IBERO-AMERICA: Ombudsmen Call for Social Justice and Development

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

TOLEDO, Spain, Apr 16 1997 (IPS) - Ombudsmen from the Ibero-American Community closed a conference Wednesday in Spain with a call for social justice and development, which they underlined as essential for establishing the conditions for peace and respect for the fundamental rights of citizens.

The need to protect the rights of women, indigenous people, children and immigrants was highlighted at the three-day second Congress of the Federation of Ibero-American Ombudsmen (FIO), brought to a close in Toledo by the King and Queen of Spain.

The FIO approved the “Toledo Declaration” which calls on all States and international bodies to consider ombudsmen “active subjects” in defending the basic rights of citizens.

Participants demanded authority to act in their countries as a “counter-power” capable of receiving, channeling and backing petitions by citizens who felt harmed by the actions of executive, legislative or judicial branch officials.

The Congress urged all Latin American ombudsmen and people’s defenders to work to attain the authority to oversee the administration of justice, essential for achieving “a deeper respect for the fundamental rights” of citizens.

Participating in this week’s conference were representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The situation of immigrants was given special mention by the FIO. The Toledo Declaration states that foreign workers have the right to freely circulate and live with dignity and freedom, whatever their legal situation, origin, ethnic background or place of birth.

The president of Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, Mireille Roccati Velazquez, and the People’s Defender of El Salvador, Victoria Velasques de Avilus, called for opposition to U.S. immigration laws, which they said “exacerbate racism and xenophobia.”

The Toledo Declaration also condemns human rights violations in three specific cases: the hostage crisis that broke out with the Dec. 17, 1996 seizure of the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru by a guerrilla commando; the inhumane conditions in a number of Colombian prisons; and the kidnapping of two citizens by the Basque separatist organisation ETA in Spain.

Colombian ombudsman Jose Castro Caycedo offered his institution to broker a solution to the armed conflict in his country. “Colombia is in the midst of a war between several armed sectors, with the civilian population, whose right to neutrality is not respected, as its victim.”

He added that the only solution for the violence racking his country lay in dialogue, and that his objective since he was named to his post has been peace, “because if there is respect for human rights, peace is possible, and if there is peace there will be respect for human rights.”

Castro Caycedo also underlined that “integral sustainable development, social justice and full respect for human rights is required” to achieve democracy worthy of the name.

The European Commission’s assistant director for Latin America, Santiago Gomez Reino, who participated in the Congress as a guest, said the consolidation and strengthening of the ombudsman role in the region was receiving special attention by the European Union.

“Our objective is not only to support the consolidation of democracy, but also the fight against marginalisation, social exclusion and extreme poverty,” he added.

Cuba “declined the invitation,” according to organisers of the Congress. The Cuban Embassy in Madrid refused to comment.

The Congress elected Spanish people’s defender Fernando Alvarez de Miranda as the president of the FIO, and set Peru as the site for its 1998 meeting.