International Labour Office 1 A Interregional Trade Union Training on Social Security ILO’s Social Security Standards and related Action (2) Turin, 13 July 2010 The ILO Global Campaign to extend Social Security to all Ursula Kulke, Coordinator for Standards and Legal Services, Social Security Department, International Labour Office, Geneva

International Labour Office 2 Family Benefit Sickness Benefit Unemployment Benefit Maternity Benefit Medical Care Benefit Survivors’ Benefit Invalidity Benefit Old-age Benefit Employment Injury Benefit Public Employees Private EmployeesSelf- employed Informal Economy Non-employed Working Age Universal Health Care Assistance for Unemployed and Poor Child benefit Universal Old-Age and Disability Pension Realizing ILO’s mandate and the right to social security: ILO’s two dimensional strategy HORIZONTAL DIMENSION VERTICAL DIMENSION Social Protection Floor Social Security Benefits according to C. 102

International Labour Office 3 The horizontal dimension Extension of coverage to a wider range of the population through the establishment of a social protection floor: Extension of coverage to a wider range of the population through the establishment of a social protection floor:  All residents have access to a nationally defined set of essential health care services;  All children have income security, at least at the level of the nationally defined poverty line level, through family/child benefits aimed at facilitating access to nutrition, education and care;  All those in active age groups who are unable to earn sufficient income on the labour markets should enjoy a minimum income security through social assistance;  All residents in old age and with disabilities have income security at least at the level of the nationally defined poverty line through pensions for old age and disability.

International Labour Office 4 The vertical dimension Extension of coverage to a wider range of benefits and higher levels of benefits, as set out in the different branches defined by Convention No. 102 and the higher social security standards

International Labour Office 5 National social security policies should aim at:  Universal social security coverage (horizontal dimension):  Through the establishment of the social protection floor:  Access to health care,  Income security for the elderly and persons with disabilities,  Child benefits, and  Income security for the unemployed and the working poor  Progressively providing and guaranteeing more and higher level of benefits (vertical dimension):  Through the establishment of new social security branches,  Through increase in levels of benefits,  Through ratification of Convention No. 102  Providing social security according to the maximum of available resources Policy implications at national level for realizing the right to social security (1)

International Labour Office 6 National social security policies should aim at:  Providing social security as a right,  Through the establishment of social security by law, and not through programmes, charities, etc.  Guaranteeing access to social security without discrimination  Guaranteeing the ultimate and general responsibility of the State  Through a framework of good governance (including transparency and accountability) of the social security system and the guarantee that benefits be provided as prescribed and in time;  Guaranteeing the rule of law  Guaranteeing the principle of solidarity  Sustainability of the social security systems Policy implications at national level for realizing the right to social security (2)

International Labour Office 7 On what can we build to assist countries in realizing the vertical and the horizontal dimensions of social security ? Main tools for extending social security to all are ILO social security standards:  Comprehensive up-to-date standards  Income Security Recommendation, 1944 (No. 67)  Medical Care Recommendation, 1944 (No. 69)  Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102)  Higher up-to-date standards for different branches of social security  Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 (No. 121)  Invalidity, Old-age and Survivor’s Benefits Convention, 1967 (No. 128)  Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1952 (No. 130)  Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988 (No. 168)  Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183)

International Labour Office 8 How effective is Convention No. 102 for realizing the horizontal dimension? Convention No. 102: Convention No. 102: - Protection of certain percentage of classes of population (e.g. 50% of all employees, or economically active persons constituting not less than 20% of all residents or all residents with small means) - Ratification of minimum of 3 out of 9 branches (incl. one long-term or unemployment benefit), without indication of priority benefits -Benefit levels appear too high for tax financed universal benefits of the social protection floor  Convention No. 102 does not appear effective for assisting ILO member States in providing the horizontal dimension due to limited scope of personal coverage and the possibility of choosing 3 social security branches

International Labour Office 9 How effective is Convention No. 102 for realizing the vertical dimension? Convention No. 102:  Provision of the nine social security contingencies, established in practice mainly through social insurance schemes for workers in the formal economy  Prescription of related minimum standards, using as a the standard beneficiary a worker in the formal ecomony, and  Prescription of basic social security principles, some of which are notably relevant to social insurance schemes  Convention No. 102 appears effective for assisting ILO member States in realizing the vertical dimension

International Labour Office 10 Conclusions  What do we have?  Convention No. 102  Embodies an internationally accepted definition of social security,  Has had and still has substantial influence at international, regional and national level  It is thus of utmost relevance for ILO member States in realizing the vertical dimension  But it falls short of providing the horizontal dimension, namely access to basic social security for all  What do we need?  A new mechanism for realizing the horizontal dimension  Achieving universal access to basic benefits to combat poverty as fast as possible,  Progressively providing for more comprehensive social security protection, and  Complementing Convention No. 102 and linked to the Convention by providing progressively income replacement at a higher level according to economic performance

International Labour Office 11 Strategy emerging from the conclusions (horizontal dimension)  Exploring and researching the possibility of standard- setting activity to embody the horizontal dimension and assessing the impact of various options, related to  New Recommendation, providing access to universal benefits in line with the SPF  New Convention, providing access to universal benefits inn line with the SPF  New non-binding multilateral framework (similar to the one adopted in the field of migration)  The results of the research will be discussed and reflected in the Report on the Recurrent Item on Social Security to be discussed at the ILC in 2011

International Labour Office 12 Strategy emerging from the conclusions (vertical dimension)  Helping member States in overcoming obstacles to ratification of Convention and higher standards, e.g. in case of  Non-conformity of national legislation  Social security for urban workers only (e.g. China)  Personal coverage not fulfilled (e.g. India)  Social security does not cover non-nationals (e.g. Kuwait)  Lack of administrative and statistical capacity  Insufficient administrative capacity to deal with complicated reporting mechanisms (e.g. Pakistan)  Lack of availability of reliable statistics (e.g. Lebanon)  Lack of knowledge about the Conventions  National legislation does not cover all contingencies (e.g. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia)  Misinterpretation of certain provisions of Convention, e.g. Art. 57, para. 1 which is interpreted as requiring a qualifying period of three years for entitlement to invalidity benefit, but national legislation requires a five year period (e.g. Algeria,Tunisia)  Through targeted tech. assistance several of the obstacles tackled

International Labour Office 13 Strategy emerging from the conclusions (vertical dimension)  Promoting the ratification of Convention No. 102 and its application, e.g.  Uruguay:  Study regarding the benefits for ratifying Convention No. 102 by Uruguay has been carried out in July2009  Study was presented to Uruguayan Senate in August 2009  Ratification was adopted by Uruguayan Parliament in September 2009, but due to formality needs to be adopted once again  Argentina:  ILO has assisted continuously the Government in view of the ratification of Convention No. 102  Ratification has been adopted by Argentinean Parliament, awaiting deposit of ratification instrument

International Labour Office 14 Strategy emerging from the conclusions (vertical dimension)  Strengthening support to ILO member States in the ratification of Convention No. 102 and its application, e.g.  Syria:  Seminar on the ratification has been carried out with high level constituents in March 2010,  Compatibility study on the application of the national legislation and practice with Convention No. 102 has been carried out  Presentation of the compatibility report to Parliamentarians and stakeholders planned in August/September 2010  Mongolia  Seminar on the ratification has been carried out with high level constituents in March 2010,  Compatibility study on the application of the national legislation and practice with Convention No. 102 has been carried out  Presentation of the compatibility report to Parliamentarians and stakeholders planned in August/September 2010

International Labour Office 15 Thank you