History

In 1936, ILO member states participating in a work conference in Santiago, Chile, passed a resolution establishing the fundamental principles of social security in America. It considered that “compulsory social security constitutes the most rational and effective means of offering workers the social security to which they are entitled”. These principles were ratified and expanded during the second conference held in Havana, Cuba, in 1939.

On the other hand, and taking advantage of an invitation made by the President of Peru to attend the inauguration of the Hospital Obrero de Lima, the institutions that were present created an Inter-American Committee for Initiatives in Matters of Social Security with the intention of encouraging governments and social security institutions in countries in America to establish a permanent organization for study, collaboration, information and theoretical action. This meeting took place on December 10 and 12, 1940.

Subsequently, invited by the Chilean government, the social security institutions and governments comprising the Inter-American Committee for Initiatives in Matters of Social Security, decided to hold the first meeting of the Inter-American Conference on Social Security in Santiago, on September 10 and 16, 1942.

A recollection of the creation of the above mentioned Inter-American Committee was made during this meeting, emphasizing the importance of establishing the Conference as a starting point to take more effective action in developing the practical collaboration of social security and welfare administrations and institutions, in line with a permanent activity program and with the collaboration of the International Labour Organization, at times in which the crisis resulting from the war was forcing every nation to use human and material potential to the maximum. To this end, social security services were required to make a supreme effort to ensure the health and production capability of workers and their families.

The countries attending this first meeting were: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States of America, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. Representatives from the International Labour Office, the Pan-American Sanitation Office and the American International Institute for Child Protection, also attended it.