Southeast Asian Conference on Social Protection

and the Universalization of Socio-Economic Security

April 6-7, 2010

Communique

To Live, to Live in Dignity, and to Live Well

  1. Who we are and why we are here

We come from community-based organizations, social movements, NGOs, universities and development organizations working at the local, national, regional and global levels. Amongst us are activists, advocates, campaigners, feminists, academics and researchers, policy-makers, development professionals and practitioners, and representatives of donor organizations.

We come from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

We are brought together by our steadfast desire to end poverty and inequality that impact on the lives of poor and marginalized women, men, and children, especially those with disabilities. We are alarmed that the global crisis is further exacerbating poverty, social and gender inequality, social exclusion and vulnerabilities around the world. We are challenged to find fundamental, long-term and innovative solutions to ensuring the enjoyment of rights, well-being and human security. We are guided by the spirit of self-critical reflection, dialogue and active engagement. We have committed to share what we know, learn from each other’s experiences, and inspire and support one another in a common journey.

We have come here to:

  1. Share and develop analyses of the global financial crisis and its impacts on poverty and inequality at the regional and global levels;
  2. Discuss the role and relevance of Social Protection (SP) in the context of the global crisis and analyze to what extent country-level SP systems are able to protect the poor from impacts of the crisis;
  3. Introduce the notion of universalizing Socio-Economic Security (USES) and analyze key challenges for ensuring SP in developing countries, informed by the broader debate between universalizing and targeting;
  4. Discuss SP and USES taking into account the women and gender dimensions;
  5. Share ‘best practice’ experiences of state-provided SP, and best practice SP systems promoted at local government level;
  6. Develop policy positions/ recommendations, innovative programs and alternative SP schemes at the national, regional and local levels and come up with an action plan to promote these policy positions; and
  7. Discuss the critical role of NGOs and social movements in advocating social protection, and build an anti-poverty network around this agenda and platform for action.
  1. Our Vision for Our Societies and Social Protection for All

While we gather here to specifically discuss social protection and the universalization of socio-economic security, we are inspired by a shared vision. We envision

  • a society where all people live a life of dignity, free from hunger, fear, violence or discrimination
  • a society where women, men and children, regardless of status, sex and sexual orientation, race, religion or creed, age, talent or ability, enjoy their rights and entitlements as equal citizens of this planet,
  • a society where we live in dignity, live well and live in harmony with other human beings and the mother earth.

This vision marks the point of departure from which we journey together to articulate, advocate, and struggle to realize a strategic and transformative social protection agenda that is universal as well as relevant and responsive to the needs of the people in Southeast Asia.

Our notion of social protection is anchored on our understanding of a rights-based approach honed largely by our experiences on the ground and our claim that sustainable development cannot be achieved without protecting the rights of the poor and the marginalized. We believe that what lies at the heart of our democratic project and development agenda is the struggle to address the issues of poverty, social and gender inequality, discrimination and all forms of social exclusion.

Universal social protection for social transformation includes addressing vulnerability associated with being poor (for which special assistance is needed), vulnerability with the risk of becoming poor (for which social insurance is needed), and social injustice arising from structural inequalities and the abuse of power (for which social equity is needed)[1]. Apart from economic risks, transformative social protection addresses social risks through policies and other measures that can correct such conditions.

III. Our Context and the Issues and Challenges We Face

Listening to one another and reflecting on the insights and wisdom of a variety of resource persons, we lament the state of socio-economic security in the region. We note, in particular, the following issues:

  1. The staggering scale of poverty and inequality, especially exacerbated by the impacts of the food, financial, and climate crises, as well as longstanding debt burdens, natural disasters and conflict;
  2. The problems that arise out of or attendant to both long-standing as well as current poverty reduction schemes, programs, policies and practices, many of which, under the catchphrase and policy of ‘targeting’ have either failed to deliver their promises or have opened up new problems and challenges;
  3. The old and new forms of social exclusion and vulnerabilities, many of which are linked to neoliberal policies, to our societies’ exposure to and integration into an increasingly globalized economy, and to dominant development paradigms and practices that value profit more than people and privilege the market over the commons and the public sphere;
  4. The gendered dimensions of poverty and inequality, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, those of current and dominant poverty-reduction strategies some of which have served to deepen the gender divide or reinforced traditional patriarchal values and practices;
  5. The rapid decline of the state’s role in providing social protection and in serving as the vanguard duty bearer and protector of human rights, and, to a certain extent, the weakened or precarious role of international and inter-governmental institutions in further strengthening rights-based international norms and standards in the face of the dominance of free market-based policies and practices;
  6. The obstacles to achieving universal protection posed by weak governance, corruption and state abuse;
  7. The urgent need to raise public awareness of these issues and uphold the right to access public information.

