MANDATES
Generate initiatives that arise from the priorities of indigenous peoples, persons of African descent, women and girls and other historically marginalized groups, as well as groups in vulnerable situations, to promote development for all persons, within the framework of intercultural dialogue. (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
Increase efforts to ensure inclusion and diversity in all aspects of governance, through the following actions:
a. Increasing the use of tools that incorporate gender perspective in assessing and drafting legislation so that laws and policies are responsive to differential impacts on men, women, boys, and girls, including in efforts to address climate change, the digital economy, and healthcare, among others;
b. Ensuring that pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response are inclusive processes, including but not limited to the equitable and fair distribution of the provision of care, physical safety, equal digital access, and access to decent employment and wage equity and other economic opportunities;
c. Reducing social, cultural, structural, economic, and legal barriers to full and equitable economic participation and opportunity, including but not limited to, access to financial markets and credit, access to natural and productive resources, non-discrimination in hiring and employment, and access to safe and reliable care;
d. Addressing the impacts of sexual and gender-based violence on women’s access to job opportunities, their ability to move and travel freely, and their opportunities to reach political, legal, social, and economic equality;
e. Establishing and/or strengthening mechanisms and providing sufficient ongoing training and resources for the review and enforcement of anti-discrimination policies and laws in hiring practices, access to justice, finance, housing, employment, social protection, infrastructure, and services, and other social and economic opportunities;
f. Facilitating access to public information and the internet for all individuals to enhance effective citizen participation, reducing the digital divide. (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
Collect and report municipal and/or local level demographic data through qualitative and quantitative mechanisms to inform and improve equitable access to community development planning processes and public resources and services, particularly among populations at risk and in vulnerable situations and that are underserved. (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
Strengthen financial inclusion through the use of digital payments and other digital financial services. (Regional Agenda for Digital Transformation, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
Address, with solidarity and equity, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in all its stages, through the aforementioned Action Plan, in accordance with national contexts, needs, and priorities with the aim of assessing and strengthening the capacity and resilience of health systems and health value chains at the national and regional levels, placing individuals at the core of health and resilience policies, the integration of the delivery of health services, including physical and mental health services, accounting for the amplified impact on and unique needs of members of groups that have been historically marginalized, discriminated against, and/or in vulnerable situations, as well as all women and girls, taking into account their diverse conditions and situations, in a manner consistent with national legislation and international law, promoting the implementation of universal health coverage for all, without discrimination, to further the wellbeing of current and future generations. (Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
Develop an evidence-based Action Plan that takes into account the sociocultural, economic, and structural challenges facing the Americas region and includes, among others, identifying measures for national and international coordination and cooperation, taking into account the global commitments assumed by the states with respect to health and resilience, with a view to:
a. Expanding equitable access to comprehensive people-and-community-centered health services of quality and strengthening primary care to move toward universal access to health services. To that end, promote the sharing of experiences and best practices regarding policies, regulations, and standards; strengthen intersectoral coordination in order to address the social determinants of health; and strengthen institutional structures, including building capacities for the regulation and evaluation of health systems to ensure health services and medicines are safe, effective, and of high quality; with due attention to building capacities to perform essential public health functions and implement the International Health Regulations (2005);
c. Examining financing mechanisms that guide the involvement of national and international financial institutions and the public and private sectors in strengthening health systems in the management of new financing models aimed at improving efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, sustainability, and equity in financing, increasing and improving public financing, and making progress towards eliminating out-of-pocket expenses, when applicable, as well as pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, encouraging international financial institutions to grant financing to the developing countries; (Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
To decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere from agricultural, forestry, mining, and other land-use sectors, we commit to:
h. Promote economic recovery, in a socially inclusive manner, fostering low greenhouse gas emitting economies, with a view to conserving, managing, and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources with key actors implementing joint synergies among countries in the region. (Our Sustainable Green Future, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
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Recognizing the positive contributions of indigenous peoples and their traditional values and principles, and the contributions of Afrodescendent communities to improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of public administration and raising awareness in favor of the fight against corruption. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Taking effective measures against tax evasion and to combat tax avoidance, money laundering, and the illicit financial flows derived from corruption; as well as measures to identify beneficial ownership. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
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To promote and encourage comprehensive, timely, and quality public policies on:
- Early childhood care, education, and development.
- Protecting children from economic exploitation and from any tasks that may interfere with their education and integral development, according to the principle of the effective abolition of child labor, which is contained in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998); as well as preventing and eradicating the worst forms of child labor according to Convention 182 of the ILO (1999)
- Raising awareness about the adverse effects of adolescent pregnancies on the integral development of the adolescent and their offspring, as well as fostering their health and well-being.(Poverty, Inequality, and Inequity, Cartagena, 2012).
