ROUNDTABLE WITH CIVIL SOCIETY AND SPECIAL SESSION OF THE CISC: “CREATING EMPLOYMENT TO CONFRONT POVERTY AND STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE”
Summary of Recommendations from Civil Society Representatives

Washington, DC, January 24 -25, 2005

Introduction

The Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Secretariat responsible for supporting the implementation of the mandates of the OAS with regard to civil society participation, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the complementary resources of the Open Society Institute (OSI), organized and executed the Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC: “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance,” held on January 24-25, 2005 at OAS Headquarters in Washington, DC.

This document presents an overview of the over-all structure, agenda and proceedings and recommendations of the Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC.

This Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC were part of an initiative developed by the Summits of the Americas Secretariat and the OAS Member States to increase the involvement of civil society in monitoring and implementing summit mandates and improve the channels of communication and information among the Summit of the Americas stakeholders.

These two meetings, the Roundtable with Civil Society and the Special Session of the CISC, the meeting which was not only open to the presence of civil society but called for an open dialogue among Member States and representatives of civil society, offered an opportunity to link the initiatives of civil society in the implementation of Summit mandates to Member States’ discourse.

The Summits of the Americas Secretariat, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the complementary resources of the Open Society Institute (OSI), covered the costs directly associated with the participation of a number of civil society organizations including air ticket fares, and logistics of the Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC. As selection criteria, this Office considered the requests for participation from interested organizations based on the following:

1. Equitable geographic representation;
2. Equitable gender representation;
3. Relevant experience and background in the subject areas in question, and
4. The Organization’s association and affiliation with other resources and organizations in the hemisphere such as Networks of civil society groups.

The Summits of the Americas Secretariat received and processed 142 registration forms—56 of which submitted awards applications to receive assistance with airfare.  Of the 56 applications for financial assistance, 38 representatives of civil society were selected to receive financing from USAID and the complementary resources from OSI.

In our efforts to ensure equitable geographic and gender representation, guarantee the participation of organizations with relevant experiences and background in the subject areas in question, and the Organizations’ association and affiliation with other networks and organizations, the Summits of the Americas Secretariat approved 6 representatives/organizations from 5 countries from the Caribbean, 18 organizations from 9 countries in South America, 6 representatives/organizations from 4 countries from Mexico and Central America, and 2 representatives/organizations from both North American countries; 17 organizations were registered to the OAS and 15 were non-registered organizations; and, 19 of the 32 representatives present during the event were women.

Including the Motivators and Moderators, the Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC saw the participation of 30 USAID funded representatives of civil society and 8 OSI funded representatives of civil society, from 24 countries. And, the conference registered 131 participants from civil society, governmental agencies and international organizations.


Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC: “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance”

Washington, DC, January 24, 2005

The Roundtable was comprised of a total of four sessions relating to the theme of the Fourth Summit of the Americas: Creating Employment in the Americas, Creating Employment to Confront Poverty, Creating Employment to Strengthen Democratic Governance and, Conclusions and General Recommendations from Civil Society—an opportunity for participating representatives of civil society to compile their recommendations and suggestions derived from the previous three sessions and compile additional suggestions for the Special Session of the CISC.

The first three sessions began with a 15-minute presentation by Discussion Motivators relating specifically to the challenges and achievements in the areas of discussion. After each brief presentation, the representatives of civil society had the opportunity to discuss the issues amongst themselves—with a Discussion Moderator— contributing their points of view as well as reconciling differences of opinion.

Additionally, there were two scheduled breaks between sessions: one between the first and second sessions and another between the third and fourth sessions. And, after a brief presentation by Partners of the Americas, lunch was offered by the Summits of the Americas Secretariat to the representatives of civil society.

In the welcoming remarks, Ambassador Rodolfo Gil, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the OAS and Chairman of the CISC, welcomed all participants to the Roundtable and announced the Fourth Summit of the Americas. Ambassador Gil expressed his confidence in the decision taken by the Argentine government to provide an opportunity for all social actors to participate in the preparatory sessions of the Fourth Summit.

