last updated Oct/12/00

Summit of the Americas, Quebec 2001

We, the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas, have met in Quebec City at our Third Summit, to renew our commitment to hemispheric integration and national and collective responsibility for improving the economic well-being and security of our people. We have adopted a Plan of Action to strengthen representative democracy, promote good governance and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.* We seek to create greater prosperity and expand economic opportunities while fostering social justice and the realization of human potential. 

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We reiterate our commitment to combat new, multi-dimensional threats to the security of our societies. Foremost amongst these threats are the global drug problem and related crimes, the illicit traffic in and criminal use of firearms, the growing danger posed by organized crime and the general problem of violence in our societies. Acknowledging that corruption undermines core democratic values, challenges political stability and economic growth and thus threatens vital interests in our Hemisphere, we pledge to reinvigorate our fight against corruption. We also recognize the need to improve the conditions for human security in the Hemisphere.

We renew our commitment to the full implementation of the Anti-Drug Strategy in the Hemisphere, based on the principles of shared responsibility, a comprehensive and balanced approach, and multilateral cooperation. We welcome the development of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism and reiterate our commitment to make this mechanism, unique in the world, one of the central pillars in effective hemispheric cooperation in the struggle against all the factors that constitute the global drug problem. We express our support for effective alternative development programs aimed at the eradication of illicit cultivation and will strive to facilitate market access for products resulting from these programs ...

Recognizing the extreme nature of the drug problem in the region, renewing their unwavering commitment to fight it in all its manifestations from an integral perspective, in accordance with the principle of shared responsibility, through the coordination of national efforts and in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect as established in the Hemispheric Anti-Drug Strategy , and also recognizing the work accomplished by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Governmental Experts Group appointed to undertake the first round of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM):

 

Note with satisfaction the creation and implementation of the MEM, and reiterate their commitment to make this instrument, unique in the world, a central pillar of assistance toward effective hemispheric cooperation in the struggle against all the component elements of the global drug problem;

 

Implement the proposals and recommendations found in the national and hemispheric reports, approved by CICAD, in accordance with the specific situation of each country;

 

Continue strengthening and reviewing the MEM to monitor national and hemispheric efforts against drugs, and recommend concrete actions to encourage inter-American cooperation and national strategies to combat this scourge;

Recommend:

• Intensifying joint IDB-CICAD efforts in order to obtain financial resources from the international donor community, through consultative groups supporting anti-drug efforts, for alternative development, as well as demand reduction programs;
  

• Establishing units with financial intelligence functions in countries that have not yet done so, with the support of CICAD and international agencies specialized in this area, and for which, in this context, it is recommended that CICAD and IDB training efforts be expanded;
  

• Developing, within the framework of CICAD, a long-term strategy that includes a three-year program to establish a basic and homogeneous mechanism to estimate the social, human and economic costs of the drug problem in the Americas, and to support countries through the necessary technical assistance;

 

Promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation and information exchange on policies and actions concerning drug prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and supply control, and develop educational campaigns to promote public awareness of the risk of drug consumption;

 

Support measures to impede organized crime, money-laundering, the diversion of chemical

precursors, the financing of armed groups, and other illicit activities resulting from drug and arms trafficking;

 

Promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation in order to consider in an integral manner the displacement phenomenon of different factors related to the drug problem, including the displacement of persons and illicit crops;

 

Transnational Organized Crime

Encourage all countries in the Hemisphere to consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, its Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, as well as the Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components, and Ammunition, once that protocol is open for signature;

Implement collective strategies, including those that emerge from the Meetings of Ministers of Justice of the Americas, to enhance the institutional ability of states to exchange information and evidence by concluding international agreements on mutual legal assistance where necessary, develop and circulate national reports, and strengthen cooperation, seeking the technical and financial support of multilateral organizations and MDBs where appropriate, in order to jointly combat emerging forms of transnational criminal activity, including trafficking in persons and the laundering of the proceeds and assets of crime and cyber-crime;

Review national laws and policies to improve cooperation in areas such as mutual legal assistance, extradition and deportation to countries of origin, acknowledging the serious concerns of countries that deport certain foreign nationals for committing crimes in those countries and the serious concerns of the receiving countries about the negative effect of these deportations on the incidence of criminality in the countries of origin, and express the desire to work together, as appropriate, to address the negative effects on our societies.

Promote, where necessary, and in accordance with national legislation, the adoption of investigation techniques, contained in the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which are very important tools in the fight against organized crime.

 

 

Complete documents can be found at: http://www.americascanada.org/eventsummit/declarations/menu-e.asp