Ibero-American Summit Produces Few Concrete Proposals

 
Approximately 40 million children and adolescents in Latin America live or spend most of their time on the streets of the region's major cities, the United Nations reports. There they face violence, abuse and sexual exploitation. In addition, nearly 100 million Latin American children live in poverty. Colombia is an especially frightening case; according to President Andrés Pastrana, the subversive forces in that country include some 6000 minor-age combatants.

Twenty-one presidents and heads of state from Latin America, Spain and Portugal gathered in Panama City on November 17 and 18 to discuss these grim statistics at the Tenth Ibero-American Summit. The outcome of their meeting was the so-called Panama Declaration, which commits the participants to seeking solutions to the problems facing young people in the region.

The last decade saw some progress in the areas of infant mortality, disease eradication, school attendance and literacy rates. In addition to these accomplishments, the heads of state pledged to make early education accessible to all Latin American children by 2015, and to make primary school attendance both free and mandatory. They also agreed to broaden social security coverage to include the greatest possible number of families and set a 2010 goal to expand basic health care services by at least 50%, especially for children and pregnant women.

The summit participants also asked those countries that have not already done so to consider the possibility of signing, ratifying or adhering to the principles of Article 182 of the International Labor Organization, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor. The Panama Declaration urges that legislative action and strict measures be taken to punish those who participate or collaborate in cases of trafficking, kidnapping, sexual exploitation or organ theft involving children and adolescents.

Other topics addressed at the summit included democracy and institutionalization. Speaking about the recent crises of democratic continuity in Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay, the Spanish president, José María Aznar, argued that "these days especially, the Ibero-American community must, in my opinion, pay special attention to the strengthening of democratic institutions." In fact, the final declaration called for the "promotion and defense of democracy and the rule of law, political pluralism and human rights," and welcomed the creation of the Ibero-American School of Government and Public Policy.

Attention was diverted from the summit agenda when Fidel Castro denounced an alleged plot to assassinate him. Also distracting were the harsh words the Cuban leader exchanged with Salvadoran President Francisco Flores when Castro refused to join his counterparts in condemning the violence of ETA, the Basque separatist group. Nevertheless, a date was set for the next summit, to be held in Lima next November. The proceedings ended with a call to "respect the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and nonintervention; avoiding the use of force or the threat of force in international relations; seeking peaceful solutions to disputes; and protecting the right of all peoples to freely build their political systems."

As has been the case all too often, however, the goals and declarations of this summit seem unlikely to make the leap from paper into practice. The topic under discussion was especially important, dealing as it did with the rights and development of children and young people. But as usual, the summit was characterized by lots of talk and little in the way of action.

www.xcumbre-mire.gob.pa