Ambassador Gil also stated that the selection of the theme by Argentina, “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance” went through the following premises: jobs create the only genuine and sustainable mechanism to combat poverty and poverty threatens democratic governance. For that reason Argentina proposed a reflection on the efforts that all countries made to get rid of poverty, inequalities and social marginality.

Finally, Ambassador Gil welcomed the interventions and proposals of all civil society organizations on the long road to the Summits.

The Acting Secretary General, Ambassador Luigi Einaudi, greeted the participants of the Roundtable and underlined the importance of the theme of the IV Summit of the Americas: “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance” that will take place in Mar del Plata, Argentina in November 2005.

In addition, Ambassador Einaudi stated that the Fourth Summit will be an excellent space for the discussion of the challenges that the Hemisphere is facing as a result of the inequalities and the extreme poverty that exist. The Summits recognized the importance of including the private sector, unions, political parties, academics and non governmental organizations. The Acting Secretary General explained that the dialogue with civil society representatives is very important because common policies designed in benefit of all citizens in the Americas cannot be adopted without the widest public participation possible.

In closing, Ambassador Einaudi thanked all the participants, USAID and OSI for the supporting this Roundtable, the personnel of different agencies involved in this initiative, and finalized his remarks highlighting that democratic stability of the region depends on bringing the 200 million peoples in the Americas that live in poverty to enjoy the benefits of development.

The introduction to the Roundtable with Civil Society was provided by Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Director of the Summits of the Americas Secretariat. Dr. Rodriguez discussed the agenda of the Roundtable and explained that the event was the first in a series of seminars and forums leading up to the Fourth Summit of the Americas, “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance”, and an opportunity to exchange ideas between civil society organizations actively implementing Summit mandates and working in the areas of the inter-American agenda. Dr. Rodriguez concluded his remarks underscoring that the Roundtable is a building block and a launching point to bolster positive and constructive developments in policy-shaping activities that impact the quality of life in the region.

Session I - Creating Employment in the Americas

The Session, Creating Employment in the Americas, commenced with a presentation from Dr. Marcio Pochmann, Professor of Economics at the Universidade Federal de Campinas, regarding the creation of employment in the Americas. Dr. Pochmann provided insights into current trends in the Latin American labor market and stressed that a new labor paradigm will need far-reaching change with an emphasis on education as to prolong entry into the labor force. Citing the increasing gap between the rich and the poor in Latin America, Dr. Pochmann explained that 107 million jobs must be created in the next 15 years—a growth of 4-5% per year. In order to achieve such goals, Dr. Pochmann offered that the insertion into the global economy is essential, which will require a new social contract in which addresses education and the articulation of finance policies.

Prior to moderating the First Session’s discussion, Dr. Allan Rosenbaum, from the Florida International University, provided a few comments and suggestions to the representatives of civil society, which he felt could be interesting for further discussion and additional ideas to add to the thematic document. Dr. Rosenbaum briefly underscored the importance of a commitment to developing a strong local government, greater access to credit, higher level of applied education, and increased vocational educational activities. According to Dr. Rosenbaum it is important to create employment related to existing legal frameworks taking into account the fact that most jobs are created by small companies and not just by multinational corporations.

The discussion continued and saw the discourse of twenty representatives of civil society. The dialogue included recommendations which stressed strengthening the capacity of local and national governments and the private sector, the importance of developing and gaining access to science and technology, environments suitable for entrepreneurship, access to credit and training programs, promotion of educational reforms, and the inclusion of youth, gender, indigenous peoples, the disabled, and migrant workers via affirmative action. In addition, the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development were stressed.

Participants proposed the promotion of national systems of science and technology integrated at the national and domestic levels to determine the quality of work, with emphasize on internal markets.

