Periodico 26

Montevideo.- This meeting took place between October 25 and 27, parallel to the 9th Ministerial Development Forum, and was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay and the United Nations Program for Development.

The event raised a great dilemma in recognizing progress in the adoption of policies and programs to face the double challenge of social and labor inclusion of the population in the last decade and a half, and admit that these progresses are insufficient to achieve development with equality and sustainability.

Likewise, the participants debated and made concrete proposals on how to move forward in the midst of the current economic deceleration, which despite showing signs of a certain break in Latin America in 2017, continues to be a big problem.

A milestone for the event, which was attended by ministers, high authorities of governments, experts and civil society, was the presentation of the document 'Gaps, axes and challenges in the link between social and productive issue,' by the executive secretary from ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena.

The study, prepared by a team of that United Nations agency, said that the region needs to move towards a 'virtuous circle' of development in which productive diversification, progressive structural change and environmental drive are accompanied by an inclusive social development.

All of which would result in the access of the peoples to 'the benefits of development and the full exercise of rights,' which would seem unattainable when the complex conjuncture in the economic and social area of the region is verified.

For this reason, the idea of the highest representative of ECLAC, of proposing to advance in the design of a regional agenda of inclusive social development, that allows achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, approved two years ago, was transcendent.

The final resolution approved by the participants was also fundamental, where they called for 'an articulation between the policies of productive inclusion and social inclusion' in each country, and to 'generate consensus, pacts and national agreements, in accordance with their capacities and with attention to its specificities.'

GAPS, AXES AND CHALLENGES... LOOKING INSIDE LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The document 'Gaps, axes and challenges in the link between the social and the productive issues,' revealed a series of data that exposed the current and complex regional panorama in aspects such as poverty, inequality, work, unemployment, income and structural restrictions, among others.

In that sense, the document pointed out that inequality and income distribution, despite its decrease in most countries since 2002, remained in 2015 'at levels similar to those observed in 2014.'

Similarly, it acknowledged that the growth rate remains low (should reach 1.2 percent by the end of 2017) and is accompanied by an increase in unemployment rate, which in urban areas is expected to reach 9.4 percent.

According to ECLAC, the main impediments to a leap in terms of development and well-being in the region are 'structural gaps in labor issues and wide inequalities' in relation to the possibilities of access to decent work.

In this regard, Bárcena called for the articulation of economic, social and environmental policies to achieve double social and labor inclusion in the region.

In this regard, Bárcena called for the articulation of economic, social and environmental policies to achieve double social and labor inclusion in the region.

She said that Latin American governments are concerned above all to grow and attract investment, and in that sense called for reflection because 'we can not grow at whatever cost.'

We can not grow from low wages, from the extraction of our natural resources without there being a sustainability policy, nor can we 'grow in the face of the disparities that we still have today', especially in what she called the 'culture of privileges.'

She estimated that tax evasion is the clearest expression of this culture of privileges and added that this is equivalent to 6.7 percent of the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while spending for conditional transfer programs accounted for 0.33 percent of GDP in 2015.

The high official of the UN considered the work as 'the master key to get out of poverty and inequality,' although she acknowledged that it is under harassment.

The UN regional body said that seven out of every 10 households in Latin America do not achieve simultaneous minimums of social and labor inclusion, according to surveys conducted in 17 countries of the region during the period 2002-2015.

She stressed that less than three out of every 10 households in the region are in a situation of minimum levels of double inclusion, that is, they 'satisfy the minimum of social and labor inclusion simultaneously.'

According to the data, today the region still has 175 million people living in poverty, 29.2 percent of its inhabitants, and 75 million of them are in extreme poverty, 12.4 percent.

Bárcenas stressed that these figures are unacceptable because 'we can not tolerate poverty and inequality, we can not accept that there are women, men and children in conditions of vulnerability.'

To reverse this situation, ECLAC urged Latin American countries to embark on the path of progressive structural change that would strengthen the State's role in redistributing, regulating and monitoring.

A better and more efficient State is needed to redistribute, regulate and monitor and to build social consensus that transcend short-term political-electoral borders, stressed the UN high official.

In its call to strengthen the role of the State, the 179-page document considered it necessary to promote, through dialogue and citizen participation, 'pacts for equality' to build agreements and consensus in key areas of development.

In this regard, it proposes 'to move towards a culture of equality that leaves behind the culture of privilege and social injustice.'

Novelty was the participation of the organized civil society for the first time in this type of meetings, issuing a statement in which they claimed for greater participation.

The Uruguayan and Latin American social organizations demanded the full validity of human rights in all societies, 'expressed in State Policies, for all inhabitants.'

They stated that collective construction requires 'economic-financial policies that are congruent' with human rights, taking into account inclusion, complementarity and cooperation.

The document, entitled 'Role of Civil Society Organizations in development processes for social and economic inclusion,' also called for a model of sustainable development, where justice, equity and solidarity prevail.

In a dialogue with Prensa Latina, the representative of the Uruguayan Solidarity Economy Coordinator, Helena Almirati, explained that the declaration will be transferred to ECLAC with the intention that this will be a systematic practice from now on, every time this organization meets.

It is about uniting the social organizations in the struggle, proposing the relationship with the State, but also invoking for the strengthening of ourselves, she said.

REGIONAL AGENDA

ECLAC documented that in order to achieve an agenda focused on equality by 2030 it is necessary to change the prevailing current development style and implement 'economic, industrial, social and environmental policies, which must be aligned with a progressive structural change.'

In this regard, she affirmed that such sustainable development will not be possible if the 'social footprint' of the current development model ,such as high levels of poverty, inequality, deficits in decent work, social vulnerability and the violation of women's rights, is maintained or increased.

In Bárcenas' opinion, Latin America needs to 'grow to equalize and equalize in order to grow through macroeconomic management that mitigates volatility, fosters productivity and promotes inclusion, through productive dynamics to close 'internal and external gaps.'

The elimination of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, and of intersecting inequalities such as socioeconomic, gender, ethnic-racial, territorial and age discrimitation are some of the aspects that the proposed social development agenda should include, according to her opinion.

She also included the universalization of health and education, the achievement of gender equality and the autonomy of women, productive and decent work, and the construction of universal systems of social protection. (PL)

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