Considering:
That, by mandate of the Constitutions of every democratic country, work is enshrined as a right and a social duty and the State accordingly is obliged to promote conditions that eliminate poverty and assure citizens of equal opportunities to achieve useful occupations and which protect them against unemployment and under-employment in any of its forms.
That, street trade and the various activities of the informal economy are a consequence of the structural imbalances within our countries and of the unjust existing relations of subordination in the international order.
That, street vendors, besides generating sources of employment and incomes for themselves and their families, constitute an important channel of distribution and commercialisation of products which facilitates the basic provision of products for the subsistence of important sectors of the population.
That, it is convenient to national interests to reconcile the rights of informal workers, to relate to security and favourable conditions for their work with processes of order and development of the cities and the countries; channelling thus the economic and social force of informal traders and workers in the informal economy, in order to enable its development as part of democratic socio-economic systems and equitability.
WE RESOLVE THAT:
1. To promote in each country a statement of requirements and public services and of preferred and adequate location of informal workers in the urban space in the social interest, with reference to the specificities and conditions of its situation.
2. Encouraging in each country and city the formulation of integral Programs of promotion of informal workers that pay attention to the rights of street vendors as citizens and merchants, articulating the economic and social politics that respect these rights, the use of urban space and economic development, etc.
3. To fight for the rights of informal workers, claiming their rights to work, welfare and development; to develop strategic alliances with the union movement and other actors in local, national and world development.
PROPOSED: FEDEVAL, Lima – Peru (December 2003)
SECONDED: Eastern Cape Alliance of Street Vendors
and AZIEA
