A mission of the International Labor Organization (ILO) I came to Colombia to analyze them country’s pension problems and give recommendations for the reform that the Government wants to present on March 16.
These suggestions will be presented next Monday to the tripartite subcommittee, that is, to the production unions, the labor unions and the government entities that are building the bill.
(You can also read: The reforms proposed by the National Development Plan)
Among the organization’s recommendations is the construction of a structural reform to the pension system that allows attacking the problem of inequality and competition.
“We have identified some points that may not be aligned with the principles of sustainability of the system or the predictability of pensions, which are sufficient. When there is a system with a competition between two mechanisms, they can lead to problems of poverty in old age, which is what the report tries to identify and remedy”, said Maya Stern Plaza, ILO official in charge of standards and legislation in the Department of the Social Protection.
This explained that the organization has been working on a report and that they have identified areas where there are compliance and gaps, such as pensions and unemployment.
pillar system
In addition, the ILO mission insisted on the implementation of a pillar system that benefits older adults who do not have access to a pension and thus generate greater coverage.
“We want to give some guidelines to create comprehensive social security systems, which would cover both people who have contribution capacity and people who do not have that capacity and therefore also talks about how a social protection system could be integrated within a social security mechanism, then all of this is in line with international standards,” Stern said.
Parachute Gloria Ines RamirezMinister of Labour, one of the conclusions reached is that our pension system as it stands is not sustainable over time and, above all, because there are two systems that are asymmetrical.
«Of course, they are not fulfilling the function for which they were created, which is to retire the largest number of Colombians, the proposal then is to rectify, it is non-aligned and on that basis we are going to advance in ILO Convention 102 and we will work so that the reform we are building is the best for the country”, affirmed the Minister.
ILO Convention 102
ILO Convention 102 defines the 9 branches of social security: medical assistance, monetary benefits for illness, unemployment benefits, old age, in case of work accidents and occupational diseases, family, disability and survivors. So far Colombia is one of the few countries in the region that has not ratified it.
