25 Jun 2018
Mr President,
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had highlighted the challenges of the rise of inequality to societies.
The OHCHR’s Organisational Management Plan 2018 – 2021 has also identified social and economic inequality as a “frontier issue” that needs to be addressed to better protect and promote human rights.
Singapore has wrestled with the problem of inequality since our independence in 1965.
Inequality remains a key concern and challenge for our Government today, and this issue was comprehensively debated during the Opening of the Second Session of the Thirteenth Parliament last month.
We tackle inequality through a suite of policies and programmes.
Our progressive tax system redistributes personal income tax revenue from top earners to lower-income Singaporeans through schemes such as Workfare Income Supplement, Goods and Services Tax (GST) vouchers, and other subsidies in education, housing, healthcare.
We ensured universal access to good general education, so that every child has a good start in life, regardless of their background.
We also have a strong social safety net, with targeted assistance schemes, so that no one is left behind.
We provide significant housing grants to help families own their home, with the lower-income getting more help than the higher-income.
But the success of our policies have led to a new set of challenges such as social stratification.
We want to learn from the experiences of others in tackling this wicked problem of inequality.
The HRC and OHCHR should rebalance its heavy emphasis on civil and political rights, and pay greater attention to economic and social rights to help member states tackle inequality.
We also look forward to the HRC and OHCHR doing more to promote the sharing of best practices and policies to effectively combat inequality.
I thank you Mr President.
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