dialogue, communication,
Oct. 16 '97 14:33 9499 D.
PRIMERA DAMA 27-4640
P 5
16.We recognize the valuable participation and contribution of the
international organizations and the financial institutions that. have
supported Our endeavors and are making possible the execution of projects
and programs that serve the most needy and vulnerable sectors of out
societies.
17. Wc are grateful and accept the kind offer of the First Lady of Chile to host
the VIII Conference of Wives of Heads of States and Government of the
Americas in 1998.
18. Wc thank the First Lady of Panama, Dora Boyd de Pérez Balladares; also,
the people and government of Panama for the kind attention bestowed
during our visit.
Signed in the city of Panama in two original versions;
Spanish and English, on October 9th, 1997.
6
oct. 16 '97 14:33 9499 D. PRIMERA DAMA 27-4640
P. 6
Diana b. Sarawa
H.S. Elsie de Altimari
H.S. Diana Cristina Saravia Olmes
Delegada Gubernamental de Venezuela
Delegada Guber amental de Uruguay
Sleburd
H. S. Verónica Liburd
H.S. lussy Lissy Campos Campus de Feinand
Delegada Gubernamental de Saint Kitts
Delegada Gubernamental de República
Dominicana
Beating B. Buner
Beahiz
H.S. Beatriz Barriocanal ac Breuer
H.S. Beatriz Ramabeieth
Delegada Gubernamental de Paraguay
Delegada Gubernamental de Perù
H.S. Abigail Him Castro de Pizez
H.S. Mana Carmen Oñate
Delegada Gubernamental de México
Delegada Gubernamental de
El Salvador
8
H.S. Sonia/Berefervide Dopico
CLE. Zelmira Regazzoli
Delegada Gubernamental de Cuba
Delegada Gubernamental de Argentina
H.S. Patricia Robinson
H.S. Patricia De León
Primera Dama de Trinidad y Tobago
Primera Dama de Suriname
Flair
Qlice
H.S. María Dolores Alemán
H.S. Géri Benóit-Preval
Primera Dama de Nicaragua
Primera Dama de Haiti
Besinard
H.S. Bessie Watson de Reina
H.S. Ivy Alvia
Iry A. Watson booke de Cooke
Primera Dama de Honduras
Primera Dama de Jamaica
Oct. 16 '97 14:34 9499 D. PRIMERA DAMA 27-4640
>
Jactte 2 Heads H.S. Primera althaum Josette Dama de de Costa Figueres Pica
yourne
HUS. Ivonne Hinds
H.S.
Patricia
Escobar
Dalton
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Primera Dama de Guyana
Primera Dama de Guatemala
Hillary H.S. Hillary Rean Clinton Rodham-Clinton
H.S. Lusia-Peña Ochoa de Alarcón
Primera Dama de Estados Unidos
Primera Dama de Ecuador
H S. Jacquin Strouss de Samper Samper
de
ak H.S. Aline Chretien
aline Chritien
Primera Dama de Colombia
Primera Dama de Canadá
Patricia Buid
H.S. Ruth Leite de Cardoso
H.S. Patricia Bird
Primera Dama de Brasil
Primera Dama de Antigua
Wate L. de Fri
H. S.: Virginia Gaylie de Quiroga
H.S. Marta Larraechea de Frei
Delegada Gubernamental de Bolivia
Primera Dama de Chile
Dora de Perez Bulladares
H.S. Dora Boyd de Herez Madares
Primera Dama de Panamá
measures to fully comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Chud,
and to address the elimination of all forms of violence against children,
which irreparably mutilate and lacerate their bodies and spirit.
13. We invite all countries that have not yet ratified the Interamerican
Convention to Prevent, Sanction and Eradicate Violence Against Women,
better known as The Convention De Belem Do Pará, adopted in 1994, to
do so.
14. We support initiatives aimed at promoting human rights, to build the
foundation for a true culture of peace and development.
We also support the efforts to overcome poverty throughout our continent.
"
15. We recognize that in order to açcomplish our goals of achieving a true
Culture of Peace and Development, we must support the empowerment
of [women and their full participation in decision making, in the
framework of a diverse and active civil society.
5