Representatives also drew attention to the need to define the term poverty and to define which sectors of the population integrate the poor. Participants advocated the inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups such as afro-descendants and indigenous peoples, and called on Member States to address the poorest sectors in Latin America, citing that these populations make up 60% of the poorest sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean. In that sense, some representatives stated that afro-descendants and indigenous peoples make up the poorest sectors of society and should be represented in the preparatory process of the Summits of the Americas.

Representatives of civil society stressed the need for States to create initiatives or entrepreneurial programs that provide options for young people such as access to credit and flexible education options to promote their professional and educational development. Additionally, representatives mentioned the importance that States emphasize educational reforms and to pay more attention to practical training programs, citing that such programs should be provided at the local, regional, and national level, emphasizing the need for building capacity in local governments in this endeavor.

Participants also recognized the need to prevent and address the issue of child labor and the necessity of States to adopt legislation to combat this urgent issue. Members of civil society stated the importance of advancing in programs to combat corruption in the region and reaffirmed the the importance of the adoption of healthy fiscal policies that facilitate foreign investment in the region.

Finally, the discussion emphasized the importance of establishing indicators and measurable objectives to evaluate progress in the Summits of the Americas mandates, and the need for States to develop working plans with clear objectives and precise timelines for implementation.

Session II – Creating Employment to Confront Poverty

The Second Session, Creating Employment to Confront Poverty, commenced with a presentation from Cecilia Cortes, Executive Secretary of the Foundation of Peace and Democracy (FUNPADEM), regarding many of the social ramifications associated with poverty, unemployment and underemployment. Ms. Cortes explained that a job determines many of the possibilities a family has to gain access to adequate levels of education, health care and foodstuff. Likewise, Ms. Cortes drew attention to the fact that employment determines the ability for families to meet their basic needs. Referring to the creation of jobs as a mechanism to confront poverty, she pointed out that it is possible to reduce unemployment, respecting workers rights, right to minimum representation and developing conditions that provide decent work.

Ms. Cortés went through the social issues that cause poverty, such as the lack of basic and adequate education. Ms. Cortés explained that violence and delinquency are factors of low self-esteem and dignity; which is an element of social disintegration. For Ms. Cortés, the economic conditions of a nation can only be met if its workforce has the adequate motivation. Ms. Cortés also emphasized the need for enforceable labor legislation, the necessity to protect the fundamental rights of workers, to reduce forced labor, child labor and discrimination.

Moderating the Second Session’s discussion, Mr. Javier Torres, President of the Asociación de Servicios Educativos Rurales, opened the floor to discussion.

The dialogue among civil society saw the discourse of nineteen representatives. The exchange of ideas included recommendations which emphasized the need to recognize that the right to work is a human right and the importance that OAS Member States guarantee the creation of labor unions and protect worker rights. The participants stated that Member States need to respect international labor standards as well as the necessity to establish equitable policies to create employment as the key to confronting poverty. In this sense, participants agreed on the need of developing economic reforms to provide access to credit for micro and medium enterprises and to provide assistance to small businesses.

Participants discussed the importance of developing initiatives to include equity with respect to gender and minority groups in labor policies. Some of the participants agreed the policy makers must also take into account the rights of workers in the negotiation of trade agreements and underscored the importance of reviewing trade agreements in efforts to prioritize workers rights and include measures to protect migrant workers.

In addition, the participants referred to the importance of implementing educational reforms and the need to close the gap between the quality of education in public and private institutions, and the disparity between rural and urban educational systems. Discussion also included an emphasis on need to dedicate resources to the informal sector to integrate these into the formal economy and to design policies to provide more opportunities to include small business perspectives. And, some participants brought up the importance of OAS Member States to take necessary measures to combat human trafficking.

Partners of the Americas Presentation: Virtual (On-line) Deliberative Forums towards the Fourth Summit of the Americas

Before adjourning for lunch, Cynthia Smith, Director for Civil Society for Partners of the Americas, made a brief presentation about the On-line Deliberative Forums, a new initiative developed by her organization. The objective of the on-line virtual deliberations, which will take place between April-May 2005, is to promote cooperation among civil society organizations to generate strategies in the formulation of mandates for the Fourth Summit of the Americas. These forums compliment the dialogue between OAS Member States and civil society and the results of these deliberations will be shared within the framework of the Summit Implementation Review Group and the OAS General Assembly to development the Plan of Action for the Fourth Summit of the Americas.

