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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <meta name="DATE" content="1/6/1999"> <meta name="Author" content="Nancy Warren"> <title>MR. AXWORTHY - ADDRESS TO INSTITUTO TECNOLÓGICO AUTÓNOMO DE MÉXICO (ITAM) - 'CANADA'S HUMAN SECURITY AGENDA FOR THE HEMISPHERE' - MEXICO CITY, MEXICO</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 99/3 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE INSTITUTO TECNOLÓGICO AUTÓNOMO DE MÉXICO (ITAM) "CANADA'S HUMAN SECURITY AGENDA FOR THE HEMISPHERE" MEXICO CITY, Mexico January 11, 1999 (6:00 p.m. EST) This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca In recent years, Canada and Mexico have come to know each other better. As our relationship develops, partnerships and co-operation -- international, regional and bilateral -- have grown considerably. An important part of this has been the expanding number and variety of direct contacts -- economic, political, social, cultural and academic -- between Canadians and Mexicans. In that regard, I am very pleased to be with you to share some thoughts on Canada's foreign policy. As both students and practitioners of international politics, you are well aware that security -- obtaining and maintaining it -- has been a traditional leitmotif in global politics. Indeed, Mexico has been a leader in building multilateral agreements to advance global security, notably in the area of disarmament and arms control. This was reflected most clearly through Mexico's leadership in developing the Treaty of Tlaltelolco, for which, among his other accomplishments, former Foreign Minister Garcia Robles was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. Today, I would like to address the evolving challenges to global security in a changing world, review Canada's response, discuss the hemispheric dimension, and focus on one issue in particular -- the fight against illicit drugs. The Challenge Of Human Security The events of the past decade have diverted the global community from the well-worn trails of the Cold War to new, unchartered paths toward the next century. As a result, our traditional guidebook for global security is in need of an update. A few certainties have emerged from the new world disorder to help give us our bearings. Civilians are increasingly the main victims and targets of violent conflicts -- especially the most vulnerable. This is partly the result of a change in the complexion of war. The majority of conflicts now occur inside rather than between states. Regardless, the world has witnessed human tragedies of devastating proportions -- massive refugee flows and the grossest violations of humanitarian law, including genocide. The nature of threats to global security is evolving. Many are multifaceted, and have a transnational dimension. The challenges posed by illicit drugs, terrorism, environmental despoliation, human rights abuses and weapons proliferation respect no borders, but cut across many disciplines. They cannot be solved unilaterally. They do, however, have a direct impact on us through the safety of our streets, the air we breathe, the quality of our lives. No one is immune -- we are all affected. The inescapable truth of our lives today is they are more connected than ever. We live in the age of the World Wide Web -- far-off concerns, isolated from our own lives, are a thing of the past. And while globalization presents opportunities, it can also expose all of us -- especially the most vulnerable -- to economic and social insecurity. The common denominator of these new realities is their human dimension. Our changing world has increasingly put the individual, more precisely, the security of the individual, at the centre of global affairs. As a result, the safety and well-being of the individual -- human security -- has become a new measure of global security. Promoting humanitarian objectives -- protection from abuse, reducing risks of physical endangerment, improving the quality of life, and creating the tools to guarantee these goals -- should provide, and indeed are providing, a new impetus for concerted global action. The international community is being mobilized to address subjects that affect everyday lives. These new threats require that we see security increasingly in terms of human, rather than state needs. This is not to deny that traditional state-based security concerns are obsolete. Human security and national security are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they are opposites sides of the same global security coin. Canada's Response It is within this context that Canada has been reshaping and refocussing our own foreign policy priorities. We are increasingly occupied with issues that strike directly home to the individual. This human security-centred approach to global relations is based on a number of elements: Engagement not isolationism: Canadians have long been open to the world. This openness creates both prosperity and vulnerabilities. Sooner or later, directly or indirectly, others' insecurity becomes our problem, and in some cases, our insecurity. The transboundary nature of many of the challenges we face makes co-operative action at different levels global, regional and local, all the more essential if they are to be tackled effectively. Advancing fundamental standards of humanity: New and updated international humanitarian and human rights instruments will help to guarantee protection for individuals. They serve to expand the reach and scope of humanitarian norms. They set a higher standard of global behaviour to which we are all bound. This was the