Security and Confidence-Building is an issue that is grounded in "The Lima Commitment: Andean Charter for Peace and Security and Limitation and Control of the Expenditure on Foreign Defense,” agreed at the meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers with the Ministers of Defense of the Andean Community, held in Lima (June 2002).

The agreements reached at that time are aimed at defining a Common Andean Policy on External Security; characterizing a Peace Zone in the Andean Community; limiting military spending in order to use those funds for social investment purposes; and intensifying cooperation to fight terrorism and illegal arms trafficking, among other matters.

The First Meeting of the High-Level Group responsible for the semi-annual evaluation of the progress made in implementing the Lima Commitment took place on February 28, 2003 in Bogotá. The bases were laid at that time for the establishment of the dialogue and cooperation between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Andean countries.

Furthermore, the Andean vision of security was defined as “a situation in which the State and society are protected from threats or risks likely to affect the overall development and welfare of the citizens, as well as the free exercise of their rights and freedoms within a context of full democratic rule.”

From this perspective, security has a “multidimensional and comprehensive nature” and encompasses “political, economic, social and cultural matters, which are reflected in the policies in spheres as diverse as the strengthening of democratic institutions and the rule of law, defense, health, the environment, the economy, economic development, and the prevention of natural disasters, among other areas.

Pursuant to Point VIII of the Lima Commitment, the Member Countries met in Pretoria, South Africa on April 9 to 11, 2003, thanks to the technical and financial support provided by the NGO SaferAfrica, to prepare a cooperation plan to fight the illegal weapons traffic. This plan was adopted as Decision 552: “Andean Plan to Prevent, Fight and Eradicate Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects,” by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers in Quirama, Colombia, on June 25, 2003.

Decision 552 underpins an integral strategy to fight illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons, in light of its links to terrorism, corruption and the worldwide drug problem. To that end, it seeks to strengthen the capacity of the Member countries to control the manufacture, trade, transportation, possession, concealment, usurpation, carrying and use of such weapons, as well as to identify, confiscate and possibly destroy them..

The Plan provides for specific mechanisms and lines of action at the national, subregional and international levels. An Operations Committee is established, made up of the competent national authorities, who are responsible for the implementation of a Coordinated Agenda of Action in areas covering cooperation and coordination; legislative, operational and institution-building measures; control, confiscation, sanctioning, collection and destruction; exchange of information; and citizen consciousness-raising. The Operations Plan specifies the activities and the time frames for the implementation of the Coordinated Agenda.

It should be noted that Decision 552 is the first binding instrument at the subregional level to be derived from the United Nations Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects. It was officially presented to the international community at the First Biennial Meeting of States on the Implementation of that Program of Action, held in New York City on July 7 to 11, 2003.

The Fourteenth Meeting of the Andean Council of Presidents gave a new impetus to efforts in the area of security by instructing the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers to submit draft guidelines for an Andean Common Policy on External Security that would further develop the parameters of the Lima Commitment and include, among other items, specific action plans to fight terrorism and corruption.

To this end, the General Secretariat, through the Project “Andean Regional Stabilization Initiative,” funded by the European Commission, conducted the seminars and workshops provided for in the Lima Commitment on the subjects of hemispheric security, the fight against terrorism, confidence-building measures and military spending. In addition, two meetings were held to reflect on the Andean Peace Zone. Government delegates and representatives of broad sectors of Andean civil society participated in all of the cited meetings and from their varied perspectives, helped to enhance and deepen the Andean vision of security.

According to the general principles on which the Cartagena Agreement and international law are based, the Andean Common Policy on External Security is fundamentally an option for peace. Its purpose is to prevent and fight --through cooperation and coordination-- all threats to security, whatever their nature, within a democratic and non-offensive conception of external security that promotes the necessary conditions for the population to freely enjoy, with equal opportunities, a favorable environment for their material and spiritual realization.

It is also multidimensional in nature because it covers threats that are inherent to both the area of defense and that of democratic institutions and citizens’ security --including their interrelationships--, with the result that the gradual and flexible implementation of a comprehensive agenda is proposed.

To this end, it consolidates and enhances the institutional mechanisms established in the Lima Commitment, particularly the dialogue between the foreign affairs and defense sectors that will take place within the framework of the Executive Committee for the Andean Common Policy on External Security, which replaces the High-Level Group. In addition, it incorporates into the coordination process, other public actors that are competent in security matters, together with civil society, which will participate through the Andean Security Network.

In this context, it indicates that one of its main objectives is to contribute to the development and consolidation of democratic values, principles and practices and, among them, the Member Countries’ political and institutions systems. In fact, the Andean Peace Zone is mainly oriented toward producing the necessary conditions for the peaceful and concerted settlement of disputes, --whatever their nature--, and their causes.

In addition, it seeks to ensure an effective ban on weapons for mass destruction --nuclear, chemical, biological and toxinic-- and their traffic through the subregion, as well as the final eradication of antipersonnel mines, in accordance with effective international instruments. .

In their directives, the Heads of State indicate the need for the Member Countries to define a general framework of principles and options that will enable the parties to a dispute that is not within the jurisdictional competence of Andean Integration System bodies to resolve, to find a solution. They also agree to encourage the design and start-up of an Andean Program of Confidence-Building and Security Measures, including the development of standardized methodology for the preparation of White Books on defense matters; the implementation of the Community Policy on Integration and Border Development; and the teaching of a Culture of Peace and Integration.

All of the above should contribute to the implementation in full of the Guidelines for the Andean Common Policy on External Security and its harmonization with other Community policies and endeavors in the areas of Social Development, Environmental and Biodiversity Management, and human rights.