Session III – Creating Employment to Strengthen Democratic Governance

The Third Session, Creating Employment to Strengthen Democratic Governance, began with a presentation from Dr. José Jara, Academic Coordinator of the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO-Chile), regarding the connection between employment and democratic governance. Dr. Jara highlighted three major points: institutional strengthening, economic and social development and social integration. Governance was discussed as a broad concept dealing with conflict and Dr. Jara called attention to the widely accepted and ill-fitted idea that more economic growth translates into more jobs. Dr. Jara also mentioned that temporary impacts on labor policy are not necessarily born of the globalization process and that often times nations and international organizations lack the tools and institutional ability to enforce. Dr. Jara explained that the development of employment through the lens of strengthening democratic governance requires greater stress on macroeconomic reforms, increased citizen participation, greater sanctions against corruption, regulatory reforms, and new labor policies which promote mobility in institutions, strengthen the relationship with labor unions, technological innovation and enforce minimum labor standards.

Prior to moderating the Third Session’s discussion, Gustavo Gamallo, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Democratic Network, provided a few comments and suggestions which called upon all actors to view employment through a new lens. Mr. Gamallo stressed that employment is the source of income for families, the foundation to well-being and that Latin American nations required social safeguards and social recognition explaining, “You are what you do”.

The discussion continued and saw the discourse of twenty representatives of civil society. The dialogue included recommendations which underlined the development of and access to science and technology, promoting peaceful conflict resolution, redefining poverty, the strengthening of human rights and legislation, the importance of culture and the inclusion of marginalized groups.

Representative discussed the need to seek new systems that ensure more equitable society. Representatives identified that the economic model that has prevailed in the region of the last two decades is limited and has resulted in extreme poverty and extreme wealth. The discourse included a redistribution of wealth should be a major concern of governments.

The discussion identified corruption as the principle contributors to poverty and disintegrating democratic governance. Representatives agreed that it is important to combat corruption and promote transparency. The discourse also included increasing emphasis on science and technology to help develop electronic governments so that citizens could have access to information. As citizens need access to accurate information to make informed decisions, some participants proposed the creation of a working group within the OAS political bodies and in the Summit of the Americas Process to follow up on quantifying access to information.

Representatives of civil society also emphasized the need to define poverty and identify the poor sectors of society, including handicapped mentally handicapped and marginalized populations such as afro-descendants and indigenous. Their discussion also stressed the importance of identifying these peoples in labor decision-making and, recognizing the impacts of discrimination, underscored the importance of enforcing affirmative action policies for excluded groups.

Members of civil society also pointed out that culture must be taken into consideration as generator of employment and that the elements of culture such as the arts were an important element to strengthen democratic governance. Likewise, participants addressed the importance of teaching the values of citizenship and teaching people their rights.

Finally, participants identified the need of establishing benchmarks to measure the Summit of Americas Process and to include in the mandates new and provocative paradigms with measurable and concrete goals in order to analyze its impact and to facilitate their implementation.

Session IV – Conclusions and Recommendations from Civil Society

The last Session, Conclusions and Recommendations from Civil Society, commenced with an introduction from Dr. George Vickers, Director of the Latin America Program for the Open Society Institute, regarding the structure of the last round of discussions and culmination of the previous three Sessions. Dr. Vickers explained that each moderator would return to present a summary of each of their sessions to be followed a brief discussion to provide any additional clarification. Dr. Vickers explained that the remaining time would be used to offer any addition suggestions or recommendations not already covered by the previous discussions.

