A/HRC/28/35 27. That is consistent with the recommendations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that participation should be an integral part of any policy or programme concerning social security.26 Participation not only contributes to the effective implementation and sustainability of national social protection floors, but also ensures that the rights of beneficiaries are respected. For example, the successful implementation of the Universal Health Coverage Scheme in Thailand has been attributed to, among other reasons, the critical role played by civil society and social movements in its formulation and design.27 28. According to ILO Recommendation 202, national social protection floors should also put in place “impartial, transparent, effective, simple, rapid accessible and inexpensive complaint and appeal procedures”. The recommendation underlines that such procedures should be free of charge for the applicant (para. 7). This is in line with general comment No. 19 in which the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommends that all victims of violations of the right to social security be entitled to adequate reparation, including restitution, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition. National ombudspersons, human rights commissions and similar national human rights institutions should have a role in addressing violations of the right (paras. 77–81). D. Equality between men and women 29. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has noted in its general comment No. 19 that States parties should ensure that social protection guarantees do not reinforce traditional gender stereotypes, but rather encourage behaviour that advances equality between men and women (para. 32).28 Social security programmes should address imbalances of power and the multiple forms of discrimination that women experience, and address women’s specific needs throughout their lives: during adolescence, adulthood and old age.29 30. In its preamble, ILO Recommendation 202 recognizes that social security is an important tool to promote gender equality. It emphasizes that, in implementing the recommendation, States should apply the principle of gender equality and be responsive to women’s special needs (para. 3 (d)). It also specifies the critical role of genderdisaggregated data for the effective monitoring of the floors (paras. 19 and 21). Moreover, several of the basic guarantees that national social protection floors should establish, such as maternal health, child care and maternity benefits (para. 5 (a), (b) and (c)), aim in particular at ensuring gender equality and women’s enjoyment of rights. 31. Many social protection schemes specifically target women within households or female-headed households,30 as it is widely understood that targeting women as recipients of social protection benefits significantly improves the education, health and nutritional 26 27 28 29 30 General comment No. 19, para. 69. ILO, “Fiscal Space and the Extension of Social Protection”, Extension of Social Security Working Paper 33 (Geneva, 2012), p. 154. Ibid., para. 32. See, e.g., A/HRC/11/9, p. 17, and A/65/259, pp. 14–18. See also Sepúlveda, M. and Nyst, C., The Human Rights Approach to Social Protection (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Erweko Oy, 2012), pp. 32–33. For the Brazilian Bolsa Família, for instance, 94 per cent of the recipients are women: Rebecca Holmes, Nicola Jones, Rosana Vargas and Fabio Veras Soares, “Cash Transfers and Gendered Risks and Vulnerabilities: Lessons from Latin America,” International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Research Brief No. 16 (2010), p. 2. 9