objective behind our strong support for the creation of the International Criminal Court. Promoting peacebuilding: Human security can be enhanced by strengthening the capacity of a society to manage its differences without violence. This is why we established the Canadian Peacebuilding Initiative two years ago. Working with civil society, the initiative funds practical projects to build democratic institutions, increase local capacity-- for example training for legislators, jurists, public servants, or creating an independent media -- all with a view to establishing sustainable peace. Reforming existing international and regional organizations: Institutions established in a different era, such as the United Nations Security Council and the OAS [Organization of American States], need to better reflect the changing nature of threats to peace and security -- especially their human dimension. This will give us the collective capacity not only to respond to crisis but to be proactive in moving human security forward. Canada takes its place on the Security Council this month. We will work to better integrate humanitarian concerns into the Council's agenda. Pursuing new, innovative partnerships and coalitions: Canada is working in concert with other like-minded countries to advance global action on human security issues. However, it is evident that foreign policy is no longer simply the preserve of nation-states and diplomats. New players on the international scene, including non-governmental organizations, business associations, trade unions, and regional organizations have a growing influence. They can play a positive and productive role, which continues to be the case with the ban on anti-personnel mines, where civil society was instrumental in achieving our objectives. Using soft power concepts -- creatively: Negotiation rather than coercion, powerful ideas rather than powerful weapons, public diplomacy rather than backroom bargaining -- these are effective means to pursue many elements of human security. In the information age, new communications tools, in particular, should, can, and have been used effectively in the service of our goals. The Hemispheric Dimension In practical terms, all of these elements have resulted in more focus and activism in Canadian foreign policy on some key human security problems. We have brought this perspective to our engagement in the hemisphere. In many ways, human security concerns -- and collective hemispheric responses to them -- are already part of the regional agenda. In this regard, the Santiago Summit was a milestone event. The four themes of the Summit - improving access to education, eradicating poverty and discrimination, strengthening and preserving democracy, justice and human rights and ensuring economic prosperity reflect a distinctly human-centred approach to hemispheric affairs. Our leaders have made these themes a collective priority. This demonstrates that we are already on the road to putting human security at the head of hemispheric concerns. Canada will host the next Summit. We are working actively with our hemispheric partners in translating the commitments made at the Summit into concrete progress. Hemispheric security concerns have an increasingly human dimension. Strong regional support for efforts to ban anti-personnel mines vividly illustrates the human security agenda in action. Thirty-three member states of the OAS have signed the Convention, and 14 have ratified it. Concrete efforts are under way to make the objectives of the Convention a reality in our own neighbourhood. Central American countries have made a firm commitment to eradicate landmines by the year 2000. Canada and Mexico are working together in this area. This week, we organized a regional landmines conference aimed at taking stock and redoubling regional efforts. We were very pleased to have the active participation of civil society. The partnership that led to the Ottawa Convention is indispensable in realizing its goals. The proliferation of small arms, like landmines, is a global security problem but one with an undeniable regional dimension. The proliferation of light, cheap weapons -- the instrument of choice of terrorists, drug lords and criminals -- is having a devastating impact on our societies. And it is the most vulnerable in our societies who suffer most. Here too we are making progress. Last year, OAS member states signed the Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Material -- a Mexican-led initiative. The first of its kind in the world, it targets the illegal trade in firearms through more effective controls on the legal trade. This is proof of our willingness and capacity to take collective action against crime and violence in the Americas -- a very real threat to ordinary people. We need to go further to address other aspects through practical approaches tailored to real problems on the ground: disarming and reintegrating child soldiers; taking weapons out of circulation in societies that are saturated with them; and retraining and re-equipping people in these societies so that they can lead peaceful and productive lives. Stable and open societies provide a firm foundation for enhancing human security. Hemispheric leaders affirmed this at Santiago with their emphasis on democracy, justice and human rights. Three areas of focus are peacebuilding, integrating all sectors into the political, economic and social lives of our societies, and strengthening democratic institutions. Societies emerging from conflict need particular attention. Through our peacebuilding initiative, Canada is supporting a number of projects in