A REVIEW OF THE OAS SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON SECURITY
Remarks by Ambassador Miguel Ruiz-Cabañas at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (National Defense University)

Colleagues for the Americas Seminar

Washington, D. C., November 21, 2003

Distinguished authorities of the institute for National Strategic Studies of the National Defense University

Ladies and gentleman,

It is my great honor to participate in this Seminar to reflect upon the outcome of the OAS Special Conference on Security, held in Mexico City last October. I thank the Institute for inviting me to be here today.

As you all know, the Special Conference on Security ended up with the adoption of the Declaration on Security in the Americas, a document that was drafted and negotiated throughout eleven arduous months here in Washington, D. C., at the OAS Committee on Hemispheric Security, in a process that demanded a great amount of political will and commitment from the OAS member states.

As a result of that, we were able to define a new concept of security for the hemisphere, that was tailored according to our current particular circumstances. In that perspective, we defined that security in the Americas is multidimensional in scope, includes traditional and new threats, concerns, and other challenges to the security of the states of the Hemisphere, incorporates the priorities of each state, contributes to the consolidation of peace, integral development, and social justice, and is based on democratic values, respect for and promotion and defense of human rights, solidarity, cooperation, and respect for national sovereignty.

As you can see, our comprehensive definition of security includes a broad range of aspects that reflect the present regional trends on the subject.

One of the key elements of this new concept of security is the introduction of the multidimensional approach to security, that was first adopted by the OAS at the XXXII General Assembly held in Barbados in 2002 through the Bridgetown Declaration, which underscores that the security threats, concerns, and other challenges in the hemispheric context are of diverse nature and multidimensional scope, and the traditional concept and approach must be expanded to encompass new and nontraditional threats, which include political, economic, social, health, and environmental aspects. This is a very important innovation in dealing with security in the hemisphere and I will make further comments on the subject later on my presentation.

The other main ingredients in this new definition of security, such as peace, integral development, social justice, democracy, human rights and national sovereignty, represent either urgent demands or cornerstone principles for security and stability in our region, that is why it was so important to make them part of our new conception of security.

From the very early stages in the negotiation process, however, it made clear that we all have different perspectives and different priorities when addressing the issue of security for our people, for our countries, and for our region. Some countries would put emphasis on traditional military threats to security, while others would focus more on natural disasters, extreme poverty or epidemic deceases.

Thus, our primary challenge consisted in identifying principles, shared values and common approaches to hemispheric security, that would serve as a basis for our understanding on the issue, in order to outline a rout-map for security in the Americas that could be flexible enough to respond to the security requirements of all member states.

In this perspective, a main contribution of the Declaration is the recognition of the sovereign right of each State to identify its own national security priorities and to define strategies, plans and actions for addressing threats to its security, in accordance with its legal system and with full respect for international law and the norms and principles of the Charter of the OAS and the Charter of the United Nations.

In this respect, the declaration is very clear when it affirms that "The states of the Hemisphere recognize different perspectives regarding security threats and priorities. The security architecture in our Hemisphere should be flexible and provide for the particular circumstances of each sub-region and each state".

Furthermore, it is important to stress that security in the Hemisphere has, as a fundamental basis, the respect of the principles of international law. Hence, whatever ways we chose to combat the different threats to security, we will always do it in accordance and with full respect to international law.

Another remarkable feature of the Declaration is the introduction of a human-centered approach to security, meaning that human beings are at the core of our new conception of security. In this regard, we reaffirm that the basis and purpose of security is the protection of human beings, and we assert that the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and good governance, are essential for the stability, peace, and political, economic and social development of the states of the hemisphere.

On the issue of new threats to security, we went one step beyond the Bridgetown Declaration by identifying those kinds of threats, concerns and other challenges affecting the security of the states of the hemisphere. In this regard, after extensive debates, we came up with a list of issues which fall under this classification, among them: terrorism, transnational organized crime, the global drug problem, corruption, asset laundering, illicit trafficking in weapons, extreme poverty and social exclusion of broad sectors of the population, natural and man-made disasters, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, other health risks, and environmental degradation; trafficking in persons; attacks to cyber security, etc.

