FACT SHEET : DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RI

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

16 April 1998 

FACT SHEET: DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS 

(Promotion of democracy is summit goal in Santiago)  (510)

WASHINGTON -- Following is the text of a fact sheet released by the
State Department's Bureau of Inter-American Affairs in March 1998,
entitled "Democracy and Human Rights," with regard to the Santiago
Summit of the Americas:

(begin text)

DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
(Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, March
1998)

When the area's presidents met at the 1994 Miami Summit of the
Americas, they declared that democracy and human rights were the
central political priorities of the Americas. Marking the first time
in history of the Americas that all governments but one were freely
elected, the gathering in Miami set as a prime goal consolidation and
strengthening of democracy for the betterment and development of all
people.

In this context, the threats against the democratic system were also
addressed: corruption, terrorism, violence, and illicit drugs. In
1995-96, the summit governments negotiated the world's first
convention against corruption. Twenty-three governments have signed
it, and nine have already completed the ratification process. Two
major hemispheric conferences on terrorism produced unprecedented
levels of information exchange and cooperation among all governments
in combating this critical problem. Fighting the scourge of illicit
drugs, governments agreed to a comprehensive anti-drug strategy and a
thorough-going money laundering regime to reduce trafficking and
deprive drug kingpins of their ill-gotten gains. The efforts had the
collateral result of getting at one of the most important sources of
crime and violence in the hemisphere.

The protection and promotion of human rights are a continuing concern
to all summit governments and consist of more than preventing
"political arrests" or torture. In celebrating the 50th anniversaries
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OAS Charter, and the
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the governments
renewed commitments to improve the status of indigenous populations,
migrant workers, women and children, the disabled; training for law
enforcement personnel in human rights; and to increase support for the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights. Governments also are initiating programs with the
goal of ending violence toward women and exploitation of children.

The Santiago Summit focuses on some new areas for improvement.
Protecting the basic freedom of speech and expression has been
targeted as fundamental to ensuring the application of all other basic
human rights. A special press rapporteur is being created under the
auspices of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. A
comprehensive judicial reform package also is included in the summit
document as well as the creation of a Justice Training Center. Workers
rights and more protection of the rights of women and children are key
components of the Action Plan. Santiago clearly builds on and, in some
cases, goes beyond the democracy package instituted in Miami. But the
challenges the hemisphere continues to face in furthering human rights
and democracy are considerable.

(end text)