U.S. Secretary of State condemns nations that violate human rights

Americas-Africa Democracy Ties Must Benefit Regions’ People

By Eric Green, USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- A burgeoning democratic partnership between the Americas and Africa must translate into better lives for people in those regions, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Speaking July 11 at the Organization of American States (OAS), Rice lamented the “great and tragic suffering” by too many people in the Americas and Africa who are excluded from opportunities for economic advancement and social justice.

Such conditions, said Rice, are causing people in those regions to “wonder whether democracies really can deliver” on citizens’ “rightfully high hopes for a better life.”

When citizens’ hopes for advancement are frustrated, Rice said, the seeds for social and economic upheaval are sown.  To foster stability and peace, the democratic governments of Africa and the Americas must “liberate the creativity and industry of their people,” and help them “seize the opportunities of regional and global trade,” Rice said.

“It should not be easier to start a rebellion than to start a business,” Rice said.

The right to vote, she added, is not enough “when men, women and children lack opportunity, personal security, health care and education.”

The secretary spoke at the opening of a two-day OAS-African Union (AU) Democracy Bridge Forum, which is focusing on applying the tenets of separate pro-democracy charters adopted by the OAS in September 2001 and the African group in January.  (See related article.)

Rice said the Americas and Africa have “enshrined” within their regions a commitment to democracy through these two “visionary” charters.  The Washington meeting now establishes a commitment to democracy “between our regions … to each other,” said Rice.

“That is the great vision that brings us together today,” said Rice.

The partnership between the OAS and the AU grew out of the Community of Democracies, a coalition of countries that works to promote and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide.  Mali, which serves as chair of that coalition, will host a Community of Democracies Ministerial Conference in November.

The secretary said the democratic partnership must be used to fight corruption and protect civil liberties and the rule of law.  Through free and fair elections, she said, “governments earn legitimacy in the eyes of their people, and it is through good governance that they earn people's trust and confidence that life will get better.”

SUPPORT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WORLDWIDE

Rice said the pro-democracy charters must help the people of the Americas and Africa and in the wider world gain a “future of freedom.”  She pointed to Cuba, Zimbabwe and Burma as examples of nations where people still are being deprived of basic human rights. And in Sudan’s Darfur region, Rice said, the world’s democracies must “resolve to end the suffering and violence.” 

Rice said the world community must not let the government of Sudan continue this “game of cat-and-mouse diplomacy” of making promises and then reneging on those promises.

“It is our responsibility as principled democracies” to hold the government of Sudan accountable for what is occurring in Darfur, said Rice.  She said a planned AU-U.N. peacekeeping force is “essential to increasing security for the people of Darfur so that they can begin returning to their homes.”

Rice said that in centuries past, the peoples of the Americas and Africa met in a “more tragic way … across the bridge of slavery” spanning the Atlantic Ocean.

"The ties that bound our people were literally the shackles and the bindings of slavery,” Rice said.

“Now we have a different and hopeful binding,” Rice said.  “We meet here [at the OAS] to build these new bridges between us -- bridges of liberty, justice, dignity and human rights which transcend all differences in culture, race, and religion.”

“History will remember the new bridge of democracy and freedom that we build together,” Rice said.

The full text of Rice’s remarks and more information on the Community of Democracies are available on the State Department Web site.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)