USING MODULE 11 IN A TRAINING PROGRAM

SOCIAL SECURITY AS A HUMAN RIGHT

GO TO SECTION I - MODULE 11

This module should help trainees understand/clarify for themselves:

• historical background to the concept of social security;

• the current vulnerability of social security in industrialized economies;

• the elements of a social security system;

• the main elements of a rights-based approach to social security; and

• the international and national legal instruments addressing social security rights;

Suggested Methods

¨      Case studies: The following three case studies can be used for introducing this module.

1.      "Socioeconomic Rights Advocacy-Using International Law: Experience of the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA), Canada” (see Module 24).

2.      "Kensington Welfare Rights Union” (see p. 599).

3.                 A New Child Support Grant in South Africa: Mobilizing Civil Society

During 1997 and 1998, a range of NGOs, trade unions, representatives of the churches, the Commission for Gender Equality and the Human Rights Commission in South Africa mobilized in response to policy proposals to reform the system of child and family social assistance support.  The old system was to be replaced by a new child support grant-a means-tested social assistance grant payable to the primary care‑givers of poor children under the age of seven years.  These groups argued that the Department of Welfare’s proposals for the new grant were minimalist, and would fail to meet the basic subsistence needs of poor children.  The NGOs involved in the campaign believed that the proposals were unduly influenced by the government’s re­strictive macroeconomic policy.  These groups conducted a public campaign calling for an increase in the proposed level of the grant and its extension to cover a greater range of impoverished children.  NGOs also lobbied the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Welfare (National Assembly) to convene public hearings on the pro­posed introduction of the new grant.  Three sets of public hearings were held-two in areas with large rural constituencies.  These hearings were well attended.  A number of organizations and individuals made submissions at these hearings.  They argued that the government’s proposals did not give adequate effect to the rights of children to social security and nutrition and of women to effective gender equality under the Constitution and relevant international human rights instruments (e.g., the Convention on the Rights of the Child and CEDAW).  The Portfolio Committee adopted a report that largely endorsed the position of civil society.  Ultimately, the campaign gener­ated sufficient public pressure to persuade the Department of Welfare to increase the level of the benefit and to undertake publicly that the grant would reach three million impoverished children over a five‑year period.

Participants should be asked to consider a number of different questions or issues arising from this module.  For example:

▪     What is the content of the right to social security? Does the right have the same con­tent in developing countries as it does in developed countries?

▪     What is the responsibility of the state in realizing the right to social security?

▪     What are the responsibilities of private individuals and groups in relation to social se­curity?

▪     How can the right to social security be made meaningful in developing countries?

▪     How can the coverage of social security systems be extended to traditionally excluded groups, e.g., domestic and rural workers, casual workers, and those working in the in­formal sector of the economy?

▪     In what way can social security systems contribute to alleviating large‑scale structural unemployment?

▪     How can social security systems be designed to advance effective gender equality?

▪     In what way can social security contribute to alleviating the suffering caused by HIV/AIDS?

▪     Discuss the different national and international legal and political strategies that can be used to challenge retrogressive measures in relation to social security.

▪     How can the implementation and enforcement mechanisms for social security rights at national and international levels be strengthened and made more accessible and ef­fective?

These case studies demonstrate how a range of strategies can be used to advance and de­fend social security rights.  Frequently, success in the implementation and enforcement of social security rights will depend on a combination of strategies undertaken at national and international levels.  These case studies can be used as a springboard for discussion on how different rights‑based strategies can be used to protect and promote the social se­curity rights.  These case studies include the use of public campaigns, parliamentary ad­vocacy, litigation, and international remedies in relation to social security rights.  The strengths and weakness of the various strategies in different contexts can be explored.