|
|
The
retirement age in Honduras varies from administration to administration,
but on average 50 is the voluntary retirement age and retirement
is obligatory at 65. That is why the elderly join women and children
in comprising the most vulnerable groups in society.
It is estimated that this year there are 500,000 men and women over
60 years of age who "have absolutely no kind of pension, no
social security, or to say that these older adults are completely
unprotected."
"This is a generation of abandoned seniors," says gerontologist
Gladis Gaviria, who adds that the few who even receive a pension
are part of a select and privileged group.
Nonetheless, she explains that many of the pensions and retirement
funds they receive do not cover minimum living expenses (as defined
by the government's family basket of basic needs). The average pensions
in the different institutions range from 400 to 800 to 2000 lempiras.
Paradoxically, there are cases like that of the former minister
of Education retired with a monthly pension of 33,000 lempiras from
the Teacher's Retirement Institute (INPREMA). More than 85% of the
pensions from the Institute of Social Retirements for Public Employees
(INJUPEMP) are from 2000 to 4000 lempiras a month. However, it is
reported that doctors earn pensions greater than 50,000 lempiras
a month.
The lack of state policies in this area "originates in a society
of the marginalized, where security and social safeguards are part
of the drama for a population living in uncertainty."
|
Poor
and Abandoned
Studies reveal that the Honduran elderly, in addition to not having
access to pensions, are part of an abandoned population, even within
their own homes, where they are confined to dark rooms and solitude.
"Within our own homes are families that keep their elderly
in a corner, who are ashamed to show their elderly to the outside
world, who are ashamed to take them outside, who are ashamed to
take their hand, because they believe they are dirty, that they
smell bad," explains Gaviria.
"In these
times our elderly are suffering abandonment and they are suffering
because no one will help them," she explains. Many other seniors
find themselves obligated to take on some work, like babysitting,
to earn some money to cover some of their needs. And they are the
more fortunate ones because many seniors lose control of their pensions
to unscrupulous adult children and are mistreated or even sent to
nursing homes.
"This is
the position to which most people are reduced when they enter their
senior years. They are replaced by a new generation who does not
think to consult them for their experience but only to exploit them,"
asserts the gerontology specialist.
And she warns that the situation will only be aggravated in the
next years if no policies are established to attend to the elderly,
since studies indicate that the elderly population will continue
to grow at an increased pace.
Specialists predict that this is an irreversible process brought
on by factors like birth control and longer life expectancies among
Hondurans. Although Honduras has one of the youngest populations
in the Americas, with an average age of 22, the indicators point
to an increase of the percentage of elderly in the population from
5.4 to 13 percent, or to almost a million seniors, by 2050.
There are no policies
United Nations institutions like the World Assembly of Aging have
determined that the holistic treatment of the elderly should be
integrated as a primary objective in government policies, like policies
addressing the needs of young children.
But in Honduras, that seems far away, and we continue without policies
to guarantee everyone a dignified old age.
Millions of lempiras have been invested in studies of the problem,
but their recommendations have never been applied. What is evident
from these studies, two of which REVISTAZO.com has, is that wide
ranging reforms are needed. Poor administration, corruption, and
politicization weakens the retirement system, which should be a
pillar of development policies in this nation with the highest rates
of poverty in the western hemisphere.
INPREUNAH's director recognizes that the administration of funds
is inefficient and many funds have been hurt by corruption. "And
we are talking about thousands of millions of lempiras that have
been lost, leaving these systems in very critical situations in
regards to their reserve funds," he explained.
Limits of the retirement planning system
In Honduras, the retirement planning system consists of at least
eight institutions of pensions and savings, in addition to other
savings programs run by private companies.
Some of these institutions are: The Honduran Institute of Social
Security (IHSS), the Institute of Retirements and Pensions for Public
Employees (INJUPEMP), the Teachers' Institute of Retirement Planning
(INPREMA), the Institute for Military Retirement (IPM), the Institute
for Retirement of the National Autonomous University of Honduras
(INPREUNAH), the Institute of Journalists' Retirement (IPP), the
Institute for the Retirement of Professionals (IPSPD), the Savings
Fund of the Central Bank of Honduras and the savings program of
the Honduran Medical Association.
These systems are limited in that they can only serve people employed
in the sectors identified for each institution. The great majority
of employees working in the informal sector, especially small farmers,
do not have access to any of these institutions. Each institution
has its own regulations or law.
No to privatization
The poor administration and high levels of corruption and politicization
that have destabilized the pension system has led some to see a
solution in privatizing the institutions.
What is evident in that proposal, though, is the interest of business
groups in managing the millions of lempiras in each of the pension
systems. The dream of many a banker in Honduras is to someday control
the social security pensions so that they can take their own share
and obligate all workers to be affiliated with a pension fund.
Privately administered pensions have proliferated in the country
in the last years, created by commercial banks on the side, without
any laws to regulate them. Retirement planning experts say they
would not be opposed to such private sector activity, if it was
regulated by the State and was a voluntary alternative for those
with the financial means. But they make clear that it should not
be a State policy because social security cannot be accomplished
by private businesses.
The presence of the State in social security pensions is indispensable,
says Gaviria, contrary to the claims made by neoliberal and free
market proponents.
And although the State has still not defined a policy, it has started
to approve laws that favor this tendency, like a law to regulate
the involvement of private businesses. The law was approved months
after two retirement funds created by commercial banks went bankrupt:
one of them was Vital Plan, a retirement fund created by Banhcreser.
Those who invested in Vital Plan lost all their savings the minute
the bank went under. More than 1000 people had invested in the plan,
and they lost more than 800 million lempiras (about $47 million).
The government guarantees savings deposited in banks, but not deposits
made to private saving funds.
The case has been denounced, but the responsible parties have yet
to be punished. Public prosecutors have opened cases and issued
arrest orders for more than 30 individuals thought to be responsible
for this crime, but they remain free.
This is one of the examples cited by those who oppose privatization.
They also note that similar situations in State sponsored funds
have not favored the general public.
"Experience shows us that the process of privatization favors
the minority while deepening the poverty of the majority. We must
not repeat the errors committed in other state institutions subjected
to privatization or those made by other Latin American countries
who have had only negative experiences."
Privatization of the retirement system would represent the widening
gap between the rich and the poor in a country where formal employment
levels drop day by day and the rate of informal employment rises.
The Great Challenge to the System
Those who have studies the issue agree that the primary challenge
for the government is to apply laws that guarantee the pillars of
social security: solidarity, equity, universality and equality.
"The priority is to plan a better future through benefits and
services that guarantee everyone the ability to live full and dignified
lives through their senior years," asserts the United Nations
Development Program study, Poverty, Social Security and Development.
Others advise reorganizing existing systems to guarantee their continuing
survival, even if this means privatizing them. "We need to
defend the social retirement institutions, because they are the
savings one has for old age," claims Gaviria, who recognizes
that privatization "might" be a solution to the problem.
But she says the State should guide this process because the saving
of the country's citizens are at stake. |