To deepen inter-American cooperation in the area of development and social protection with a view to strengthening human and institutional capacity-building efforts, and generating a skilled workforce, with a gender perspective and giving attention to vulnerable groups. (Poverty, Inequality, and Inequity, Cartagena, 2012).
We affirm that the solutions to the challenges facing our peoples are closely inter-dependent with our efforts to promote sustainable development and social inclusion; build stronger democratic institutions; strengthen governance in our democracies; preserve the rule of law and ensure access to justice for all citizens; protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms; prevent and combat violence, crime, terrorism and corruption; fight the global drug problem and related crimes; and achieve broader civic participation of all citizens of the inter-American community. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).
We are aware that, notwithstanding the gains made since the Fourth Summit of the Americas, deep inequalities continue to exist in our countries and in our region. In response, we will continue to develop and implement social protection and inclusion policies and programmes that give priority to those living in conditions of poverty and vulnerability in our societies, and we will continue to promote access to education, health, nutrition, energy, basic social services and to opportunities for dignified and decent work. At the same time, we will stimulate income growth and better income distribution, increase productivity, and protect workers’ rights and the environment. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).
We instruct our Ministers, in particular those responsible for finance, planning and social development, to initiate or strengthen the review of national social protection, inclusion and poverty eradication programmes, if deemed necessary, in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness, reduce duplication, identify gaps at the national level and optimise the use of resources. We also instruct the Ministers to share the experiences and best practices that emanate from these reviews at the Second Meeting of Ministers and high level authorities of Social Development scheduled to take place in Colombia in 2010, with a view to identifying opportunities for increased multilateral cooperation in the area of social development. We call on the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other relevant regional and sub-regional development and financial institutions to support these efforts within the scope of their mandates. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).
We reiterate our support for the objectives of the Social Charter of the Americas and its Plan of Action, which seek to offer all of our citizens more opportunities to benefit from sustainable development with equity and social inclusion. We encourage the OAS to conclude the drafting of these instruments and will endeavour to conclude negotiations and adopt these documents before the end of 2009. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).
To promote goals for the gradual registration of workers who are wage earners but not covered by social protection, especially domestic workers (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).
To provide, improve or widen, as appropriate, comprehensive social protection systems so that all workers have access to relevant social safety net mechanisms. (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).
To foster the development of comprehensive economic and social policies at the national level, principally aimed at employment growth; reduction of poverty, exclusion and inequality; personal skills development; and access to opportunities for integral development (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).
We will continue to implement public policies that stimulate greater domestic savings, meet the need for the creation of productive jobs, and contribute to greater social inclusion (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).
We recognize that overcoming poverty, hunger, and social inequality are major challenges facing many countries of the Hemisphere in the twenty-first century. We are convinced that coordinated and integrated economic and social policies are a prerequisite for success in combating inequality of opportunity and marginalization and such policies are fundamental pillars for constructing a more just society. We underscore that work, employment, and income are essential for an inclusive social policy (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).
We will foster policies that strengthen the social security systems in our countries. We will also implement, within our capacities and financial means, social safety nets, or other appropriate modalities, to address the needs of the most vulnerable segments of our societies. We encourage the countries of the Hemisphere that have not yet established these nets to explore the possibility of doing so as soon as possible (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).
Social justice and the reduction of poverty contribute to the stability, democracy, and security of our States and the region. We reiterate that among the principal causes of instability in the region are poverty, inequality, and social exclusion, which we must confront comprehensively and urgently (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).
Improve, as appropriate, social safety nets at the national and regional levels to stabilize individual and household income and consumption by such means as stabilization funds, micro credit schemes, crop insurance programs, job retraining and training in vocational, entrepreneurial and business skills, with the involvement of the MDBs and development agencies as well as non governmental and community-based organizations and to establish regional networks to share best practices and experiences; (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).
Overcoming poverty continues to be the greatest challenge confronted by our Hemisphere. We are conscious that the positive growth shown in the Americas in past years has yet to resolve the problems of inequity and social exclusion. We are determined to remove the barriers that deny the poor access to proper nutrition, social services, a healthy environment, credit, and legal title to their property. We will provide greater support to micro and small enterprises; promote core labor standards recognized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), and use new technologies to improve the health conditions of every family in the Americas, with the technical support of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), achieving greater levels of equity and sustainable development (Declaration of Santiago, 1998).
It is politically intolerable and morally unacceptable that some segments of our populations are marginalized and do not share fully in the benefits of growth. With an aim of attaining greater social justice for all our people, we pledge to work individually and collectively to improve access to quality education and primary health care and to eradicate extreme poverty and illiteracy. The fruits of democratic stability and economic growth must be accessible to all, without discrimination by race, gender, national origin or religious affiliation (Declaration of Principles Miami, 1994).
