Informeisagsen - APR12

UNASUR

South American Institute of Government in Health

Rio de Janeiro, March 2012

Report WWW.ISAGS-UNASUR.ORG

HOW THE UNASUR CHANCELLORS MEETING IN ASUNCIÓN OF MARCH 2012 WENT COORDINATION OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

By Luana Bermudez - International Relations Advisor Manoel Giffoni - Information Advisor

The last Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers, which took place in Asunción on March 17, was a milestone for the Union of South American Nations to set the 2013 Annual Operating Budget for UNASUR's Secretary General and Common Initiatives and to advance the institutionalization of centers linked to health, defense and democracy.

The negotiations among chancellors resulted in t h e “A s u n c i ó n D e c l a ra t i o n ”, w h o s e introduction states that a consolidation of “a new regional architecture” is pivotal. The aim is to reach full political, economic, cultural, energetic, environmental and infrastructural integration in the region. From this premise, 16 recommendations and guidelines on the future of Unasur were established.

Constituted on March 23, 2008, Unasur holds as its second most important decision court the Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting, with a yearly meeting. Its most important decision court is the Secretaries of State's Council.

RETROSPECTIVE In the opening session, the Secretary General of the bloc, María Emma Mejía, presented to the chancellors a report of last year's achievements of the Secretary General and the nine Sectorial Councils, highlighting the improvements in defense, infrastructure and telecommunications, as well as announcing that the South American Register of Defense Spending is expected to be presented in May this year. The Register will bring transparency to the expenses of the countries in the issue, which Mejía considered “a major step in the consolidation of trust among the countries of the sub-continent”.

Mejía also defined as a “historic decision” the approval of the Agenda of Priority Integration Projects (API) by the South American Council on Infrastructure and Planning (Cosiplan), in November 2011. It is about a set of 88 infrastructure works gathered into 31 largescale projects that will involve an investment of around US$ 15 billion with a conclusion scheduled for 2022.

Another measure highlighted by the Secretary General was the approval by the

Telecommunication Secretaries of a plan defining the next 18 months' path for the operations of the South American Integration Network. The program will enable the increase of Internet access as well as lower its costs in the region.

Last year, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela signed the Additional Protocol on the Commitment to Democracy. In the same period, the headquarter of the Secretary General was inaugurated in Quito, Ecuador, and two other specialized institutes were opened: the Center for Strategic Defense Studies (Ceed), in Buenos Aires, and the South American Institute of Government in Health (Isags), in Rio de Janeiro. A new council on the electoral subject and the South American Monitoring Center for Drug Issues around the Globe was created.

According to Mejía, it is necessary to reinforce the performance of areas with achievements to be reached, such as the negotiation of the South American Energy Treaty, the definition of economic measures to protect the region against the international financial crisis and the constitution of the Priority Social Actions Agenda by the bloc.

BUDGET Despite last year's achievements, Unasur had been operating thanks to voluntary contributions from governments. Between June and December 2012, the budget of the bloc was US$ 1.2 million, “a tight budget”, in the words of the Secretary General.

With the approval of the 2011-2012 and 2013 budgets, it is determined that Unasur's institutes, such as Isags and Ceed, are to be financed directly by the Secretary General after being institutionalized. The distribution is the same made to UNASUR Solidarity Fund with Haiti, created after the earthquake. At first the shares were determined by the smallest amount according to three criteria: contribution of US$ 0.257 per inhabitant, an assessment of each Country's GDP or a contribution associated with their exports. The fund has then made an adjustment in the participations, resulting in the present division.

