GUYANA SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE COUNCIL OF UNASUR

Nov 04, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

In 2010 there was an attempted coup against the President of Ecuador. Following this attempted coup, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) met in Georgetown, Guyana, and agreed to adopt a democratic clause to the Constitutive Treaty of the grouping.
The democracy clause was inserted into the Constitutive Treaty by means of an additional Protocol. The Protocol allows for UNASUR to take action in response to certain developments within a member state which threatens the legitimate exercise of power and the “application of the values and principles of democracy.”
It allows for action by the grouping in the event that political power is usurped or democratic values threatened within any country that belongs to UNASUR.
UNASUR has the option of taking action, including suspending the member, closing the land borders with that member, advocate for the suspension of the member from other regional groupings or taking other diplomatic and political action that is deemed necessary.
The decision to move towards the adoption of the democratic clause followed on the heels on the attempted coup in Ecuador in 2012. UNASUR wanted to signal that it was not going to tolerate any rupture of the democratic process since the only source of democratic power that it recognizes is that which comes through free and fair elections.
But the additional protocol also aims to safeguard the protection of human rights and other democratic values within South America.
The first test of this democratic clause came in 2012 when a legislative tyranny in Paraguay caused the ouster of the President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo. UNASUR condemned the actions of the legislature in not affording the President adequate time for due process. He was only given two hours in which to defend himself.
Lugo was impeached and UNASUR took the decision in conformity with its democratic clause to suspend that country from its body. UNASUR deemed the removal of Lugo as a “rupture of the democratic order.”
Guyana is now confronted with a situation different from that of Paraguay. There is no attempt to remove the government from power but there is a threat to the democratic order by the failure of the government to announce a date for local government elections or indeed to offer a plausible explanation for its failure to do so.
UNASUR by virtue of the democratic clause seeks to avoid a situation in which the government is removed other than through free and fair elections. As such, if there is any measure within a member state that frustrates the lawful holding of free and after elections, it is within the mandate of UNASUR to consider such impediments and to signal its disapproval.
The President of Guyana recently announced that it would be foolish of him to call local government elections in light of the pending no-confidence motion. This confirms that the government has no legitimate reasons from not announcing a date for local government elections and is therefore subverting the democratic process by not doing so.
The opposition parties should immediately dispatch a notification to the Heads of UNASUR alerting them to this threat to the democratic order in Guyana.
There is also an attack on the free press in Guyana. This constitutes an attack on the free press. This attack on the media in Guyana constitutes an attack on the democratic values shared by UNASUR member states and thus it falls within the violation that can trigger a response from UNASUR.
It is therefore advisable that the Kaieteur News also dispatch a complaint to the Council of Heads of UNASUR drawing to the attention of the group the threats that have been made against this newspaper.
UNASUR should be put on notice that the Government of Guyana is acting contrary to the democratic values endorsed by UNASUR. The regional grouping should be asked to bring diplomatic pressure on the Guyana government to respect freedom of the press and the right of the people to local democracy.

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GUYANA SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE COUNCIL OF UNASUR

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