e-GCSPF News #89 - July 2023

A centrepiece of this year’s International Labour Conference (ILC) at the ILO was the World of Work Summit: Social Justice for All, led by the ILO Director General Gilbert F. Houngbo, where governments, as well as union and employer representatives, expressed strong support to establish a Global Coalition for Social Justice. Read more

This question-and-answer document by Development Pathways and Human Rights Watch examines the human right to social security, and how universal social security can help protect people from economic shocks and other emerging threats, including climate-related hazards, while building just societies where all rights are realized. It also explains why policymakers should orient their policies toward establishing universal social security systems and avoid narrowly means-tested programs. Read more

Eight Organizations of People with Disabilities (OPDs) in Lebanon, in partnership with the ILO, joined forces to call on national and international, governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to proactively involve OPDs in policymaking and programming related to Social Protection. Read more

The report by Human Rights Watch details how an algorithm developed by the Jordanian government and the World Bank profiles and ranks the income and well-being of Jordanian families to determine who should receive cash assistance. The research funds that this form of algorithmic decision-making is depriving many people of their right to social security even as they go hungry, fall behind on rent, and take on crippling debt. Despite the exclusionary effects of this approach, the World Bank is financing similarly automated systems in seven other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Sixty countries in total have adopted this technology, in part because of the Bank’s promotion of poverty targeting. Read more

Amnesty International is today calling for social security to be made available to everyone worldwide after a series of crises exposed huge gaps in state support and protection systems, leaving hundreds of millions facing hunger or trapped in a cycle of poverty and deprivation.
To guarantee the right to social security, Amnesty International supports the establishment of an internationally administered Global Fund for Social Protection, a concept supported by UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, the UN Secretary-General and the ILO.
The creation of a fund would offer states technical and financial support to provide social security and would aim to build the capacity of national social protection systems to scale up their responses in times of crisis.  Read more

By Sarina D. Kidd
This working paper highlights how the international financial institutions (IFIs) shape social security policy in the MENA region.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are two of the most significant IFIs in the MENA region. They have played a critical role in influencing social security policy. Read more

As part of the Human Rights 75 Initiative, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched a call for submissions for short stories on social protection.
How has your life, or the lives of those you know, been positively changed by social security laws, policies, measures or practices? Share your experience and be part of our Short Stories on Social Protection call!
Send a brief description by 31 July 2023 to ohchr-socialprotectionHR75@un.org. Your contribution, if selected, will be included as part of the Human Rights 75 spotlight in September. Read more