The Voluntary Group of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the Follow-up to the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) held its ninth meeting on October 3rd, at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., with the participation of 14 Member States. The meeting was led by the Chair of the Voluntary Group, Ambassador Sebastián Kraljevich, Permanent Representative of Chile to the OAS.
The Group focused on several mandates related to the Voluntary Group and the IADC from the Resolution AG/RES. 3004 (LIII-O/23) STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY , adopted at the 54th regular session of the General Assembly, held in Asuncion, Paraguay. At first, the Chair of the Voluntary Group presented a timetable to comply with the mandate of operative paragraph 6, in which the Group is invited to prepare proposals to strengthen democracy in the hemisphere, in line with the OAS Charter and the IADC.
Later, the Undersecretary for External Relations of Chile, Gloria de la Fuente, presented a proposal for a voluntary mechanism to update practices related to the IADC, which would facilitate the sharing of progress, challenges, and best practices among Member States.
The delegations also reviewed the commemorative activities for the anniversary of the IADC and the International Day of Democracy, held in September, and exchanged views on their developments and possible follow-up activities.
The Secretary for Strengthening Democracy of the OAS, Francisco Guerrero, made a presentation on the methodological proposal to comply with operative paragraph 7 of the aforementioned resolution, related to the systematization of information on actions, programs and relevant activities carried out by the Organization of American States in relation to the six chapters of the IADC.
To conclude, the Secretary General of the Community of Democracies, Mantas Adomenas, intervened virtually to present to the Group possible areas of collaboration, taking into account the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the OAS General Secretary and the Community of Democracies, as well as both organizations' shared commitment to democracy and human rights.
The Voluntary Group adopted the following agreements:
- Regarding the schedule presented by the Permanent Mission of Chile, it is agreed that October and November will be the months to submit proposals, in December they will be discussed and in January they will be transmitted to the Committee of Juridical and Political Affairs (CAJP) of the Permanent Council, in a format to be determined.
- The delegations are invited to submit proposals to the Voluntary Group during the next two months in order to comply with the established mandate.
- To foster, together with the different delegations, activities that promote work both in the area of information integrity and in the various issues that are part of the work plan, especially in its first phase.
- Request the OAS General Secretariat to circulate among the delegations the memorandum of understanding between the OAS General Secretariat and the General Secretariat of the Community of Democracies.
The Voluntary Group for Follow-up of the Inter-American Democratic Charter was created in response to the mandate of resolution AG/RES. 3004 (LIII-O/23) Strengthening Democracy, to foster dialogue, horizontal cooperation, and the exchange of best practices among its members, and to identify opportunities within the principles of the OAS Charter and the Inter-American Democratic Charter to strengthen their democracies.
Reference: E-077/24
