International Symposium
Right to Social Security in Development
The symposium was held in Berlin from the afternoon of Monday 19 October 2009 to the afternoon of Tuesday 20 October. It was hosted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights in association with the UN Committee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The development of social security systems in the South has been largely ignored in the South and in international development practice. For example, the Millennium Development Goals do not include any reference to social security or protection. It is thus not surprising that the ILO reports that most of the world lack any form of access to social security. This lacuna was heightened by a series of global economic crises in 2008. Beginning with the massive rise in food prices, the year ended with a meltdown in financial markets and contraction of the real economic activity in most but not all countries. All three crises have impacted the right to social security. The cost of basic goods has risen, social security funds obtain lower returns on investments while rising unemployment places greater demands on social security programmes at a time when government revenues can be declining. This symposium aims to bring together leading actors working on social security to discuss ways in which the right to social security can be effectively promoted at the national and international level as a human right. The stakeholders included national government officials, development and UN agencies, trade unions, NGOs, employers and academics.
The workshop examined how the right to social security can both support and challenge existing initiatives in low and middle income countries.
It asked three specific questions:
1. What will facilitate the national conditions for implementing social security packages that conform with the right to social security?
2. How can we improve international accountability for social protection?
What would be the value-added of a new MDG target or new international legal standard on social security?
3. What is the human rights response to the design of programmes, especially conditionalities and narrow targeting?
Powerpoints:
SESSION 1: RIGHT TO SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE
The ILO Campaign for Basic Social Protection
Ursula Kulke, Coordinator standards and legal services, Social Security Department, ILO
Conditional Cash Transfers:Reducing present and future poverty
Ariel Fiszbein, Chief Economist Human Development Network, World Bank
SESSION 2: SOUTHERN EXPERIENCES
From Pensions to Bolsa Familia: The Case of Brazil
Lucia Modesto, National Secretary of Citizen's Income, Brazilian Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger
Experiments in Social Security: The Case of India
Neera Burra, Independent Researcher and Development Consultant
Targeted Social Security, Poverty Reduction and a Rights-Based Framework
Thabo Rakoloti, Chief Director Social Assistance, Department of Social Development, South Africa
Public Panel Discussion
Social Security in Development
The Basic Income Grant in Namibia
Herbert Jauch, Senior Researcher, Labour Resource and Research Institute, LaRRI, Namibia
BBC Documentary reporting directly from the BIG Pilot Project in Otjivero-Omitara.
Working Group 1: Facilitating National Conditions
Facilitating National Conditions: What Action is Needed?
Markus Loewe, Senior Economist, German Development Institute
Organising for Social Security in India:The SEWA Experience
Sapna Desai, Social Security Coordinator, Self-Employed Women’s Association, India
Working Group 2: International Accountability
Do we need a new MDG target on social security?
Simone Cecchini, Social Development Division Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Do we need a new MDG target and new international legal standard?
Ursula Kulke, Coordinator standards and legal services, Social Security Department, ILO
A proposal to introduce social security into the Millennium Development Goals
Andrew Shepherd, Director Chronic Poverty Research Centre/ODI
Working Group 3: Policy Design and Human Rights
Social Development, Human Rights and Co-responsibilities in Mexico
Marco López-Silva, Head of Unit Planning and International Relations Social Development Ministry, Mexico
Astrid Walker Bourne, Head of Policy and Co-Director Policy/Communications, HelpAge International
Can we resolve the debate over conditionalities and narrow targeting?
Rolf Künnemann, Director Human Rights, FIAN International
Working Group Summary will be available shortly