Peruvian President Pedro Castillo opened Wednesday in Lima the 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), which until next Friday, will promote agreements to combat inequality and discrimination in the hemisphere.
“Believing that the work of this Assembly will lead to the peoples of the Americas being able to fight together against inequality and discrimination, I declare open this ordinary fifty-second session of the ” he said.
At the Lima Convention Center, the President said he was honored that his country was hosting this event, as it reaffirmed Peru’s commitment to the values and institutions of the inter-American system.
This is an excellent opportunity for the foreign ministers to gather the “valuable contributions” of different organizations, economic sectors, and social actors that are driving “important changes” in the region and to incorporate them into an earlier round of dialogue, he added.
Castillo also welcomed the choice of the motto “Together Against Inequality and Discrimination” for this gathering, as these phenomena “not only persist but also spread and deepen throughout the continent.”
“Inequality and discrimination are a constant threat to the values that the peoples of the Americas have agreed upon for living together. Moreover, they undermine our sense of belonging and fuel and prolong distrust of democracy,” he said.
The head of state stressed that effectively combating inequality is about reducing poverty levels and developing policies to redistribute wealth and overcome wide social disparities.
On the other hand, President Castillo stressed that it is still necessary to break down the barriers of discrimination that societies “try to deny to cover up the hate campaigns that have unfortunately been unleashed in many countries of the hemisphere.”
In this regard, he stressed that the 52nd General Assembly of the OAS is an opportunity to address these issues at the regional level with the openness and urgency that the situation requires.
For his part, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro warned that politics and economics are currently “polarized,” a factor contributing to regional violence. Therefore, it is necessary to find solutions quickly.
He considered that for development, it is necessary to educate the next generation, creating a space for the fight against violence and human rights violations.
If this does not happen, “we are fighting against peace.”
Delegations from more than 30 countries will participate in the various plenary sessions of this OAS General Assembly, which is returning to face-to-face meetings after the pandemic, with at least 24 foreign ministers leading their delegations.
This is the third time Peru has hosted an assembly of the multilateral organization, as Lima also hosted the 27th and 40th ordinary sessions in 1997 and 2010.