Session I - Creating Employment in the Americas

In efforts to summarize the key elements discussed during the dialogue between civil society organizations, Dr. Rosenbaum listed a number of issues addressed including: national systems of science and technology, domestic markets, national efforts to create jobs, identifying the poor, promote citizen participation, consider youth as an importance force to generate employment, external debt, promote access to education, entrepreneurship, environment and educational reform.

Attempting to encapsulate all of the recommendations brought forth by civil society organizations, Dr. Rosenbaum developed several overarching themes to enlist greater definitions from civil society organizations including:

- Strengthening the capacity at the national level
- Strengthening the capacity of the private sector
- Strengthening the capacity at the local level

Dr. Rosenbaum’s reflections solicited the remarks of eight representatives of civil society. The remarks reiterated the need to include additional comments on civil education, recognizing youth as a social group, autonomy and economic security in the labor market, growth in international trade, science and technology, and minority acknowledgement (affirmative action).

Session II - Creating Employment to Confront Poverty

Javier Torres, drawing from his closing remarks during the second session, elaborated several general points of consensus, including:

- The recognition that certain groups have been excluded from overall development;
- The right to employment as a human right;
- Endorsement of core labor standards at the regional and international level;
- Ensure the free trade agreements include clauses regarding legal law instruments and incorporated into regional and national policies;
- The primacy of education as a fundamental mechanism to develop human capacity;
- National development need to emphasize the role of the informal sector;
- Revision of employment policies from national, regional and international mechanisms
- Promote the consultation process in reference to the reform of the Social Charter of the Americas (2001).

Mr. Torres’ reflections triggered the comments of six representatives of civil society. The remarks recapped the need to include additional comments on the millennium development goals, the acknowledgement of the access to resources, productivity, legal security, protection of the natural environment and labor standards.

Session III - Creating Employment to Strengthen Democratic Governance

Gustavo Gamallo initiated his comments by underlining some of the main points of the discussion of Session III. These included the establishment of mechanisms to incorporate the informal sector and create social protection systems, increasing the productivity of small and medium sized enterprises, greater roles for education and science and technology, creating mechanisms to protect worker’s rights, promotion of an open dialogue with the private sector, need to formulate a revised economic model including recognition of the poor correlation between economic growth and increased employment levels, incorporating marginalized groups, and increasing democratic governance to create a more favorable climate for inversion, access to information and diffusion, establishment of indicators as a means to measure progress.

Mr. Gamallo’s observations instigated the remarks of eight representatives of civil society. The observations highlighted the need to include the interconnectivity of worker’s and human rights and the strengthening of the Inter-American human rights system, strengthening of local governance as the institutional body closest to the citizenry, the importance of promoting transparency, encouraging greater citizen participation, establishment of a mechanism to follow-up on progress, and the importance of culture and its inclusion in local and national policy-making.

Dr. George Vickers provided a summary of the observations and noted the key elements and opened the discussion for additional comments and suggestions that were not already addressed by the previous three sessions.

Dr. Vickers’ call for additional comments prompted the remarks of four representatives of civil society. The remarks emphasized the need to include recognize children as a marginalized group, the importance of local capacity building, identifying environmental degradation as a violation of human rights, the agricultural sector of the economy and the stability of social security programs.

Closing Remarks

Citing time constraints, Dr. Vickers closed the final session and thanks all of the participants for their time and effort.


Special Session of the Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities (CISC): “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance”

Washington, DC, January 25, 2005

Welcoming Address

Ambassador Rodolfo Gil, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the OAS and Chairman of the CISC, welcomed all participants to the Special Session and opened the Special Session of the CISC. In a few words, Ambassador Gil discussed the importance of this dialogue with civil society in which and civil society can introduce recommendations for the consideration of OAS Member States and, in particular, for the Fourth Summit of the Americas. Ambassador Gil continued by welcoming the interventions and proposals of all civil society organizations from the Roundtable with Civil Society.