On the other side, we succeed in providing the Declaration with the appropriate balance between the new and traditional threats to security. When addressing the latter, we agreed on a number of issues ranging from the principles concerning the peaceful settlement of disputes to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Also included in this chapter are topics like: limits to military spending, elimination of anti-personal land mines and fostering confidence and security building measures, among others.

In our perspective, the newly adopted concept and approach to hemispheric security by the OAS member states, responds to the security challenges we are facing in the dawn of the new Century. The end of the Cold War era brought out dramatic transformations in the international arena, causing a shift in the security priorities and concerns for the entire region. Then, as the Cold War oriented conception of security vanished, a new and fresh conception of security, suitable to the new requirements and realities of our nations, began to take shape.

That was the assessment of our Heads of Sate and Government when, five years ago, they instructed the Organization of American States to follow up on and expand topics relating to confidence and security building measures; analyze the meaning, scope, and implications of international security concepts in the Hemisphere, with a view to developing the most appropriate common approaches by which to manage their various aspects, including disarmament and arms control; and pinpoint ways to revitalize and strengthen the institutions of the inter-American system related to the various aspects of Hemispheric Security.

Along the preparatory process of the Conference, we touched upon the issue of the Inter- American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Río Treaty) and the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement (Pact of Bogotá) vis a vis the new security realities in the hemisphere and, as a result of our deliberations, we reached a consensus on continuing the process of study and assessment of both instruments. That, in fact, is a recognition that some security mechanisms that were useful in the past, do not necessarily reflect the security requirements we have today and must be updated according to our new conception of security.

I would also like to emphasize that, a couple of decades ago, the OAS member states envisioned the arriving of emerging security concerns for our countries and began to develop appropriate institutions within the Inter-American system to deal with the different threats, concerns and challenges to security.

Therefore, over the last decades, we developed entities like the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism; The Inter-American Commission for Drug Abuse Control; The Inter-American Committee on Reduction of Natural Disasters; the Consultative Committee of CIFTA, which deals with illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms; the Unity for Promotion of Democracy, the Meetings of Ministers of Justice or Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA) etc., and we also count on much older institutions like the Pan American Health Organization.

This institutional network is an extraordinary asset for the Inter-American system to deal with those security matters that have emerged as effective or potential threats to security of our states. The next step is to revitalize and strengthen the organs, institutions, and mechanisms of the inter-American system related to the various aspects of hemispheric security and strengthen coordination among all these agencies through the OAS Committee on Hemispheric Security.

After this very brief presentation of the present trends on security matters in the Americas, from the OAS perspective, we can conclude by expressing that the Special Conference on Security is a starting point in dealing with the topic of regional security. Its significant contributions to the assessment of the hemispheric security issue will be a matter of reflection and analysis in the months and years to come, in a task that involves governments, scholars and the civil society as a whole.

Also, it is important to point out that, at the request of the Central American Group and Colombia, respectively, the Conference adopted a declaration on the Central American Democratic Security Model, which underscores the substantial contributions of the Central American Integration System to the structure of hemispheric security and the progress achieved in the integral development of its democratic security model, and a Declaration on the Situation in Colombia, which expresses solidarity with the people and the Government of Colombia in their fight against terrorism and other destabilizing threats and the defense of their democratic institutions, and supports the Colombian Government in its quest for negotiated peaceful solutions to overcome internal conflict, following a cessation of hostilities.

Lastly, allow me to reiterate that the Declaration on Security in the Americas is a great achievement for the sake of security in the hemisphere, since it contains the political will and commitment of our governments to work together under certain principles, shared values and common approaches in building up conditions for a safer, more stable, and more secure region. Along its 52 paragraphs, it provides us guidance and paves the way to address the security challenges our nations are facing at the very beginning of the new century.

Thank you very much.


Source:
Institute for National Strategic Studies
National Defense University (NDU)