Second Summit of the Americas
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>> From 20 to 22 April 2001 the 3rd Summit of the Americas1 bringing together the Heads of State and of government of the Americas (with the exception of Cuba) will be held in Quebec.
| INFO Three examples of economic regional integration on the American Continent NAFTA NAFTA
is an American free trade agreement signed by Canada the United
States and MERCOSUR Set up by the
Asuncion Treaty of 26th March 1991, Mercosur is the common market
of the |
These meetings, of
which the first was convened in 1994 by the United States, have the aim
of discussing a vast set of iniatives divided into four big themes: the
preservation and the strengthening of the American democracies, the promotion
of prosperity through integration and free trade, the elimination of poverty
and discrimination, and lasting development Altogether this constitutes
an integration project on a continental scale.
Since the Miami Summit, however, it is the economic facet which has experienced
the most important developments. Negotiating groups have been working
since then to prepare an agreement which would create the Americas Free
Trade Zone (AFTZ). It is this project which has given rise to the mobilisation
of numerous networks, organisms and citizens concerned as much by the
manner in which the negotiations between the American States are conducted
as by the effects that the implementation of AFTZ could have. These concerns
are based notably on the lessons from the implementation of regional agreements
such as the Andean Pact, Mercosur or the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) - see neighbouring columns - and led to the creation of the Continental
Social Alliance (CSA) in Santiago in 1998 when the first Summit of the
Peoples of the Americas took place (held the day before the 2nd Summit
of the Americas). The CSA is constituted of regional organisations and
national groupings of human rights, trade union, women's, environmental,
international cooperation, etc. Organisations. It will host the 2nd Summit
of the Peoples of the Americas which will take place in Quebec from 16
to 21 April 2001 2.
For human rights organisations such as the Quebec League of Rights and
Liberties, which is organising the human rights Forum which will take
place in the framework of the Summit of the Peoples of the Americas, the
stakes are considerable, notably because of the rights situation that
prevails in this context of continental integration. Democracy has certainly
replaced dictatorships in many Latin American countries, but it is still
precarious and authoritarian practices occur nowadays under democratic
government, weakening democratic institutions or preventing their development.
The violations of rights which were current under these regimes have almost
disappeared with them. Moreover, in the last few years, the efforts to
bring to judgement those responsible for these violations have had some
success. Nonetheless, despite this progress, impunity for past violations
as well as those committed now remains widespread. Many forms of abuse,
such as arbitrary detention, police brutality often leading to death,
and unacceptable conditions of detention, continue to be the practice
without being able to register even modest progress. The death penalty
is still practised in certain countries in the Americas. Legal procedures
are out of reach for most people and justice remains more the exception
than the rule.
(...) The liberalisation of trade generally, and in particular the negotiation
of the AFTZ agreement, is a non democratic process as much because of
the way it is conducted (non transparence, absence of informed public
debate and of citizen participation, almost non existent rendering of
accounts, etc.) as because of the unjust treatment imposed on the "powerless"-
populations or small States. Although the agendas and the declarations
of the Summits of the Americas have experienced an evolution which reflects
a certain acknowledgement of other visions for development, integration
based on the liberalisation of markets is not called into question and
nothing suggests that it is gaining concrete expression in the AFTZ. In
the Summit areas most directly linked to human rights (education, democracy
and human rights, legal system and corruption, eradication of poverty
and discrimination), the citizens of the Americas, men and women, generally
have seen a reduction in their ability to exercise their rights. A question
arises: does economic liberalism need authoritarianism?
A question which gains its full meaning when one knows that the AFTZ draft
accord is not only unknown to the citizens of the Americas, but also to
the elected parliamentarians of the participating countries, that only
a privileged segment of civil society in the America's Business Forum
participates in this process, and that governments still refuse to make
them public. This break between those in power and the populations is
illustrated and maintained by the security measures put in place for the
3rd Summit of the Americas which will mean that no contact will be possible
between the Heads of State and their delegations and the citizens who
will try in various ways (conferences, cultural activities, demonstrations,
etc.) to express to them their anxieties, their suggestions or their claims.
The participants will attend eight thematic forums (women and globalisation,
education, agrarian questions, work, environment, role of the State, communications
and human rights) and a forum of members of Parliament in the which there
will be discussion of proposals formulated by the Continental Social Alliance3
which has as a central principle that the objective of the States must
be fair and lasting development in
which all citizens,
men and women, participate fully and in of which commerce and investment
may have their place but that these may not be ends in themselves.
The Forum on human rights4 has as its objective to place at the centre
of the proposals the primacy of rights and claims made by the Continental
Social Alliance and to address the States regarding their fundamental
engagement with regard to the dignity, the value of the human person,
and to the equality of persons and nations, defined in the United Nations
Charter which also stipulates that the obligations on States in it prevail
over their obligations stemming from any other
international agreement.
