– According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, social protection is a human right.
– Social protection is a major element of social justice – if you have no pensions, no health care, no labour rights etc., it is difficult to lead a decent life in dignity
– We believe social justice is the overarching objective of all efforts to achieve a just and sustainable economy with fair trade, just finances and binding rules for governments and corporations
– Social protection consists of social security (pensions, sickness benefits, benefits for young mothers and children, benefits for disabled people, health care, unemployment benefits), social assistance (help for poor people), labour rights and a whole series of public services
– We give our full support to the currently existing international initiatives, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the ILO’s Social Protection Floors, but as the ILO itself states: we have to go beyond, these commitments are to limited
– For us social protection is universal, not only for the poor but for all; consequently all have to contribute to it, through social contributions or through taxes – the strongest shoulders loading the heaviest burden …
– For us, social protection is a common, which basically means that it is ours, and that we should decide on the conceptualization, the implementation and the monitoring of it. States have to guarantee it, as it should guarantee our human rights. It means, further and basically, we have to democratize it so as to involve all citizens.
– We claim social protection is closely linked to all other sectors social movements are working for, such as climate change, trade, democracy and in the end, peace. Social protection can be a POSITIVE contribution to the environment, such as e.g. in the housing sector.
– Social protection is not a corrective mechanism for capitalism, it should be transformative that is contribute to and strengthen other actions that work for system change
– In the end, social protection is about the sustainability of life.
– We most of all have to define our own agenda and not limit ourselves to fighting for the things that have already been given to us (SDGs and SPFs). We need to define our own priorities and fight for them.
– To-day, we not only fight against neoliberalism, but also against populist right-wing policies that promote a kind of social protection that is non-emancipatory and non-transformative
– With this Charter, we make a plea for coherent policies since social justice is not a single issue but the result of coherent just policies at the economic, environmental and social level. When focusing on one or other point, be it pensions or social services or anything else, demands should not be seen as context-free single demands. On the contrary, the Charter helps to translate principles into detailed demands and gives meaning to them within an emancipatory and transformative context.
– The Global Charter is not a binding text, but an aspirational text; it is not a text with demands, but with principles – in that way it can serve as a reference text for movements defining their priorities and organizing their campaigns
– The decision to make the charter was taken at AEPF11 in Ulaan Baatar in 2016