Ageing and Development

Twenty years after the first Vienna World Assembly, this Second Assembly finds us concerned about the South, about developing countries, most of whose people live in poverty and social exclusion. When the First World Assembly on Ageing took place in 1982, most elderly people lived in the developed world. In less than three decades, three quarters of them will be living in developing countries.

The process of the ageing of the population which already took place in developed countries is happening these days in developing countries under very different circumstances.

Whereas developed countries grew old gradually, during a whole century, the developing countries are doing so in less than 30 years. The developed world was rich while it was becoming old, while our countries are growing old in poverty.

The imperative of equity

Argentina, which today is passing through its most critical moment in history, is among these countries. Rather than a poor country, Argentina is an unequal country. A nation where during the last decade indicators of economic growth and those of poverty and social exclusion have grown simultaneously. The theory of the "spill-over" never worked in real life. In order to understand what poverty means, it is necessary to understand its opposite, what it means to be wealthy.

Therefore, equality and solidarity have new meanings for us. The existence of a more just society, with greater equality of opportunities and better capacity of integration as well as an efficient citi zenry, both economically and socially, are necessary in order to achieve a society that is for all ages. At the same time, this means an ethical imperative and a necessary condition for social peace and democratic stability. "Globalization has to be guided in order to become an inclusive force" said the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. This call for a development that concentrates on people, also refers to the solidarity among nations that we hope will be one of the explicit goals of the Assembly.

The new poor

In Argentina, those that now are elderly, are the ones who were protagonists of the process of upward mobility during the 50s and have become poor in their old age. The growing poverty that the majority of them had to go through during the last years produces unexpected suffering, because their access to goods and services, to which they have been used, is decreasing.

The retirement benefits are progressively decreasing and this fact is a strong threat to the economic security of groups of future elderly. The institutions that were created to the social attention today pass through a financing crisis that has never before been experienced.

The state that is rooted in civil society

In the last 40 years the perception of the State has gradually transformed from being principally a source of solution to problems to a maker of obstacles. We have changed our conception of the State from something that can and does do everything to a State that is not present and that is weak and fragmented.

Argentina today is ready to re-found the State. A modern State that is agile, efficient, guarantor of all its non-transferable tasks, who realizes that the common good and the fulfillment of basic necessities is esencial.

But the issue is not only how much the State can do, but also how it does it. This has to do with reinforcing the capacity and initiative of the people within the organizations and communities in stead of reducing them to be beneficiaries, patients or clients.

In this sense, President Ouhalde has started a process of search for agreements and consensus through the so-called "Argentine Dialogue". Under the auspices of the United Nations Program and the Catholic Church, all social sectors have been called together. Representatives of the political, economic, private and public sector, of the State and civil society actively participate in the elaboration of suggestions that would orient and control the action of Government.

A modern state has to be open and flexible, a state with roots. A modern state has to be transparent and has to take civil society into consideration as part of the solution, increasing its capacity to give answers, to discover problems and solutions together with all participants of society, to strengthen networks, to plan, evaluate and control policies according to the necessities and expectations of the interested parties.

Faced by globalization and the free market as a sole participant, civil organizations and the accumulation of social capital represent the only thing that these groups can do.

In the multiplicity of organizations of civil society, the institutions that group elderly people grow in importance at the time when basic needs have to be satisfied and represent an important base to exercise their rights of citizen participation.

Participation and power

In Argentina the grade of social participation has been growing and is reflected in the more than 4000 Centers for the Retired and for the elderly. These are institutionalized spaces where social activities take place that are have solidarity, are productive and take into consideration the rights of the elderly.

I would like to reaffirm the position of my Government at this Assembly. The participation of the elderly is fundamental to achieve a better quality of life for them, for the families and for society as a whole.

In this respect in my country it was decided that a "Federal Council for the Elderly" will be founded whose members are representatives of their Organizations and where highest authorities of the relevant Ministries participate, as well as scientific and trade union representatives, and those of universities and of religions. In accordance with this train of thought one of the representatives of these organizations has been elected as current Secretary for the Elderly.

The objective of this organ is that the elderly should actively participate in the definition of specific public policies in the defense of their interests, exercising protagonism in the decisions that are taken and assuring that their voices are heard.

It also implies that the impact that the ageing of the population has on the social systems will also be included in the Social Agenda, in order to construct common responses that convert this process into a success story for the new era and not a social failure.

It implies the fortifying of the elderly and their organizations with the aim of increasing their possibilities to act upon their own destiny and upon that of the societies in which they live. The challenge for the States and for their own organizations for the new millennium will be to promote together the empowering of the elderly.

Together

In brief:

If the State guarantees a minimum income and an adequate health coverage,

If the families fulfill their non transferable role of satisfying the affective needs of the elderly,

If the civil society and the private sector recognize the benefits of the aging population for the human development,

If the elderly themselves participate actively in the control of institutions that are established to take care of them and to gain back their rights,

If the organizations that represent them are fortified,

The rest should be the reestablishment of a relationship between the State and the citizen that facilitates for the elderly the way between the traditional role of "beneficiary" to the active protagonist. A real, integrated citizen.

Finally, I would like to propose, on behalf of my Government that opportunity be given both at the regional and at the international level to evaluate and be evaluated periodically as far as fulfillment of the agreements that we propose at this Assembly.