|
Participa Statement Raises Questions About Civil Society's Influence on the Summit The Participa process is the result of consultations held with nearly 900 civil society organizations, as well as a three-day meeting of selected representatives in Miami on January 18-20. This broad consultation followed a methodology of "homogenized" composites of civil society positions pioneered in USAID Latin American country programs in the mid-1990s. These US government efforts at "building" civil society emphasized general consensus on broad policy goals while they sought to down play more critical disruptive activist approaches. In some countries, such as the Dominican Republic, this desire to tone down conflictive rhetoric isolated mainstream union organizations as well as more activist environmental and human rights groups. Currently, this distinction can be seen between the Hemispheric Social Alliance's confrontational approach, which seeks alternatives to current policies, and Participa's tendency to produce civil society positions that coincide with those of sympathetic mid-level government and multilateral representatives. According to the Participa statement accompanying the final declaration, the Chilean NGO that organized the consultations feels that the meetings underscored the great potential and contributions of civil society organizations. Using wording that could be interpreted as criticism of the organizers of the Second People's Summit in Quebec City, the statement goes on to say that "participants in the meeting unanimously determined that �dialogue and collaboration with government and multi-lateral organizations is possible and fruitful." This assertion is bound to be controversial, as no one who reads the summary of the consultations or who observed the Miami meeting would venture to describe civil society input to the Summit process itself as "fruitful." Significant questions arose in Miami about Participa's ability to have an impact on the Summit, given the absence of any provisions to lobby for its recommendations in Quebec City. The OAS and governmental representatives at the Miami meeting seem to have implied that they would assume this role from then on. From the opening debates right up to the closing session, real dissatisfaction was evident over the lack of any follow-up to the consultations and synthesis. It appears that the process will have to wait until new financing is made available by the Inter-American Development Bank and the US and Canadian governments. Also lacking in the Participa statement was any mention of the need to bring the FTAA negotiations back into the overall context of the Summit process. This was one of the most important and hotly debated questions in the document Participa presented to the SIRG. Even more troubling perhaps was the failure to include the strong concerns expressed at the Miami meeting over the lack of any progress in the previous Summit work plans. The wording of the Participa statement, taken outside the context of the document it accompanies, could be misleading if "fruitful" discussions and collaboration are confused with producing results. It remains to be seen how this position document will be used to provide new impetus to the Summit process. More important, it is uncertain how the Participa process will continue to develop an independent civil society presence in the multilateral discussions of social and economic policy that the Summit of the Americas process embodies. The Spanish-language text of the Participa statement appears below: Los d�as 18,
19 y 20 de enero del 2001 se realiz� en Miami la "Reuni�n Final
Hemisf�rica del Proceso de Consulta a Organizaciones de la Sociedad
Civil en el contexto de la III Cumbre de las Am�ricas." En esta
reuni�n se dieron cita cerca de 90 representantes de organizaciones de
la sociedad civil de 18 pa�ses de la regi�n, de gobiernos de las
Am�ricas para el proceso oficial de Cumbres, de organismos
internacionales y de agencias de cooperaci�n. Durante los tres d�as se
debatieron, en un clima de mutuo respeto y cooperaci�n, propuestas que
desde la sociedad civil se enviar�n a la III Cumbre de las Am�ricas,
para ser consideradas e incluidas en el Documento que firmar�n los
Presidentes, en la Ciudad de Quebec. Las propuestas de la sociedad civil
que se debatieron, fueron el producto de un proceso de seis meses de
duraci�n, organizado y coordinado por la Corporaci�n PARTICIPA de
Chile, en alianza con la Fundaci�n ESQUEL de Estados Unidos y FOCAL de
Canad�. En �l participaron cerca de 900 organizaciones y redes, entre
ellas la Red Interamericana para la Democracia, CRIES, CEJIL, WRI, y
Transparencia Internacional. Al finalizar el encuentro, fue destacado
un�nimemente por los participantes que la reuni�n hab�a servido para
demostrar el gran potencial de trabajo y aporte que tienen las
organizaciones de la sociedad civil y que es posible y fruct�fero el
di�logo y trabajo colaborativo con los gobiernos y las instancias
internacionales que los representan. El producto final de la reuni�n
fue entregado al proceso oficial de cumbres, para su tratamiento en la
pr�xima reuni�n del GRIC (Grupo Revisor de la Implementaci�n de
Cumbres de la OEA) del 30 de enero. En documentos para bajar, destacamos
el Documento Final de la Reuni�n, el Documento que sirvi� de base para
la discusi�n y que contiene las propuestas de los pa�ses y redes y la
lista de participantes a la reuni�n.
|