Quebec League of Rights and Liberties
| Info The Andean Pact Set up on 26th May 1969 at Cartagena (Colombia) under the name of Sub-Regional Integration Agreement, the Andean Pact groups together Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It aims to establish an economic union and a common industrial Policy. After several crises linked in particular to frontier disputes, a protocol agreement was signed in March 1996 to change the pact into a movement for commercial and political integration. However, the continuity of this Andean Community of Nations (A.C.N.) was not assured, on account of the political uncertainties and instability of the region. Moreover a rapprochement with Mercosur elicits a great deal of interest among member states. Then, whereas in 1999 at Cartagena the members set 2005 as a final date for the establishment of a free trade zone, this date also happens to be the final date for the establishment of the Americas Free Trade Zone (AFTZ), so dear to the United States. Suffice it to say that the Heads of State of these five countries are still in hope. |
Notes:
1. The first Summit of the Americas took place in Miami in 1994 and the
second in Santiago in 1998.
2. Www.sommetdespeuples.org (Is there a reference in English too?*)
3. The CSA foundation document is called "Alternatives for the Americas"
and can be found on the Summit of the Peoples site. (Does this exist in
English?*)
4. Fuller information on the Forum on human rights can be found on the
Summit of the Peoples site; access through the programme of activities.
(Does this exist in English?*)
5. This situation has already been made known in the special edition of
the Letter of the FIDH called "The WTO and Human Rights, an equation
to be solved".
| Louise Chicoine: A common plan for justice. |
| Louise
Chicoine is a member of the Quebec League for Rights and Freedoms
How is the American People's Summit organised? Where did the idea of this People's Forum come from? The American
People's Summit which will take place in Quebec is the second of
its kind. At the heart of this alliance, what is the proportion of NGO's from the North and the South? By definition, on this continent, the countries which are considered as being part of the 'North' are only Canada and the United States. There are more than thirty countries classed in the category of 'South'. Consequently the dynamics are such that the contribution of the NGO's from the South is very important. But the divisions are not perceived merely in this way. Certain types of organisation are present in greater numbers and are more capable of functioning in this kind of group dynamics, like for example the large affiliations of trade unions who have more of the resources necessary to take action in this type of network. Others, on the other hand, are not so well represented, and not always for economic reasons. The inter-continental alliance is still young, and constructing a network on this scale is a long-term job. Its objective is to group together the greatest possible number of organisations from all sectors of society; it is therefore a very long-term project. There are contributions which could be deemed 'South-North', merely dealing with very different questions of politics, history, and economics. But also for developmental reasons. However, this 'North-South' issue is not the only one being tackled at the heart of the NGO's, is it? No, of course
not. There is also the perspective of women, the unions, and even
environmental organisations etc… Within these networks, differing
world views are submitted. Generally speaking, if everybody groups
around this alliance which makes itself known by way of these summits
every few years (actually we don't know whether it will be carrying
on for long) it is with the aim of promoting this common plan for
justice and to assure the dignity of this continent's citizens. |
| Quebec: zone of repression in the Americas? |
|
The Canadians
had been warned by their Minister of Public Security as early as
1st November last year that the 'measures' to be put in place
for the security of the participants in the'Summit of the Americas'
were going to be 'major ones' and that their cost was going to be
a heavy burden on the Federal budget. Since then, journalists have
carried out their surveys and enquiries and have found that the
budget is said to be estimated by the Federal institutions themselves
at nearly 32 million Canadian dollars (which equals about 10 times
the cost of the security measures put in place at the Summit of
the Organisation of American States in Windsor in June last year).
And this is only a 'low' estimate, since it does not take into account
the health-related costs (in cases of injuries) nor the reimbursement
for potential damage in Quebec. The government of the Province of
Quebec is also insisting on being reimbursed the cost of thousands
of civil servants being 'forced to go on leave' on the Friday when
the summit takes place in order to relieve the congestion within
the security zone. The first of these three measures to restrict the freedoms of demonstrators is already included in the security set-up and it is to be feared that the security forces will be unscrupulous in respecting the two other types of measures 'as strictly as could be'. The Rights and Freedoms League of Quebec, which is deeply concerned about this 'stepping up of repression and restrictions to freedom of expression of activists' and that such excessive measures will happen again at the Summit of the Peoples of the Americas, has initiated an observation procedure for the summit. In addition, it has invited several international NGOs, including the FIDH, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and also national organisations, such as the National Coordination of Human Rights in Peru, to send observers to the summit from 14 - 24 April 2001. 'Our encounter in Quebec will in one way or another be an opportunity for us to take note of the growing mobilisation of civil society and its concerns about the strong trends that shape the modern world', Jean Chrétien, the Canadian Prime Minister, said in Washington on 5 February. But to hear these concerns, it is still necessary that they can be voiced freely. Gael Grilhot |
