Statement at the 54th Session of the Human Rights Council

The GCSPF presented a statement to support the Study “Inequality, social protection and the right to development" (A/HRC/54/83) published by the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development that was released at the 54^th regular session of the Human Rights Council.

I am speaking on behalf of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, which counts over 120 Civil Society and Trade Union organizations world-wide.

We are delighted that this report on inequality, social protection and the right to development recommends the establishment of a global fund for social protection.

We are indeed convinced that

• low-income countries need international support for financing rights-based social protection systems;
• social protection programmes should be nationally owned and not necessarily follow Western models;
• people living in poverty need to participate in the design and monitoring of pilot projects and programmes to extend social protection, in order to ensure that they correspond to the reality of their lives.

We call upon all governments to address deepening inequalities within and among States by establishing universal social protection systems as a fundamental human right understood through the principle of equality of opportunity for development -. on a personal as well as a national level.

We urge the international community, in particular all members of the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (USP2030), to support such efforts.

Item 3 Interactive dialogue with the expert mechanism on the right to development
Human Rights Council, 20 September 2023