UN Expert Says Puerto Rico Social Needs Should Come Before Debt Payment

A United Nations expert said the social and economic needs of Puerto Ricans should take precedence over debt payments.

In a five page statement Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, a U.N. Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt, said the aim of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board "must be to bring Puerto Rico's public debt down to levels that are not only financially, but also socially sustainable."

Pablo Bohoslavsky said in the fall he had been corresponding with President Obama, authorities in Washington and San Juan, and with the Oversight Board. Because the board is currently planning to certify a multi-year governing and debt plan for Puerto Rico at the end of the month, he decided to make a public statement on the topic.

Citing a statement by the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on public debt and austerity, he said governments are "required to undertake an independent and robust human rights impact assessment before implementing fiscal consolidation or structural reform measures that have the potential to affect seriously the enjoyment of various rights."

He said those rights include the right to healthcare, food, elderly social security and adequate housing.

"The population in Puerto Rico cannot be held hostage to past irresponsible borrowing and lending," Pablo Bohoslavsky said.

"After 10 years of economic depression, further spending cuts will not assist economic recovery, but rather undermine the provision of essential public services in the fields of health care, education, and social security."

The expert said he was "most alarmed" by the deterioration of the Puerto Rico health care system. He noted the exodus of doctors from the island and that federal funding for low-income health insurance in Puerto Rico is set to run out soon.

Pablo Bohoslavsky said he was "worried about" proposals by the Oversight Board to reduce the government's regulations of labor conditions and pay. "Such reforms have in many instances not resulted in increased employment or economic growth, but undermined workers' rights and increased the number of person employed in underpaid and insecure work." Gov. Ricardo Rossell- introduced a bill on Monday with similar proposals.

The Switzerland-based expert said he was seeking permission from the U.S. government to conduct a fact-finding visit to Puerto Rico.

Responding to the expert's wish to visit the island and his call for a significant cut in the debt without austerity that would harm human rights, Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party president David Bernier tweeted, "In these goals we must put all our efforts." Since Rossell- was sworn in to power in early January the Popular Democratic Party has been the principal opposition party in Puerto Rico.

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