Presentation of CSO recommendations relating to the Fourth Summit of the Americas, “Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance”

Session I - Creating Employment in the Americas

Dr. Rosenbaum identified three main overarching themes:

- Strengthening the capacity at the local level
- Strengthening the capacity at the national level
- Strengthening the capacity of the private sector

The themes were followed by supporting comments from Dr. Rosenbaum, which included:

- Acknowledging the necessity for access to science and technology at the local and national levels
- Addressing the increased capacity for local entrepreneurship
- Identifying regulatory environments for all people
- Establishing access to credit and training programs
- Confirming the inclusion of youth, gender, indigenous, racial groups, and migrant workers (affirmative action and increase training programs emphasized)
- Improving local and national level development
- Including new educational strategies which stress professional development and include those that have been marginalized
- Emphasizing environmental sustainability
- Acquiring access to natural resources (especially for indigenous populations)
- Developing a regulatory framework that responds to needs and opportunities

Session II - Creating Employment to Confront Poverty

Mr. Torres commenced by underlining that civil society organizations reached a consensus on the need to recognize the sectors of society that live in poverty which have been marginalized historically. Torres continued point by point recanting the points of consensus reached during the Roundtable with civil society:

- Recognizing the right to employment as a human right
- Acknowledging that current economic models have produced exacerbated levels of poverty
- Emphasizing the right to freedom of association, the right to form labor unions, the need to eliminate forced labor and child labor
- Identifying the need to address human trafficking
- Affirming the millennium development goals
- Developing national plans of action that Include marginalized sectors, women, migrant workers, disabled, afro-descendants and indigenous peoples
- Confirming that education is the key to capacity building
- Acknowledging the need to focus on technological advancements
- Recognizing the need to incorporate the informal sectors into the mainstream economy
- Developing mechanisms to revise employment policies—and the rights of workers—with governments and multilateral agencies and organizations
- Ensuring the inclusion of clauses and legal law instruments into regional and national policies and free trade agreements

Session III - Creating Employment to Strengthen Democratic Governance

Mr. Gamallo opened with a general statement encompassing the main ideas for he was about to present. Mr. Gamallo continued by listing the main points of consensus emanating from the third session:

- Recognizing the need for income, social protection and social recognition—as income determines basic needs
- Ensuring the new employment and labor policies that are inline with economic development
- Acknowledging necessity to enhance medium and small enterprises
- Guaranteeing judicial reform
- Recognizing that the labor sector effects democratic governance because it impacts social standing
- Acknowledging that old paradigms were unable to provide for all sectors and people
- Emphasizing the role of education
- Ensuring accurate public information
- Incorporating human rights issues into trade agreements
- Ensuring that affirmative action policies include all social groups—including the participation of disabled persons.
- Recognizing the need to strengthen local governments, leaders and citizenry, including mechanisms to monitor corruption and promote transparency
- Developing mechanisms to reverse the concentration of media and the “blocking” of information to the people

Comments from Member States

United States:

- Cited the importance of consultations between civil society groups and regional governments as OAS member states prepare to convene at the summit, to be held in Argentina next November.
- Stressed that democratic governance, which requires countries to fight corruption and advance transparency, is a prerequisite for economic success.
- Identified that local governments have an enormously important role to play in creating the conditions for local businesses to create jobs.
- Explained that education is critical to ending joblessness and we need to continue looking for ways to expand access to education and to improve the quality of education.
- Encouraged civil society groups to ask whether regional governments are implementing the agenda they outlined at previous Summits of the Americas in efforts to hold governments accountable for living up to those commitments.
- Encouraged civil society organizations to register to the OAS in order to participate in the General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale (April 5th deadline).

Canada:

- Acknowledged the efforts of Argentina to increase civil society participation in the Summits of the Americas Process.
- Pleased to see Canadian organization represented in the Roundtable and CISC
- Recognized the efforts of the Canadian International Development Agency to hold consultations with civil society on the themes of youth and the recommendations emanating from Quebec and Monterrey
- Identified that the challenge was to integrate comments into a civil society plan of action which reflected their diversity and distinct priorities.
- Committed to civil society participation and will continue to hold consultations.

