Inter-American Democratic Charter

The Inter-American Democratic Charter was adopted on 11 September 2001 by a special session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, held in Lima, Peru. It is an inter-American instrument with the central aim of strengthening and upholding democratic institutions in the nations of the Americas. The Charter, which is binding on all 34 of the currently active OAS member states, spells out what democracy entails and specifies how it should be defended when it is under threat.

Provisions

Article 1 frames the purpose and goal of the Charter: :"The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it."

Title IV establishes how the Organization is to react following "an unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order or an unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state." Article 19 states that such an interruption or alteration constitutes "an insurmountable obstacle to its government's participation in sessions of the General Assembly, the Meeting of Consultation, the Councils of the Organization, the specialized conferences, the commissions, working groups, and other bodies of the Organization." Consequently, Article 20 provides that following such a breakdown in a member state's constitutional regime, any other member state or the Secretary General may request the immediate convocation of the Organization's Permanent Council to undertake a collective assessment of the situation and to take such decisions as it deems appropriate. Should the Permanent Council's diplomatic efforts prove fruitless in re-establishing the constitutional order, or if the situation is deemed particularly urgent, a special session of the General Assembly may be convened to address the matter. That special session may then resolve, by a two-thirds vote of the member states, to suspend the membership of the state in question.

Once the situation that led to suspension has been resolved, the suspended member may be re-instated by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly.

The Charter contains additional provisions dealing with actions to be adopted by member states to promote a culture of democracy within their countries, and it sets a framework for the conduction of the OAS's electoral observation missions in the member states.

Applications

The Inter-American Democratic Charter was formally invoked for the first time in April 2002 on the occasion of the attempted coup d'état in Venezuela that temporarily removed President Hugo Chávez from office on 11 April. The Heads of State of 19 Rio Group nations were holding a summit in San José, Costa Rica, when news of the coup broke and were able to issue a joint statement [ [http://www2.mre.gov.br/Grupo_Rio/declaracoes/d2002.doc Declaración del Grupo de Río sobre la situación en Venezuela] , Rio Group, 12 April 2002; retrieved 2007-06-01.] on 12 April condemning the attempted takeover and calling for a special session of the General Assembly to be held. [ [http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/treaties/2002-0419-PNS-Democracy%20Charter.html Bush Must Re-Embrace Latin Leaders After Break Over Chávez] Andrew Reding, Pacific News Service, 19 April 2002; retrieved 2007-06-01.] One of the leaders who issued an immediate call for a special session was Mexican President Vicente Fox [ [http://fox.presidencia.gob.mx/actividades/?contenido=2873 Declaración del Presidente Fox sobre la situación actual en Venezuela] Office of the President of the United Mexican States, 12 April 2002; retrieved 2007-06-01.] – himself no supporter of Chávez's policies and who would three years later recall his country's ambassador from Caracas after Chávez called his Mexican counterpart a "puppy dog of the empire". [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4437024.stm Chavez and Fox recall ambassadors] BBC News, 14 November 2005; retrieved 2007-06-01.] As it transpired, Chávez was returned to power before any further steps could be taken to convene the General Assembly.

The Inter-American Democratic Charter has not been invoked since.

Trivia

The General Assembly special session in Lima at which the Democratic Charter was adopted was the reason why United States Secretary of State Colin Powell was absent from his country during the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001; he cut short his participation at the meeting and departed Lima for Washington, D.C., shortly after midday. [ [http://usinfo.state.gov/is/international_security/terrorism/sept_11/sept_11_archive/11_September_2001.html Press Briefing By Philip T. Reeker] U.S. State Department, 11 September 2001; retrieved 2007-06-01.]

The Carter Center’s Americas Program advised the Organization of American States on the development of the document.Citation | author= The Carter Center| title="The Carter Center Americas Program"|url=http://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/index.html|accessdate=2008-07-21]

References

External links

* [http://www.oas.org/OASpage/eng/Documents/Democractic_Charter.htm Inter-American Democratic Charter] (full text)
* [http://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/index.html The Carter Center Americas Program]