The Present and future role of ILO standards in realizing the right to social security

Abstract

The right to social security is accepted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Nonetheless, international human rights instruments and supervisory mechanisms have remained mostly silent about its definition. Within the UN family, it has been left to the ILO to give substance to this right through international labour Convention No. 102. Despite international recognition of the Convention's positive influence as a mechanism to help steer the progressive development of social security, it falls short of obliging minimum requirements for a basic social floor. In examining whether existing ILO standards can help States realize the universal right to at least a basic social security package, the article suggests the need for the ILO to develop new complementary mechanisms, which would also contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and global poverty reduction.