Colombia:

- Acknowledged the OAS for the Roundtable with Civil Society and Special Session of the CISC.
- Emphasized their willingness to continue advancing the ideas of civil society in preparation for the fourth Summit of the Americas.
- Reaffirmed that the government will have an increased presence at the Summit and will be more active in concrete project.
- Recognized that economic growth alone was not sufficient to create, improve and alleviate poverty but that we new and revised public policies and adequate institutional infrastructure.

Paraguay:

- Acknowledged the efforts of the OAS and Argentina
- Underscored their intention to take into account the recommendation from civil society

Ecuador:

- Acknowledged the efforts of the OAS and Argentina
- Emphasized that the thematic document from Argentina should take into account the external debt experienced by many Latin American and Caribbean nations as an important factor in creating employment.

Mexico:

- Commend the Office for the Summit Process and the distinguished Motivators/Moderators and civil society representatives for their efforts to enrich the Summit Process.
- Current economic models haven’t proven their efficiency and the need to open up channels and create mechanisms for civil society is important.

Argentina (Presentation by Ms. Bordenave):

- Highlighted the Argentine Plan of Action with regard to civil society participation in the events leading up to the Fourth Summit of the Americas.
- Identified the efforts to increase the participation of civil society organizations in the Summit Process and create mechanisms of exchange between civil society organizations and Member States.
- Recognized the importance to disseminate information regarding the Summit Process.
- Discussed the six thematic forums:

. Gender Forum
. Human Rights Forum
. Employment Forum
. Thought Forum (academic Forum)
. Youth Forum
. II Indigenous Summit

Antigua and Barbuda:

- Acknowledged the efforts of the OAS and Argentina
- Emphasized the importance of well compensated employment—“living wage” not “minimum wage”
- Underscored the idea that employment is an important element to preserve democracy.
- Acknowledged the need to develop mechanisms to increase the standard of living to bring already impoverished out of misery.

Chile:

- Acknowledged the efforts of the OAS and Argentina
- Recognized that, in order to overcome poverty, policies should be an objective of the hemispheric agenda.

Venezuela:

- Acknowledged the efforts of the OAS and Argentina
- Identified solidarity and citizenship as key elements which have been forgotten in the thematic document.
- Embraced the idea of civil change through innovative and direct exercises in excluded zones to reach marginalized citizens (emphasized their national health and social campaigns that encouraged the participation of communities).

Costa Rica:

- Acknowledged the efforts of the OAS and Argentina
- Recognized the increased presence of civil society participation in the Summit process and in OAS activities
- Emphasized that democracy and human rights are only strengthened when citizens have a source of quality employment.

Nicaragua:

- Recognized the organizers of the Roundtable and Special Session and called for the active participation of civil society.

Comments from civil society:

Darrel McLeod, Assembly of First Nations:

- Announced the II Indigenous Summit (October 2005)
- Explained that the purpose of the II Summit is to underscore the work of the OAS and provide a forum for indigenous perspectives and best practice methodologies.
- Highlighted the OAS and the indigenous peoples of the Americas—Plan of Action and Declaration in the formulation of strategies to overcome barriers and combat poverty.

Louis Bélanger, Centre d'études interaméricaines, Université Laval:

- Announced the Academic Forum (Thought Forum) and explained that the event would to bring together the Academic community of the Americas.
- Explained that academics will act as consultants to provide contributions to the Summit Process to develop concrete policies and proposals for the Fourth Summit of the America.

Lloyd Rankine, The Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD):

- Highlighted the fact that Trinidad and Tobago have many programs to share with the world on poverty reduction and local programs to alleviate poverty—micro-credit programs.
- Emphasized the need for a multi-dimensional understanding of poverty taking into account the short-term nature of income, social problems, economies, and cultural, social and religious ideologies.
- Stressed the need to develop a poverty index to with measurable short-term and long-term objectives.

