Historic
CELAC summit targets
inequality
|
|
By
Patricia Grogg
(IPS---Inter Press
Service)
The leaders of
Latin America and the
Caribbean, in the
grouping known as
CELAC, held their
second Summit in
Havana, Cuba on 28-29
January 2014. The
political leaders
declared their region
a “zone of peace”. A
significant part of
their Declaration also
dealt with
inequalities in the
region and how to deal
with his. Below is an
article by IPS on the
Summit, which is an
important milestone in
South-South
cooperation and
solidarity. --South
Centre |
|
 |
|
Heads
of state at the Second
Summit of the
Community of Latin
American and Caribbean
States (CELAC), at the
Palacio de la
Revolución, Havana.
(Jorge Luis Baños/IPS)
|
|
Heads of
state and government at
the Second Summit of the
Community of Latin
American and Caribbean
States (CELAC) made a
joint commitment to
reduce poverty, hunger
and inequality, and
declared their region a
"zone of peace".
The goals, which even
the presidents regard as
"ambitious", came at the
end of two days of
deliberations in the
Cuban capital, and
include action for food
security, access to
education and better job
opportunities, as
instruments to reduce
inequalities in the most
unequal region of the
world.
By proclaiming a
continent-wide zone of
peace - with the
exception of Canada and
the United States - the
region committed itself
to act "as a space of
unity within diversity",
and confirmed the
two-year-old CELAC as
the regional political
forum for dialogue and
collective action at the
highest level,
regardless of ideology.
The summit, held in
Havana January 28-29,
was attended by the
heads of all Latin
American and Caribbean
countries except Panama,
Belize and El Salvador
(in the last two cases
because of illness). The
meeting of 30 presidents
also put an end to Cuban
isolation.
"This is a historic
summit," because it has
decided to address an
issue that has long been
demanded by the Latin
American peoples: the
fight against
inequalities, hunger and
poverty, said Brazilian
President Dilma
Rousseff.
Another woman, Chilean
president-elect Michelle
Bachelet who is due to
take office March 11,
said "poverty and hunger
are not the only forms
of inequality," and
emphasised that
governments must address
"all inequalities,"
including gender
divisions, urban-rural
disparities, and the
injustice faced by
indigenous people and
Afro-descendants.
The 83 paragraphs of the
Declaration of Havana
ratified the commitment
to promoting social
inclusion and
sustainable development
with quantifiable
policies, measures and
goals, in order to
spread "the enjoyment
and exercise of
economic, social and
cultural rights" to all
the population,
especially the most
vulnerable.
Among the major goals,
it says, are
strengthening food and
nutritional security,
literacy, universal free
public education, land
tenure and agricultural
development, including
family and peasant
agriculture.
It also calls for
decent, long-term jobs,
universal public health,
the right to adequate
housing, and industrial
and productive
development as
"essential factors for
eradicating hunger,
poverty and social
exclusion."
The Economic and Social
Panorama of the
Community of Latin
American and Caribbean
States 2013, a study
presented at the summit
by the Economic
Commission for Latin
America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), shows
inequality statistics
for this region of over
600 million people.
The study says that the
poorest one-fifth of the
population on average
accounted for five
percent of total income,
and even less in
countries like Bolivia,
Honduras and the
Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, the
wealthiest fifth
received up to 55
percent in countries
like Brazil.
In 2012 the poverty rate
was 28.2 percent, and
11.3 percent of the
population lived in
extreme poverty. This
means that 164 million
people live in poverty
and, of them, 66 million
are extremely poor.
These "shameful
figures," as some
presidents called them,
were the centre of
discussions at the
meeting.
Progress in recent years
has been "slow,
fragmented and
unstable," Cuban
president and summit
host Raul Castro said in
his opening speech.
According to figures
from 2011 and 2012, the
rate of inequality
reduction has been above
one percent a year only
in Argentina, Brazil,
Peru, Uruguay and
Venezuela, and above 0.5
percent a year in Chile,
Colombia, Ecuador and
Panama.
Poverty has its greatest
impact on children and
teenagers, since its
incidence is higher in
households with a large
number of dependent
children. A total of
70.5 million children
under 18 are affected,
of whom 28.3 million
live in extreme poverty,
according to ECLAC.
Child poverty is
greatest in Bolivia, El
Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and
Peru, where an average
of 72 percent of
children are extremely
poor, based on data from
2000-2011.
The countries with the
lowest child poverty
rates (19.5 percent)
mentioned by ECLAC were
Argentina, Chile, Costa
Rica, Ecuador and
Uruguay.
Alicia Barcena, ECLAC's
executive secretary,
said Latin America is a
"region of contrasts"
and recommended that its
governments should
promote public policies
that contribute to
poverty reduction.
Employment, she said, is
the "master key" to
re-mediating inequality.
At the summit, Castro
handed over the rotating
presidency of CELAC to
Costa Rica. In his view,
Latin America and the
Caribbean have all the
necessary conditions to
change the unbalanced
social panorama outlined
by ECLAC, since they
possess natural riches
ranging from extensive
mineral reserves to
one-third of the world's
fresh water.
The sub-continent also
has 12 percent of the
world's arable land, the
highest potential for
expanding food
production and 21
percent of all natural
forests.
The populations of the
region, said Castro,
want fairer distribution
of wealth and income,
universal, free and
high-quality education,
full employment, better
wages, the elimination
of illiteracy, real food
security, health care
for all, and the right
to decent housing,
drinking water and
sanitation.
Uruguayan President Jose
Mujica's contribution
reflected his
characteristic humanism.
"We have to integrate
for the sake of our own
development, but this is
not just about more
wealth and consumption,
it is the struggle for
human happiness," he
said.
"We cannot attempt
development that goes
against human happiness.
That would not be
development," said
Mujica. "Defending life
means being able to put
aside waste and
pollution," and he asked
his colleagues, "Why do
we waste so much?"
Cuban analyst Carlos
Alzugaray told IPS that,
beyond the goals
reflected in the
Declaration of Havana,
CELAC has emerged from
its second summit
"facing the challenge of
consolidation" as a
forum for political
integration "that will
foment regional
cooperation and build a
regional profile with a
single voice."
It also has the
challenge, said the
political scientist, of
persuading other blocs
in other world regions
to "accept and recognise
it as a legitimate and
authoritative voice to
negotiate in the name of
the entire region." This
can only be achieved by
"sustained, firm but
cautious work," he said.
(* With additional
reporting from Ivet
Gonzalez.)
Source: Inter
Press Service News
Agency, IPS: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/celac-summit-targets-inequality/.
|
|
|
|
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário