One Day Conference

In defence of Pension Rights & the Welfare State

Wednesday 22^nd September

Auditorium, Octave Wiehe

University of Mauritius, Reduit

On Social Rights

Reaffirming that all human being have rights,

Recalling that the Mauritian State has ratified and signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and more specifically UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which states that:

Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights and freedom;

Recalling the indivisibility of human rights and the adherence of the Mauritian State to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights which states that;

Convinced that it is henceforth essential to pay a particular attention to the right to development and that civil and political rights cannot be dissociated from economic, social and cultural rights in their conception as well as universality and that the satisfaction of economic, social and cultural rights are a guarantee for the enjoyment of civil and political rights;

Considering that the education, health care, pensions, subsidies on food , transport and housing, are amongst the basic human rights of all human being;

Considering that social rights are universal, that is its accessed and guaranteed to each and every citizen and that any law, order, or “means testing” represents measures restricting the exercise and the dissolution of these rights;

Considering that “means tested” provision of social rights represents a return to the humiliating and degrading Poor Law that existed during colonial time;

Recalling that free, public and universal access of education and health care, subsidised food, transport and housing, universal old age pension are the results of more than a century of struggles of the working people;

Considering that social rights as guaranteed under our Welfare State represent an advanced form of social and wealth redistribution from the rich to the poor in conformity to human dignity;

Bearing in mind that the wealth created by the working people are constantly being appropriated by a tiny few rich;

Recalling that rich people are paying less and less taxes and the working people are shouldering more and more the tax burden, through indirect taxes, like the VAT;

Affirming that it is the unequal access of wealth that should “targeted” and not social rights of citizens;

Affirming that budgetary and economic policies should be formulated in cosnformity to social rights and not the other way round;

On Pension Rights

Affirming that Pension Rights, more specifically Universal Old Age Pension, is a core human right;

Recalling the obligation of the Mauritian State under the UN Covenant of Social and Rights which in Article 9 states that:

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to social security, including social insurance;

Recalling that Universal Old Age Pension in Mauritius was the result of working people struggles in 1937 and 1943;

Affirming that:

· Society has a duty to take care collectively of the basic needs of all its people who are past a certain age;

· Citizenship of a country entitles everyone to basic care from when we are born until we die

· Pension rights are part of the pay of the working class in its broad sense, pay deferred until retirement age.

· Private pension schemes have been totally discredited historically;

· Pensions rights for all are important in any conditions where there is high unemployment, casual work, insecure work, or a large informal sector;

· The “family” as an institution is very weak and is only able to look after family members on condition that there is support for the family from the state to do so;

· The so-called “ageing population problem” is nothing more than the successful adoption of family planning and thus should be recognised as human progress and not as a human problem; and the question of “ageing population” is only a relative one – when taken next to levels of productivity through new machinery, or less unemployment;

Considering that there are vested and greedy interests who want to get hold of Pension Funds and social services through the privatization of pensions and social services;

Reaffirming that the issue of “means tested” provisions of social rights, including pension rights, have never been subjected to any democratic debate;

Considering the immorality of parliamentarians and ministers voting for themselves exorbitant pensions and lump sums;

We call on all forces responsible now and in the future for formulating economic and social policies to preserve and consolidate the rights of every citizen under the welfare state -

· to free and universal access of education, health care

· to Universal Old Pension

· subsidised food, transport and housing

We call upon these forces to enshrine these basic human rights in fundamental human rights in the Constitution of our country.

We furthermore call for the immediate annulations of “Declaration Form” for the access to Old Age Pension.

We will use all the mean at our disposal to further the objective of this Charter in the context of the coming general elections.