A/HRC/28/35 35. Under human rights law, States parties must ensure that women and men have an equal right to family benefits. 37 All women, including those working in the informal sector, should be granted paid maternity leave and benefits for an adequate period, and States must take steps, to the maximum of their available resources, to ensure that social security systems cover persons working in the informal economy. 38 According to ILO, only 28 per cent of women in employment worldwide are covered by maternity benefits.39 ILO Recommendation 202 explicitly includes maternal benefits, which are vital, not only to promote equality in employment and occupation, but also in ensuring income security for pregnant women and mothers of newborn children and their families, and effective access to quality maternal health care. Without maternity protection, women’s right to health and the health of the newborn are compromised, as women are forced to work until the last days of their pregnancy and resume working soon after childbirth. IV. Social protection floors and marginalized groups 36. While all persons should progressively be covered by social security systems, human rights law prescribes that priority should be accorded to the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups.40 Human rights bodies have repeatedly called for the extension of social security guarantees to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as orphans and children with street connections,41 victims of trafficking,42 minorities43 and internally displaced persons.44 Accordingly, national social protection floors aim at guaranteeing income security and access to basic services throughout the life cycle, with particular attention to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.45 A. Children 37. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, States parties must promote and protect all children’s rights including their economic, social and cultural rights including the right to social security (art. 26) and the right to an adequate standard of living (art. 27). A national social protection floor should fulfil basic income security for children in order to provide access to nutrition, education, care and any other necessary goods and services.46 38. To maximize the impact on the enjoyment of rights, social protection policies should be child sensitive: addressing the unique social disadvantages, risks and vulnerabilities that 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 See e.g., Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 13 (a). See, e.g., general comment No. 19, paras. 18, 19 and 34, and A/68/293, para. 53. ILO, World Social Protection Report, p. 60. General comment No. 19, para. 23, and Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, adopted in Human Rights Council resolution 21/11. See, e.g., Committee on the Rights of the Child, concluding observations on Andorra, CRC/C/AND/CO/2. See, e.g., Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, concluding observations on Bosnia and Herzegovina, E/C.12/BIH/CO/2. See, e.g., report of the independent expert on minority issues, Gay McDougall, mission to Rwanda, A/HRC/19/56/Add.1. See, e.g., report of the representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin, mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, E/CN.4/2006/71/Add.4. ILO Recommendation 202, para. 4. Ibid., para. 5 (b). 11