Orçamento da Unasul emindólares estadunidenses Unasur's Budget U.S. Dollars

Argentina Bolivia Brazil Brasil

Colombia

2011-2012

2013

6.217.895 , ,

, , 1.572.070,88

Countries Participação dos Participation países 16,00%

50.000 50

78.603,54 ,

0,80%

, 2.150.000 ,

, , 3.831.922,77

39,00%

50 50.000

786.035,44 ,

8,00%

640.000 640

, 687.781,01

7,00%

, , 1.562.000

393.017,72 ,

4,00%

Guyana Guiana

25.000 25

9.825,44 ,

0,10%

Paraguay Paraguai

50 50.000

, 157.207,09

1,60%

100.000 100

982.544,30 ,

10,00% 0,10%

Chile Equador Ecuador

Perú Suriname

50 50.000

, 9.825,44

Uruguay

50.000 50

, 98.254,43

1,00%

250.000 250

, 1.218.354,93 ,

12,40%

, 11.194.895 ,

, , 9.825.443,00

100,00%

Venezuela Total

The Delegates Council, which took place in Asunción two days before the chancellors meeting, was entitled to write the final version of Unasur's General Regulations before the meeting of the Council composed by the Secretaries of State of the bloc, on November 30 in Lima. The delegates will also formulate the regulation proposal of relations with third parties, which will approach the possibility of other Latin American and Caribbean States' association, among other topics.

UNASUR AND SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION The Declaration demonstrates the strategic nature of the south-south cooperation for Unasur and mentions as examples this year's third edition of the summit of the South American-Arab (ASPA) and South AmericaAfrica (ASA) Countries. Within the scope of the South-South cooperation, the declaration plans concerted actions in multilateral forums, such as the World Health Organization and Rio+20.

Therefore, the countries have shown their commitment to the success of the United N a t i o n s C o n fe r e n c e o n S u s t a i n a b l e Development, taking place in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, and have promised a High Level participation in the meeting. The relevance of an “integrated approach” was reinforced. It shall include, as determined in Johannesburg, economic and social development, as well as environmental protection.

UNASUR

South American Institute of Government in Health

Report

The Secretaries also called the Member States to coordinate a sole candidature for the General Directorate of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), whose election will take place next September, with the purpose of “having a broad participation of Unasur in the body and also prompting reforms”.

The affinity of positions in the health area has already fructified in the 2010 World Health Assembly, in Geneva, in which South American countries defended the right to access medication as public goods.

The same integration capacity has been seen during the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, in October 2011, Rio de Janeiro. In this conference, the coordinated political action of member countries, along with the Technical Group of Health Promotion and Action on Social Determinants of Health and groups of civil society, was able to present in the final document considerations on the global economic crisis, among other subjects.

However the participants of the conference pointed to the importance of enhancing coordinated bloc actions and the political and strategic planning for the settlement of the remaining fragmentations.

The Secretaries of State have also called the people from Unasur to take part in the discussion on Food Safety with Sovereignty, subject of the next General Assembly of the Organization of American States, taking place next June in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

According to the chancellor of Bolivia, David Choquehuanca, a general convocation is justified since the subject “is not the exclusive responsibility of governments, Heads of State and authorities; it is also important to have the participation of everybody, including social organizations, organized civil society and the diverse democratic institutions present in each one of our countries”.

The Declaration Project on the issue includes mechanisms and commitments about the commerce of genetic resources, access to water, national sovereignty over land and land division, the prioritization of regional and national products for domestic supply, fostering of fair trade, the control of food prices and the re-appreciation and strengthening of family agriculture, among others. The South American Social Development Council was instructed to incorporate the subject into its work agenda.

DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS For the Secretaries, Unasur now reflects the present moment of democracy consolidation in the region by incorporating into its structure means of promoting democracy and human rights.

The Secretaries celebrate, for example, Peru's decision on establishing in Lima the Center for

Democracy Promotion and Electoral Transparency Studies, just when the Additional Protocol on the Commitment to Democracy was once again ratified, by Chile this time.

Once implemented, the South American protection regime includes holding dialogues between litigious parties and diplomatic management in case of rifts in the democratic order. The possibility of suspending the right of a country to participate in the bloc will also be discussed, as well as the partial or total closure of land borders, the suspension of air and vessel traffic, communication and energy, goods and services supply, as well as other topics.