Central America aimed at building local capacity to manage differences without violence, and creating the conditions for sustainable peace. Today, Foreign Secretary Green and I announced a joint Canada-Mexico program with the Pan American Health Organization to assist landmine victims in Central America. A great collective challenge for us is to promote greater social equity while pursuing economic reform and sustainable growth. All of our citizens, including women, children, the disabled and our indigenous peoples, must be able to live in societies that reflect their interests, satisfy their legitimate aspirations and guarantee real participation in and access to the political, economic and social life of our countries. Strengthening national human rights frameworks and the inter-American human rights system are the twin instruments to move this issue forward. I am particularly encouraged that indigenous issues are beginning to register with greater resonance on the hemispheric radar. Indeed, Mexico and Canada have been working to build links between our indigenous communities with a particular emphasis on developing business partnerships. Progress in these areas must be accompanied by a commitment to strengthening democratic institutions, especially legislatures and judiciaries. Canada played a significant role in the development of concrete commitments at Santiago -- focussing on access to justice, independence of the judiciary in systems of criminal justice, organized and transnational crime, children and youth, and more regular contact among justice ministers of the hemisphere. Legislatures are also key for the effective functioning of representative democracies. At the first Summit of the Americas in Miami, our leaders tasked the OAS with encouraging exchanges of experiences among our legislatures. The OAS has followed up on this by organizing the first meeting of a network of parliamentary leaders of the Americas in Santo Domingo in November. This network is an important step in building parliamentary exchanges within the framework of the OAS -- a process endorsed by foreign ministers at the OAS General Assembly in Caracas last June. Advancing human security requires not only that we look at what issues we address but how we address them. To this end, the time has come to further redefine the interaction between governments and non-state actors, through dialogue, consultation and participation to meet emerging challenges and threats. Strengthening civil society is not only a key element in the consolidation of democracy. It promotes accountability, and contributes to the formulation of better policy by taking into account the concerns, preoccupations and expertise held by citizens. At the regional level, Summit leaders endorsed increased dialogue between governments and civil society. At the OAS, we are collectively working to modernize the relationship of the Organization with civil society. We need to continue the reform of our regional institutions to better respond to human security challenges. Undersecretary-General Gaviria, the OAS has been developing a new vision of its role as the hemisphere's principal political and social forum. The establishment of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy and the expansion of the Organization's Committee on Hemispheric Security to include human security issues demonstrate the Organization's capacity to adapt its role to the challenges of the next century. The mandate given to the Organization by Summit leaders will add further momentum and shape to the OAS modernization process. As we pursue reform at the OAS, Secretary Green, U.S. Secretary of State Albright and I have discussed how to complement these efforts through greater co-operation among the three North American countries in addressing emerging human and social challenges. We agreed on an agenda for trilateral co-operation that emphasizes our common identity as North Americans. From this flows unique challenges and opportunities to pursue closer continental co-operation across a broad range of human security issues. For example, as North Americans we should be working more closely together on common environmental challenges, continental disaster relief operations, more people-to-people exchanges involving students, academics, indigenous peoples, government officials, and the private sector, just to mention a few. Secretary Green, Secretary Albright and myself are taking up this challenge because it can improve the daily lives of our citizens, and it builds on what we share in common. We will meet again in the coming months to review progress. Illicit Drugs Human security concerns are clearly a growing part of the hemispheric agenda. The dimensions of these challenges have an impact on the way we do business, and are encouraging us to look at new partnerships and approaches. One threat -- illicit drugs -- poses a major human security challenge for the governments and peoples of the hemisphere. It is a problem that affects us all: from the street children whose lives are destroyed by sniffing glue day after day, to the citizens whose taxes are raised to pay for policing of trafficking routes, and states whose delicate relations are made even more complicated by the international politics of illicit drugs. In many ways, it is a quintessential human security challenge: multifaceted, transnational, superficially attractive, ingeniously adaptive but brutally destructive. As such, it calls for a human security response: creative, multidimensional, co-operative yet decisive. Much is already being done in this regard. Many governments have national drug