Ibero-America adopts the Charter on Care and Support, a shared commitment to placing care at the heart of public policy

Ministers for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, and for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, during the IV Ibero-American Ministerial Conference on Social Affairs and Inclusive Development, held in Avilés

The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, and the Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, the Secretary-General of SEGIB, Andrés Allamand, and the Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Social Security Organisation (OISS), Gina Magnolia Riaño Barón, presided over the Fourth Ibero-American Ministerial Conference on Social Affairs and Inclusive Development, held in Avilés, at which the document was adopted.

This conference forms part of the lead-up to the 30th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, which is due to take place this coming November in Madrid, with the aim of taking a cross-cutting approach to the care system in Ibero-America.

During the meeting, which brought together ministers and senior officials from countries across the Ibero-American region to coordinate public policies, the Ibero-American Charter on Care and Support was adopted. This charter provides an important framework for care in Ibero-America and focuses on the recognition of care as a right, a necessity, a form of work and an essential public good.

The Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, described the charter as "a document that sets out a starting point for what is set to be a long journey of international collaboration and cooperation in the field of care. "Today we are giving shape to this through a firm institutional commitment, which enshrines certain fundamental principles such as universality, gender equality, and autonomy and participation in care."

According to Elma Saiz, Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, "we are proposing a roadmap to promote coordination between the social security systems of Europe and Ibero-America, so that labour mobility translates into greater protection for workers." "We want working in different countries to be an opportunity, not a loss of rights."

Furthermore, in his speech, the Ibero-American Secretary-General, Andrés Allamand, pointed out that "care is one of the major shared challenges in the region, as it is a cross-cutting issue that traverses social development." He also emphasised that, through this Charter, "Ibero-American countries will be able to move towards a fairer, more inclusive and jointly responsible social organisation of care, based on the recognition and valuing of care work."

In this regard, the document marks a milestone in the development of a shared agenda to place care at the heart of the region's public policies, and sets out a series of principles based on a framework of human rights, gender equality, inclusion, autonomy and shared responsibility. This initiative thus marks the start of a new phase of collaboration between the countries in the region, based on the exchange of knowledge, technical cooperation and political commitment to making care one of the pillars of the future.

The text provides a roadmap to guide the design, strengthening and evaluation of public policies that address the demographic, social and economic changes taking place in Ibero-American countries. It also recognises the social and economic values of care, promotes its redistribution amongst public authorities, families, the community, the private sector and civil society, and is committed to ensuring that care work is treated with dignity.

All these issues were discussed during the Conference, creating a forum for dialogue amongst the Ibero-American countries, which has enabled an analysis of the challenges and opportunities associated with strengthening care systems. In this context, emphasis has been placed on the need to promote social innovation and public policies that recognise the social and economic value of care - a sector that is heavily feminised, in which women continue to bear the brunt of both care responsibilities and the need for support - thus highlighting the importance of moving towards greater shared responsibility.

Non official translation