SubscribeOrganization of American States
We had a little time between our meeting with the IDB and the meeting with the OAS and so we walked around, did some sightseeing, and had lunch. After, we were back at it and this time at the OAS. Here’s who we met:
Pablo Zúñiga, Director Department for State Modernization and Governance, Secretariat for Political Affairs Director
Jorge Baxter, Coordinator Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices.
These men gave our group an overview of the OAS, showing that it was the oldest regional organization that traces its roots all the way back to the Pan-Americanism ideals of Simon Bolivar. They explained that it was an inter-American system pulling together multilateral solution for hemispheric problems. They also explained that the organization provides technical cooperation among the Member State countries on key issues.
This meeting revealed that one of the key issues of the OAS is the promotion of democracy, with due respect for non-intervention. Democracy really became a fundamental part of the OAS in Santiago, Chile in 1991. In this meeting the resolution 1080, “Representative Democracy.”
The next part of the meeting discussed the Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices. They talked about the how article 26 and 27 specifically refer to the role of education in promoting democracy work with ministries, civil societies, universities, etc. They also talked specifically about the Young Scholars Program, a program to promote youth involvement among the hemisphere. They explained that it is often really difficult to implement organized educational programs because the ministers of education usually only stay in office for a short period of time, and each minister comes in with a new and different agenda on the table.