Christina Rodriguez, Institute for Public Management and Community Service, Florida International University:

- Emphasized the role of local governments in job creation, poverty reduction, and strengthening democratic governance.
- Announced the Inter-American Conference of Mayors and Local Officials (June 21-23, 2005, Miami, Florida)
- Encouraged civil society participation in the event.

Ricardo Sol, Fundación para la Paz y la Democracia (FUNDAPEM):

- Identified the importance of the access to timely and quality information and mechanisms to ensure that civil society recommendations will be taken into consideration.
- Recognized the development of local governments as a key element in democratic governance and the creation and implementation of employment.
- Cited a recent study from the Inter-American Development Bank stressing the importance of a strong public sector.

Victor Hugo Ricco, Centro de Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente (CEDHA):

- Explicated that combating poverty seeks the positive actions from the State.
- Cited the Nuevo Leon Declaration—the right to access public information is indispensable
- Called on OAS Member States to commit to create the necessary conditions to access public information.

Marco Guzman, Fundación Paz Mundial:

- Emphasized the need for a law that guarantees citizen participation.
- Elucidated that “Peace” is “so far away yet so close” and called on OAS Member States to consider a disarmament initiative to create a culture of peace.
- Explained that the acquisition of arms is a driving factor for external debt and called for an effective disarmament plan to reverse the current paradigm.

Publio Vargas, Fundacion Humanistas por la Paz:

- Underscored the need to establish a favorable environment for employment in a manner in which is favorable for the nation taking into consideration education, health, foodstuff and quality of work.
- Called for economic policies to increase productivity and support sectors that generate the most employment.
- Emphasized the necessity for families to meet their basic needs.

Marcela Donadio, SER en el 2000:

- Emphasized the importance of transparency and anti-corruption initiatives throughout the Americas.
- Recognized that the security of the people is ultimately the responsibility of the State.

Barbara Bramble, National Wildlife Federation:

- Stressed the need to relate the goals of the summit with the Millennium Development goals.
- Emphasized the need to create mechanisms to formulate and finance plans of action with attention to the approach (targets, timetables, and measurable goals).
- Highlighted the importance of creating a sustainable natural environment.

Jason Marcsyk, Partners of the Americas:

- Announced the theme based online deliberative forum initiative to be hosted by experts from civil society in preparation for the Fourth Summit of the Americas.

Elvia Duque, AFROAMERICA XXI:

- Called upon all civil society organizations and Member States to recognize the need to fight racial discrimination of afro and indigenous descendents.
- Stressed the need to formulate strategies that incorporate traditionally marginalized groups and recognize the ethnic diversity that exists in the Americas.

Claire Antonelli, Global Rights:

- Reaffirmed the commitment to solving problems to creating an open space for the exchange of recommendations and perspectives.

Hernan Chaimovich, Inter American Network of Academies of Science (IANAS):

- Reaffirmed that Science and technology must remain a central point of debate in terms of the theme for the Fourth Summit of the Americas.
- Stressed the need to access science and technology available in developed countries—as local smaller communities perceive science and technology as luxuries and not basic requirements.
- Emphasized that the thematic document developed by Argentina must include the creation of local science and technology developments.

Marcia Brandon, Barbados Youth Business Trust:

- Highlighted that creating employment and strengthening democratic governance needs the full participation of all capable human beings.
- Emphasized the need to ensure that productive work produces a living wage—to provide them more time to participate in democratic governance.
- Stressed that generating jobs removes youth from poverty.

Closing remarks

Jorge Sanin, Civil Society Coordinator, extended his sincere appreciation, on behalf of the Summits of the Americas Secretariat, to the government of Argentina for opening and promoting this type of participation and to the Member States—who are convinced that this kind of participation is essential to policy shaping in the Hemisphere. The Office would also like to acknowledge the government of the United States, the US State Department, USAID and the Open Society Institute for their contribution and support. Mr. Sanin also recognized the efforts of my staff for their teamwork and professionalism and all of the civil society organizations present for their research, dedication and investment into this process.