1. We believe that Social Welfare is an attainable goal.
2. We believe that Social
Welfare is a Human Right which entails also a duty.
3. We believe that
excessive disparities of living standards between citizens are unacceptable.
4. The Welfare State
requires solidarity among the citizens, democracy and transparency, a minimum level of
social benefits and services guaranteed to all citizens, autonomy of the social welfare
agencies, universality of benefits and shared costs.
5. The Welfare State has
been based on different models which emphasize different principles for the provision of
social benefits.
6. It is important to
distinguish between the Welfare State and Welfare Society in which the provision of social
benefits is the joint responsibility of the state and non-governmental organisations.
7. We believe that all
citizens should participate in contributing to the costs and sharing the benefits of the
Welfare Society, thus making it an institution which they want to defend.
8. We, however, wish to
emphasize that there is no one universal model of Welfare Society. The fundamental
objective, social welfare for all citizens, can be guaranteed in very different ways.
9. We are convinced that
the Welfare Society, even at a low level of development, would have beneficial effects on
economic growth and development.
10. We believe that in Asia
and Africa, the countries wishing to embark on a path to Welfare State should develop and
experiment with new alternatives, based on the social and community structure and a very
broad role for the NGOs.
11. We invite all scholars
from different countries to co-operate in the development of new models of the Welfare
State and Welfare Society.
12. As the possible means to
advance the global Welfare Society, debt cancellation can be made contingent to
development of Welfare Society .