We note that while social protection policies and practices are in place and have improved in several countries in the region, we face many obstacles in ensuring social protection for all, and especially for those who need it the most. Too often, social protection is left captive to policy debates on resource allocation in budget priorities, or fall disturbingly short of addressing the structural causes of poverty, social justice and inequality. In Indonesia, for example, where decentralization has been pursued for some years, the burden of raising revenues for the implementation of social policy is left to local governments. Similarly, in Thailand, where social policies have been introduced, ‘budget allocation’ is posed as an issue whenever social development is pitted against the ‘urgency’ of economic development. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the way social protection programs have been conceptualized and practiced show that structural causes of poverty and inequality continue to be largely ignored.

Over-all, we have also learned and observed that the current policy of ‘targeting,’ increasingly espoused and imposed by development agencies and many of our governments, has proven to be inefficient and oftentimes, not cost effective, and has either undermined development strategies to address poverty and inequality, or narrowed down, constrained and limited their focus and agenda.

In the face of all these issues and concerns, we underscore the relevance of advocating a universalist approach to social policy and socio-economic security – of social protection for all – within which the specific needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups could be addressed.

  1. IV. Ways Forward

While the current state of socio-economic security in many of our countries is disturbing, we note many signs of hope and good practices. Many of such practices – the setting up of self-help groups and community-based campaign networks, for example -- have been generated/ initiated by ordinary citizens’ groups and grassroots organizations. While we continue to build on these as the basis for advancing the social protection agenda, we acknowledge that these are not enough. In order for social movements, citizens’ groups, trade unions and non-government organizations to reclaim and further expand and deepen the democratic space, we need to more vigorously build broader alliances at the local and national levels and engage the public arena. Recognizing too that we cannot do these alone, and that the international community has an important role to play, we must bring these agendas and actions beyond our national borders, build cross-border alliances and launch regional and global campaigns.

We know that we have set before us a daunting challenge, one that is perhaps matched only in scale and complexity by our vision for an alternative future. How to journey towards such alternative vision? The best and only way would be to journey together in mutual accompaniment and support, knowing that as we go along, we are guided by the many and diverse footprints of those who journeyed before us.

We commit to the following platform of action:

A. Information and Knowledge Sharing

  • Document current situation in each country and how the issue of financing is addressed
  • Document and share best practices such as stories of how local communities are empowered; provide links such that stories and information are shared;
  • Conduct gender analysis of issues in various sectors;
  • Encourage citizen journalism and the drafting of People's Manifestos; training for this could be facilitated by our network
  • Open up the democratic space for more communication avenues, like a community television program, and social networking

B. Advocacy and Capacity Building

  • Advocate for social protection of migrant workers and campaign for the signing of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, especially among the receiving countries
  • Campaign for social policy on women and men that addresses specific needs on reproductive health issues such as cervic cancer, prostate cancer, etc.
  • Ensure social protection for people with disabilities and the informal sector;
  • Campaign for universal access to basic services so that every personin every country has access to clean water, health and education services; access to such services should not be based on citizenship
  • Ensure marginalized sector representation and capacity-building for local government employees in program implementation
  • Develop labor unions and other independent CSOs who can mobilize support and campaign for social protection
  • Ensure technical and capacity support to enable us to engage with the government in social protection policy development
  • Campaign for a rights-based approach in policy development
  • Mobilize existing networks and alliances such as Social Watch, GCAP, TSPA, SPA, and those of the indigenous people and people with disabilities; Social Watch could become the focal point; can also gather information
  • Develop initiatives from the local to national and regional levels; bring back the bottom-top approach to program building and public awareness of these programs;
  • Advocate for debt cancellation; funds used for debt servicing should instead be spent on achieving MDGs;
  • Strengthen existing budget monitoring movements
  • Create or strengthen local networks on social protection; develop internships and initiatives like a local organizations academy
  • Lobby the ASEAN to set a minimum percentage of national budget or GDP that ASEAN countries should spend on social protection;
  • Engage regional structures and arenas such as the ASEAN, ADB, GMS (Greater Mekong sub region); campaign and lobby for an ASEAN Social Cultural Community to address social protection issues and come up with a 5-year plan;

C. Networking at the National and Regional Level

  • Build strong mechanisms for partnership between the government, civil society, academe and the business sector; lay down the context of social protection in such fora
  • A legal mandate could be developed for the business sector to provide social protection programs; develop strategies for challenging neo-liberalists to engage in social protection programs;
  • Focus on the implementation of social protection programs and making them sustainable
  • Work towards a clear definition of state obligation vis-a-vis the rights of the people
  • Facilitate sharing of analysis of problems on the implementation of social protection and best practices from each country
  • Explore how to link human security vis-a-vis the rights for human development
  • Engage the ASEAN summit on social pillars and utilize it as an opportunity for exchange

D. Immediate Steps

  • Request Social Watch to serve as the focal point for the advocacy for social protection/universalizing socio-economic security (USES)
  • Engage governments at the national level for expanded notion and practice of transformative and strategic social protection/USES
  • Engage the relevant pillars in ASEAN (same as above)

[1] Devereux S. and R. Sabates-Wheeler (2004), ‘Transformative Social Protection’ IDS Working Paper No.232, October