[NYTr] IBERO-AMERICA: Summit on Track to Protect Migrants’ Social Rights

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

IPS - Nov 9, 2007
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40003

IBERO-AMERICA:  Summit on Track to Protect Migrants’ Social Rights
By Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Nov 9 (IPS) - The Multilateral Convention on Social Security,
to be signed at the 17th Ibero-American Summit in Chile, is an
important step toward improving the quality of life of poor people in
this community of nations, according to its governments.

The agreement, which will benefit more than five million immigrants,
many of whom live in Spain, was described as "historic" by
Ibero-American Secretary General Enrique Iglesias.

Representatives of the 22 countries in the Ibero-American community
signed the convention during Friday’s sessions of the gathering, which
opened on Thursday in Santiago and ends Saturday.

The main issue being discussed by 19 heads of state and government or
other officials from Latin America and leaders from Andorra, Spain and
Portugal is social cohesion and social policies to encourage inclusive
societies.

Presidents Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Leonel Fernández of the
Dominican Republic are not attending the meeting because of the floods
that have devastated their countries in recent weeks. Panamanian
President Martín Torrijos, who is facing a general strike by doctors,
is also absent.

Cuba is being represented by Vice President Carlos Lage, and the
presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was in doubt until the
last minute, due to student demonstrations against the proposed
constitutional reform in his country, and his mediation efforts between
the government of Colombia and guerrilla forces.

Chávez, who has both fans and critics among Chilean politicians and
activists, was one of the last to arrive in Santiago in the early hours
of Friday, in time to participate in the plenary session being held in
the Espacio Riesco convention centre in the north of the capital.

He was singing a "ranchera" song as he arrived, with lyrics saying
that, unlike a gold coin, he would not be liked by everyone.

The first few hours of the summit were marked by the dispute between
the governments of Argentina and Uruguay over a paper pulp mill
belonging to the Finnish firm Botnia, which was built on the eastern
side of a border river. Activists in Argentina are protesting the plant
because of possible pollution of the river.

Although there had been previous indications that an agreement might be
forthcoming, bilateral contacts between diplomats and experts in
Santiago were not successful.

In the latest failed attempt to reach an understanding, Foreign
Ministers Reinaldo Gargano of Uruguay and Jorge Taiana of Argentina met
with Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, representing King
Juan Carlos who is acting as facilitator in the conflict.

After the talks failed, Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez gave the
Botnia plant the go-ahead to begin operating, an authorisation which
had been delayed for some weeks. Meanwhile, Buenos Aires continues to
pursue legal action at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

In the hours leading up to the summit, foreign ministers of the
community of nations hammered out the final details of the Declaration
of Santiago and its Action Plan, to be signed on Saturday.

Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said that Ibero-American
summits have evolved from producing statements of "general principles"
to taking their "first concrete steps."

One of these is the Ibero-American Multilateral Convention on Social
Security, which will allow workers in any of the 22 countries to make
payments towards their future pensions.

According to the draft convention, which was seen by IPS, this will
apply only to contributory systems of social security, both general and
special, including disability benefits, old age pensions, widows
pensions, and insurance for accidents at work and work-related
illnesses.

Health insurance contributions will be excluded, along with
non-contributory mechanisms, social welfare payments and those for war
veterans and victims, although countries will be free to widen the
coverage through further bilateral or multilateral agreements as they
see fit.

The Convention will enter fully into force in countries that have no
bilateral or multilateral agreements on social security. Where these
exist, the most favourable arrangement for the beneficiaries will
apply. The instrument will guarantee equal treatment for nationals and
immigrants in each country.

A Technical Administrative Committee will be made up of one
representative from each of the states party, to ensure uniform
application of the convention. One year after the convention’s entry
into force, the Ibero-American Secretariat General will convene a
conference of the parties to confirm each country’s compliance.

The agreement will have to be ratified by signatory countries according
to the procedures established by law in each of them. Spain, Mexico and
Chile will contribute to a fund to finance the convention’s
implementation over the first three years.

The heads of state and government are also expected to approve special
communiqués in support of the longstanding Argentine claim to
sovereignty over the Malvinas/Falklands Islands, in possession of the
United Kingdom since 1833, and condemning the four-decade old U.S.
embargo against Cuba.

They are also expected to support President Chávez’s efforts to broker
a humanitarian agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) and the government of rightwing President Álvaro Uribe,
to secure the release of hostages held by the leftwing guerrillas in
exchange for imprisoned FARC members.

In spite of the improvements expected from implementing the social
security convention, hundreds of Ibero-American political, social and
trade union organisations taking part in two other meetings in Santiago
demanded that the governments make structural changes to their
development and economic policies.

The convention is a step forward, but deeper reforms are needed, Miguel
Santibáñez, a Chilean representing the Latin American and Caribbean
Association of National Networks and Non-Governmental Organisations,
told IPS.

The group took part in the Third Ibero-American Civic Meeting, an
official event held on Nov. 7 and 8, in advance of the summit.

Santibáñez mentioned as a particular concern the financing required to
implement universal social policies, which would meet the needs of the
entire population.

In their final statement, the NGOs demanded that state revenues be
drawn primarily from direct taxes on big companies and wealthy economic
groups, and not from income raised by exploiting natural resources.

The issue of taxation is analysed in the book "Social Cohesion:
Inclusion and the Sense of Belonging in Latin America and the
Caribbean", published in February by the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) specifically for this summit.

The book says that the tax burden in Latin America is on average 17
percent of gross domestic product (GDP), much lower than the 41 percent
of GDP in the European Union, 36 percent for the member countries of
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and 26
percent in the United States.

"Analysis of the tax situation in Latin America and the Caribbean shows
two fundamental corollaries: the overall tax burden in most of the
countries is about a third lower on average than it should be given
their per capita income levels," it says.

"In absolute terms, their tax burdens should be three to four points of
GDP higher, and the extra resources raised would provide the funding
for social programmes and non-contributory social security systems,"
the book says.

"To be adopted, reforms require not only strong agreements and
political will but also the institutional and administrative capacity
to safeguard spending quality," it adds.

Meanwhile, the Summit for Friendship and Integration of the
Ibero-American Peoples, convened by leftwing political groups and trade
union, students’ and women’s organisations, is aligning itself with
what it regards as the most progressive governments, including
Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

At the opening of this parallel summit, former Chilean presidential
candidate Tomás Hirsh, of the Humanist Party, said he hoped the
position of the presidents of those countries would prevail at the
official summit, rather than "those who still support and wish to
maintain a (neo-liberal) model that has categorically failed in this
continent."

"I mean Colombia, Mexico, and, unfortunately, Chile," he said.

According to ECLAC, social cohesion has four main pillars: economic
opportunities (decent employment), development of skills and personal
capabilities (education), more inclusive social safety nets, and fully
legitimate democratic institutions which efficiently manage public
finances. (END/2007)