Safeguarding Democracy in the Americas: How to Strengthen the Inter-American Democratic Charter, 20 Years After Its Adoption

This year’s Ninth Summit of the Americas takes place amid a steady erosion of democratic values in the hemisphere. Indeed, the defense of democracy is a defining challenge for this region.

Twenty years ago, to safeguard the region’s hard-fought democratic gains, every country in the region except Cuba signed onto the Inter-American Democratic Charter. The transitional government of Peru created the initial proposal for a charter shortly before the Third Summit of the Americas in April 2001, held in Canada. In the “Declaration of Quebec City” produced at the summit, leaders agreed that democracy and the rule of law were an “essential condition” for participation in the summit process, and emphasized the need for better tools to defend democracy in the hemisphere. On September 11, 2001, in Lima, Peru, during a special session of the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly, foreign ministers from the 34 democratic countries of the Americas adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Building on the OAS Charter, this historic agreement made democracy a ticket for participation in the OAS and in the summit process, and created new mechanisms to address democratic backsliding. There are many success stories. But the charter’s tools, and its enforcement by OAS member states, have not been infallible. Today, despite numerous proposals to improve the application of the charter, there are three authoritarian states in Latin America and many others in the Western Hemisphere where the balance of power, judicial independence and civil liberties have greatly diminished. At the same time, millions of citizens across the region have lost faith in democracy. This year’s Summit of the Americas offers an opportunity to consider what has led to successes in the region and to find solutions to urgent challenges.

On June 8, in Los Angeles, the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Burkle Center for International Relations,  Latin American Institute and the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), The Carter Center, and the Community of Democracies convened experts and senior leaders to discuss ways to strengthen the collective defense of democracy in the Americas. This regional democracy dialogue, took place on the margins of the Summit of the Americas, was designed to generate and advance realistic policy recommendations to improve the charter’s application by OAS member states and adopt other measures to strengthen democratic governance in the region.