The Secretaries of State from Unasur countries also considered the Ecuadorian proposal for creating a court to deal with the promotion of human rights.

SECURITY, DEFENCE AND THE MALVINAS The main subject of Unasur, security, has had important advances with the South American Register of Defense Expenditure, which will be presented at a seminar in the coming months.

Moreover, there is a military drill agenda for this year, provided in the 2012 Action Plan of the South American Defense Council, and the creation of the Center for Strategic Defense Studies (Ceed) in Buenos Aires.

Ceed will allow the countries to have an important court that studies and promotes measures aiming at improving reciprocal trust and cooperation in defense and safety matters, such as the authorization of expenses and transparency.

According to Jaime Thorne León, Peruvian Secretary of Defense and Pro-tempore President of the South American Defense Council, “thanks to Ceed, we can have the tools that will allow us to get to know the characteristics and motivations of the new challenges that the Armed Forces will have to deal with, such as environmental terrorism, drug dealing and international organized crime”.

The chancellors have also supported holding the meeting of Secretaries of State for Home Department, State, Defense and Justice, scheduled to May 2012 in Cartagena, in order to analyze the threats of organized transnational crime and other new security threats in the region. Similarly, it was decided to foster the functioning of the Mechanism for Regular Consultations on Judicial, Police, Financial, and Customs Authorities and of the Drug Enforcement Agency of the South American Countries in the scope of the Global Drug Problem Council.

Permanent court for consultation, cooperation and coordination to tackle drug issues, the Council decided to create the mechanism last November in order to enable the exchange of information, experiences and national good

ISAGS - Instituto Sul-Americano de Governo em Saúde Av. Nilo Peçanha 38 – 5º andar – Centro – Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil CEP 20020-100. Tel.: + 55 – 21 – 2215-1858

practices, in order to prompt an effective regional cooperation regarding common and shared responsibilities in the war against drug issues and related crimes.

The chancellors Council reaffirmed in the Malvinas Declaration its “complete support to the legitimate right” of Argentina over the Malvinas and stimulated its members to take, in accordance with international rights, “all possible measures” to stop the entry into ports by ships flying the “illegal flag of the Malvinas”.

The declaration also urged the United Kingdom to resume negotiations regarding the islands with the South American country.

ENERGY AND COMMUNICATION At the opening of the meeting, one of the plans mentioned by the Secretary General was the South American Integration Network, which designs the construction of an optical ring. The ring will enable a reduction in costs and an improvement in regional sovereignty over data transmission.

According to the Paraguayan Secretary of Public Works, Cecilio Pérez, Pro Tempore President of Cosiplan and the person in charge of the project, “we want ordinary people to have the right to access the internet as if they were in any other developed country”.

Regarding the South American Energy Treaty, María Emma Mejía declared to be unsatisfied with its pace. As a consequence, the secretaries recommended the Energy Council to summon a meeting in the second quarter of the current year for writing the final version of the contract, as provided by the Cardenales and Georgetown Declarations on the relevance of its elaboration and approval. The treaty will be a regional judicial milestone that will serve as a reference for the countries of the bloc with regards to the energy field.

HEALTH AND ISAGS The chancellors have requested for the Health Council, which will meet on April 20, to “promptly approve” the Budget of the South American Institute of Government in Health (Isags), referring to it as a “reference in studies, debates and investigations for policies aiming at the development of leaders and strategic human resources in health, directed to foment, in the region, governance and articulated management of policies in such an important sector for the South American Nations”.

It represents, in practice, another major step towards the complete institutionalization of Isags, whose statute will be assessed at the Meeting of Heads of State later this year. Both these actions, as well as the signing of the Headquarters Agreement between the Secretary General and the Brazilian government, will consolidate the existence of the institute as an intergovernmental body.