IBERO-AMERICA:
Summit on Track to
Protect Migrants’ Social
Rights
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, (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 Santibáńez, 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.
Santibáńez 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.
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