V Summit of the Americas: background, d eclaration of commitment and agenda

1. V Summit of the Americas: background, declaration of commitment and agenda Speech by the Director General of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Carlos Appelgren, at REMIM-III. Thursday, November 13, 2008.-

2. Background of the V Summit • There have been four regular and two special summits held so far: • I Summit, Miami, USA, 1994. • Summit on Sustainable Development, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 1996. • II Summit, Santiago, 1998. • III Summit, Quebec, Canada, 2001. • Special Summit, Monterrey, Mexico, 2003. • IV Summit, Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2005. • The V Summit of the Americas will be held April 17-19, 2009, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

3. Gender Topics included in previous Summits 1991, Miami: Incorporated the main concepts necessary for effective participation: education, training and employment. It urged ratification of conventional instruments, CEDAW and the Convention of Belém do Pará. 1998, Santiago: Urged the analysis of legislation in force to identify obstacles to the full participation of women in society and of legislation to protect their rights. Encouraged cooperative efforts between governments and the IDB, CEPAL and the CIM.

4. Gender topics included in previous Summits 2001, Quebec: the role of the CIM as SIRG technical advisor on gender topics was strengthened. Access and use of TIC’s in dealing with gender inequality was encouraged and there was continued support for the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equity.

5. Gender topics included in previous Summits 2004, Monterrey: reiterated the importance of empowering women to participate fully and equally in society in order to reduce poverty and spur development. It was agreed that human trafficking affects women and children in particular and a commitment was made to cooperate to combat that crime. With regard to the establishment of strong political parties, it was agreed that , among other things, leaders, including women, needed to be developed and provided political training.

6. Gender topics included in previous Summits 2005, Mar del Plata: Emphasis was placed on designing policies to eliminate gender-based discrimination in the workplace. A commitment was made in the Plan of Action to implement policies to increase women’s access to decent, honorable and productive employment. That context included labor and social policies to secure equal access to social benefits. It was agreed to coordinate with the CIM, CEPAL and the ILO to strengthen national capacity to produce statistics, specially in the labor area, and to provide a breakdown by sex and race.

7. Draft Declaration of Commitment • Theme of the Fifth Summit of the Americas: • “Secure our citizen’s future by promoting human prosperity, energy security, and environmental sustainability.” • The Declaration is divided into six sections • Promote human prosperity (Par. 5 to 29) • Promote energy security (Par. 30 to 38) • Promote environmental sustainability (Par. 39 to 47) • Reinforce public security (Par. 48 to 50) • Reinforce democratic governance (Par.51 to 57) • Reinforce follow-up of the summit and the effectiveness of implementation (Par.58 to 66)

8. Gender Topics in the Fifth Summit of the Americas • Section: “Reinforce Democratic Governance” • Paragraph 56: • “We commit to continue mainstreaming gender in our public policy and to reinforce the institutional mechanisms for the advancement of youth and women. We will advance women’s full and equal participation in public life and decision-making at all levels in their countries, and enact laws that promote respect for their human rights and gender equity and equality.”

9. Additional References • Section: “Promote Human Prosperity” • Paragraph 10: • “We reiterate our commitment to protect women and children from economic exploitation and we instruct the ministers responsible for Education, Labor and Social Development, to adopt coordinated national strategies, to prevent and eradicate child labor by the year 2020, according to the hemispheric Decent Work Agenda and to develop innovative strategies to bring children back to healthy learning environments. We also reiterate our commitment to eliminate forced labor by the year 2010.”

10. Additional References • Section: “Promote Human Prosperity” • Paragraph 16 on access to basic : • “We recognize that the problems of inequality of access and exclusion from basic health services persist, especially among the most vulnerable, including women, children, indigenous peoples and the poor. We, therefore, commit to providing essential social protection and universal access to quality health care, taking into consideration labor, environmental, gender and social security policies, and we will increase public spending on health to, at least, 5% of GDP by 2015, in order to address the health challenges faced by our people”.

11. Additional References • Section: “Promote Human Prosperity” • Paragraph 25 on education goals: • “We reaffirm our commitment to achieving a secondary enrollment rate of at least 75% by 2010, and we call on the Ministers of Education and the OAS, with the support of regional specialized institutions and UNESCO, to develop a gender-sensitive hemispheric strategy to reform secondary education and make it accessible to all children, specially those from marginalized groups, by 2015(…).”

12. NEGOTIATION PROCESS IN THE SIRG SPHERE • In 2008, Trinidad and Tobago scheduled 4 meetings of the SIRG (Summit Implementation Review Group), for the purpose of achieving consensus on the Declaration of Commitment of the Fifth Summit. • Barbados (September 18 and 19). Already held. • Antigua and Barbuda (October 15 to 17). Already held. • USA, Washington DC, at OAS Headquarters (November 17 to 19) • El Salvador (December 11 to 13)