Internship experience

            The Washington DC Semester offers a great opportunity to learn what occurs in the field of a person’s interest. My internship at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the Organization of American States offers me a great look into my area of interest: international relations. Through it I am able to experience first hand how foreign affairs are conducted by being able to attend various Permanent Council (PC) and Working Group meetings at the OAS where various hemispheric issues are presented and discussed.  The OAS is a forum, similar to the UN, where 34 member states from North and South America discuss issues of importance in the hemisphere such as security, human rights, democracy, and others. My placement could not have been at a better time, as I am able to assist in preparing for the General Assembly meetings in June as well as attend meetings dealing with the tensions between Ecuador and Columbia.

After being in my internship only a few weeks, I was able to see how the OAS functioned in action.  On 2 Mar 08 tensions broke out between Colombia and Ecuador, as Colombia carried out a military raid against the FARC in Ecuadorian territory, thus violating Ecuadorian sovereignty. Further fuelling the tensions was the involvement of other countries coming to the aid of Ecuador and Colombia. Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez’s ordered ten tank battalions to be moved to the Colombian border, in an effort to come to the aid of their Ecuadorian ally. The United States, a country with strong relations with Colombia, also mentioned that they would come to the aid of Colombia if a military crisis were to evolve.

The OAS charter states that the territory of a state is inviolable, and therefore Ecuador called an emergency PC meeting and a meeting for the Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member states, to be held 17 March, to address the situation. Meetings of Foreign Affairs Ministers are only convened in times of great importance, the last being convened by the US after the 11 Sept 01 attacks. Therefore last week, my office was busy preparing for the meeting and the arrival Canada’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Bernier.

The Meeting convened with the election of a president and vice president who would preside over the meetings. Bilateral meetings were convened between Ecuador and Colombia, as well as a general committee to discuss the situation.  The general committee convened in order to create a resolution which would help bring an end to the tensions. It was during this meeting where debate was held over the issue and steps taken to resolve the tensions. This proved to be a long process as consensus between the member states is needed in order for a resolution to be adopted. Although four draft resolutions were proposed, after much deliberation a consensus was finally reached on a text which was based on the points proposed by Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza. The text rejected Colombia’s violation of sovereignty, reaffirmed the principles on sovereignty located in the OAS charter, acknowledged Colombia’s apology, and reaffirmed the OAS’s commitment to combating irregular forces.

My Intern Responsibilities

Since this meeting was of major importance, I was not able to participate as much as I usually do in meetings. This, however, was a blessing in disguise as I was able to better watch the 13 hour process. As an intern, my responsibility was to ensure that things went smoothly during the minister’s visit. Initially I was to save chairs for the minister, ambassador, and their staff in the main meeting hall. Although this may not be considered of most importance, it gave me an opportunity to talk to other delegates from other member states about the issue. Through “off the cuff” remarks and conversations, I was able to hear how various countries viewed the situation and the process used to resolve it. Later on in the day, I was able to attend a general committee meeting where I wrote notes about what was being discussed to give to my supervisor. Although I was not asked to write a report for this meeting, usually in meetings my job is to record what occurs and write a report on the event.  My report is revised by my supervisor then sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, and is thus distributed to relevant departments and embassies throughout the hemisphere.

Lessons Learned

Through my internship I have learned a lot about the importance of multilateral organizations in foreign relations. There are many who believe that international organizations such as the United Nations and the OAS are useless because they do not accomplish their goals and have failed to prevent wars. In a recent speech, I had the opportunity of attending, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, stated that the age of multilateralism was over, and that future international crises would be fixed by small coalitions of nations.

After attending various meetings at the OAS, I strongly disagree with Howard’s comment. Member States which joined the OAS had to agree with the statements in the OAS Charter. Therefore violating the charter results in the loss of confidence between the states – an action which is negative as complicated relations usually results in tensions and causes trade relations to suffer. A multinational organization, such as the OAS, provides a forum where countries bring their differences and sort them out under the auspice of the charter which they have agreed upon. In the case of the Colombia, Ecuador situation, Colombia went to the OAS to express their concern over the relationship between Ecuador, Venezuela, and FARC as the Charter states that countries will not support terrorist organizations. Ecuador, however, went to the OAS to express concern over the violation of their sovereignty. At the meetings all the member states worked together to bring an end to this tense situation proposing resolutions and offering suggestions on how to resolve the crisis. Together through a collective effort, a resolution was created which was agreed upon by Ecuador, Colombia, and their allies bringing an end to the crisis. This was a defining moment for the OAS as it proved its worth in helping diffuse the tensions.