Academic Roundtable in the framework of the XXXV General Assembly of the OAS
The Academic Forum of the Summit of the Americas (AFSA), organized on June 3 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, an Academic Roundtable, to discuss the theme of the IV Summit of the Americas: “Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance” and its relation with the XXXV OAS General Assembly theme “Delivering the Benefits of Democracy.”
At this Academic Roundtable, cosponsored by the Inter-American Network of Academic of Sciences –IANAS-, thirty academics were part of the discussions, with key government officials from the Hemisphere and OAS representatives who shared their points of view related to democracy, economic integration and institutional reforms.
The Academic Forum of the Summit of the Americas (AFSA) was formed after the Special Summit of the Americas held in Monterrey, Mexico in 2004, as a mandate agreed by the Heads of State and Government to ensure a voice for academics in the Summit Process.
Participants of the Roundtable expressed consensus on matters such as the fully implementation of the Inter–American Democratic Charter and the creation of an independent agency to monitor compliance, the building of an early warning system, and the application of sanctions to Member States in violation of the Charter.
The need to review the mandates approved at prior Summits; set priorities, and find means to broad the engagement of inter-American institutions aligning their operations with Summit mandates, where some of the recommendations formulated at the roundtable. They also suggested that the Summit mandates should include quantitative targets, clear goals, timetables. and implementation and evaluation mechanisms.
The results and proposals from the Academic Roundtable were presented to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the Dialogue between the Heads of Delegation, the OAS Secretary General and Civil Society Representatives on Sunday, June 5, 2005 in the framework of the XXXV OAS General Assembly. For further information please visit:
http://www.science.oas.org/Doc/events/academic_round_table_agenda_may31_05.doc