They adopted a declaration at the end of a weeklong South-South People’s Solidarity Youth exchange programme arranged by Actionaid and Centre on Youth Development and Exchange Cooperation (CYDECO) in Hanoi. They came from 10 countries in Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, India), Africa (Kenya, Malawi, South Africa) and Latin America (Cuba and Venezuela). They have done a comprehensive research at national level on social protection in poverty reduction, identifying root causes to poverty and efforts by nation states and other stakeholders in delivering social protection to its citizens.

 
Where social protection is recognized as a right, it has been misinterpreted and considered merely as economic solution to poverty while ignoring structural causes and sufficient resource allocations in their respective budgets. These governments have failed to realize the goal of poverty redution due to conditionalities attached to the aid they get and undemocratic governance structures in developing countries, the declaration said.

 
They demanded that states should ensure social protection for all citizens to bring the people out of poverty trap as its duty in conjunctions with the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other international commitments. They regretted that in some developing countries social protection is not even recognized as a statutory right that is why it remains to be a challenge for citizens to claim this otherwise fundamental right.

 
The declaration calls upon donors, IMF, World Bank, WTO and multinational corporatins not to impose conditionalitis on aid and trade with developing countries that hamper social protection, civil liberties, people’s participation in designing and implementing social protection plans. Women, children and marginalized should be given preference in social protection policies and packages.
 
They said neoliberal economic policies furthered the gap between the rich and the poor that caused social inequality, growing unemployment, lack of social-protection thus pushing the poor deeper into poverty. Social protection is a fundamental right that guarantee’s human disgnity and there is no escape in the garb of affordability criteria. Minimum social protection packages should include basic standard of living with dignity, said the declaration.

 
Pledging for a new active role in their respective societies, the youth leaders called upon states, institutions, movements and individuals from Africa, Asia, the Carribbean and Latin America to join hands with them for a greater South-South People’s Solidarity to wage a struggle for jusctice and peace, sustainable development, democracy, environmental protection and sovereignty of their people and countries.

Pls. read the declaration here: Declaration 05 06 09.doc.doc