strategies that include efforts to reduce demand through educational and health programs, to reduce supplies through eradication or alternative development, and to control trafficking through interdiction, law enforcement or measures to counter money laundering. Non-governmental organizations also play a major role through, for example, specialized research to guide public health interventions or through community development projects. The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) fosters co-operation among states in the Americas. Work is now under way in CICAD to establish a Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism. Various United Nation forums also foster the development of multilateral approaches to this problem. As we have elsewhere, Canada and Mexico have collaborated extensively in these anti-drug bodies. Yet we believe that more must be done to counter this threat, and to address fully its impact on human security. Failure to advance in our common fight against illicit drugs will undermine other objectives like hemispheric integration and democratic consolidation. That is why Canada offered, at the Santiago Summit last year, to convene a Foreign Ministers Dialogue on Drugs in the Americas. The idea has been well received by others, including the Government of Mexico. We very much appreciated Mexico's leadership in proposing the UN General Assembly Special Session last summer, and look forward to Mexico's contribution to this initiative. We are discussing options for a first meeting on the margins of the OAS General Assembly in Guatemala. To that end, I am distributing to my colleagues a paper for reflection suggesting five areas for discussion: 1. Governance: Fragile democratic institutions and the absence of full guarantees for human rights can undermine anti-drug efforts. Foreign Ministers could explore options for enhancing the capacity of police and judicial institutions to enforce the law, while guaranteeing justice and human rights. They could also discuss ways of building on efforts to minimize corruption and curtail the political influence of drug-related criminal organization. 2. Small arms and firearms: The illicit proliferation of small arms and firearms adds to the arsenals of drug traffickers, undercuts law enforcement and jeopardizes public security. Ministers could work together to promote the ratification of the Inter-American Firearms convention, the development of complementary global instruments and the strengthening of domestic institutions charged with implementing these standards. 3. Development and trade: The difficulties of sustaining legal alternatives to the cultivation of plant-based drugs, and of gaining access to markets for those legal goods, complicates supply-reduction efforts. The Dialogue Group could explore ways of working together to generate greater support for alternative development, and to increase market access for legal alternatives to illicit drug crops. 4. Education and health: Many promising programs are under way to educate youth and other high-risk groups on the alternatives to drug abuse, and to treat those who do end up abusing those substances. Foreign Ministers might discuss how we can enhance international co-operation in this area, and promote research on the effectiveness of demand-reduction programs in different national settings. 5. Public engagement: Recent international agreements, including the Santiago Plan of Action and several documents adopted at the UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem, call for greater collaboration with civil society organizations working on drugs and broader human security issues. We believe that Foreign Ministers could do more to encourage public initiatives, and to involve sectors of the public in a dialogue on policy options in this area. These are not the only drug-related issues of concern in the hemisphere. Yet they are matters on which we believe Foreign Ministers could make a significant contribution. They would help to ensure coherence among existing efforts, to reinforce promising initiatives that deserve more support, and especially to foster innovation in engaging our citizens in the search for solutions. Each of these issues is complex. Their discussion requires careful preparation and consultation with a range of stakeholders. With this in mind, we have asked a consortium of independent research centres to organize a conference in early spring, to generate more ideas for the Foreign Ministers Dialogue in June. We look forward to the active participation of Mexican experts at that conference. And we are confident that Canada and Mexico can work together to make the Dialogue a productive contribution to the construction of human security in the hemisphere. Conclusion Our changing world has redefined traditional notions of security. Increasingly, the security challenges we face and our impetus for action -- global, regional or local -- are based on the security of the individual. I have outlined how Canada is responding, and have highlighted the hemispheric dimension of our efforts, especially the challenges posed by illicit drugs. Over the next few years, Canada will host a series of hemispheric events ending with the next Hemispheric Summit. We are committed to strengthening links with the hemisphere, and in so doing to advance human security in the region. Canada and Mexico have established a sound partnership, which will allow us, together, to play a leadership role in promoting this objective. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. </body> </html>

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