A/HRC/28/35
Group was created to enhance global advocacy activities and to develop the conceptual
policy aspects of the approach.
6.
In 2011, the Social Protection Floor Advisory Group issued a report entitled Social
Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization,5 which consolidated global
advocacy activities around social protection. In 2012, at the 101st session of the
International Labour Conference, Governments, employers and workers from 185 countries
unanimously adopted ILO Recommendation No. 202. In that landmark recommendation,
social security as a human right for all persons is reaffirmed and guidance provided for
building comprehensive social security systems. Also in 2012, in the outcome document of
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), entitled “The Future
We Want”, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 66/288, States stressed “the
need to provide social protection to all members of society”, encouraged “initiatives aimed
at providing social protection floors for all citizens” and reaffirmed that sustainable
development and poverty eradication policies should promote “respect for all human
rights” (annex, paras. 156, 107 and 58, respectively).
7.
ILO Recommendation No. 202 provides guidance to member States on how to
extend and adapt social protection floors to national circumstances. It states that national
social protection floors should include at least four essential guarantees:
(a)
Access to at least essential health care, including maternity care;
(b)
Basic income security for children, providing access to nutrition, education,
care and any other necessary goods and services;
(c)
Basic income security for persons of working age who are unable to earn
sufficient income, in particular in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity and
disability;
(d)
Basic income security for older persons.
8.
While the final objective is to put in place comprehensive social protection systems,
implementation can be gradual in line with States’ resources. Countries adopting a social
protection floor should develop nationally defined strategies, in a participatory manner,
respecting the principles of non-discrimination, gender equality and social inclusion.
Building on existing social protection mechanisms, those strategies may include a mix of
measures: contributory and non-contributory, targeted and universal, and public and private
— depending on the country’s social, economic and political context.
9.
The results of ILO research and the experience of several developing countries show
that virtually all countries can afford social protection floors and that they would constitute
effective tools in the fight against poverty.6
10.
Social protection floors differ from a “safety net” or “social safety nets” approaches,
which are non-contributory transfers designed to provide regular, predictable and targeted
support to poor and vulnerable people. In contrast, the aim of social protection floors is to
approach social policy comprehensively through the promotion of integrated strategies for
essential social services and income security for all.
5
6
4
ILO, Geneva, 2011. Available from www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_165750/lang-en/index.htm.
ILO, “Can Low Income Countries Afford Basic Social Security?”, Social Security Policy Briefing
Paper 3, 2008. Available from www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/secsoc/downloads/
policy/policy3e.pdf.
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