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The right to social security (Art. 9) 2007, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The right to social security plays an important role in supporting the realization of many of the rights in the Covenant, but other measures are necessary to complement the right to social security. For example, States parties should provide social services for rehabilitation of the injured and persons with disabilities in accordance with article 6 of the Covenant, provide child care and welfare, advice and assistance with family planning and the provision of special facilities for persons with disabilities and older persons (article 10); take measures to combat poverty and social exclusion and provide supporting social services (article 11); and adopt measures to prevent disease and improve health facilities, goods and services (article 12). States parties should also consider schemes that provide social protection to individuals belonging to disadvantaged and marginalized groups, for example crop or natural disaster insurance for small farmers or livelihood protection for self-employed persons in the informal economy. However, the adoption of measures to realize other rights in the Covenant will not in itself act as a substitute for the creation of social security schemes.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2007
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Even in developed countries, contributory systems are often inadequate to protect the elderly: often benefits are too low to cover costs of living. Moreover, legislation related to compulsory retirement age can make it impossible for some older persons to find additional sources of income.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- However, the negative income tax option would be problematic for 18- to 29-year-olds and for senior women. The Canadian examples demonstrate the potentially positive effects of negative income tax, but warn that a basic income model that replaces existing social support mechanisms could have seriously negative effects on the poor.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Even those women who are able to combine unpaid care work with formal jobs are disadvantaged; their work histories and social security contributions are more likely than those of men to be interrupted by periods of full-time caregiving, and therefore they are less likely to receive an adequate pension on retirement. Thus, the gendered division of unpaid care work is one of the key reasons why older women are more likely to live in poverty than their male counterparts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- The international community can play a key role in supporting the initial set-up of social pension systems, in particular in low-income countries, for example, by providing technical and/or material assistance in designing programmes and identifying and registering possible beneficiaries. A number of core common principles can also guide donors on how to best support and ensure the long-term sustainability of social security systems, including social pensions in recipient States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- Non-contributory pensions are the most efficient means of ensuring the right to social security for older women and compensating them for their years of unpaid or inadequately paid work. However, to ensure equal access by women to a social pension, special measures must be implemented to overcome possible barriers to older women caused by structural discrimination, such as lack of access to adequate documentation and identification; difficulties to approach administrations or lack of gender sensitive social services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Social protection programmes should not be restricted only to monetary support. As addressed above, social pensions do not work in isolation - they must be complemented by various services. Older persons are rights-holders who require not only social security support, but a multitude of social services to ensure an adequate standard of living, including in particular access to health care.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Increasing transparency in the overall functioning of social pensions will also increase public support for investments in these policies. Any perception that pensions are not reaching their rightful beneficiaries or lack of trust in the sustainability of pension systems can be used to justify calls for limiting investment in non-contributory pensions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- For all the above reasons, it can be concluded that a universal pension scheme is most in keeping with human rights obligations as: (a) it responds to the claim of universality of human rights norms; (b) it complies with the principle of equality and non-discrimination; (c) it reduces opportunities for corruption and manipulation in the selection of beneficiaries which typically excludes the poorest; and (d) reduces possible stigmatization as it is available to all who comply with the age requirement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, with universal pensions, men and women receive the same level of benefits irrespective of their record in the labour market, thus recognizing the contributions women make in unpaid work such as caregiving. In developing countries, universal pensions may be the only means by which most women can guarantee income in old age. Universal pensions are also crucial to older persons in countries with high HIV rates and migration as many people will call on grandparents (mainly women) to care for children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Social pensions are also important for addressing the particular vulnerabilities of women. Contributory systems tend to exacerbate gender inequalities: in many countries coverage rates for elderly men are twice those for their female counterparts. Even in countries with broader protection in contributory systems, older women are more likely to receive a lower pension due to a lower level of contributions (see sect. II C).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Among all these, women, who often have to depend on a man to gain access to housing and secure tenure, are particularly vulnerable. Single and older women, in particular, too often do not have the legal empowerment, education or financial resources to defend their tenure.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The economic, social and cultural rights of older persons 1995, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Older persons as a group are as heterogeneous and varied as the rest of the population and their situation depends on a country's economic and social situation, on demographic, environmental, cultural and employment factors and, at the individual level, on the family situation, the level of education, the urban or rural environment, and the occupation of workers and retirees.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 1995
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development 1994, para. 4.14
- Paragraph text
- Programmes to meet the needs of growing numbers of elderly people should fully take into account that women represent the larger proportion of the elderly and that elderly women generally have a lower socio-economic status than elderly men.
- Body
- International Conference on Population and Development
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 1994
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995, para. 179d
- Paragraph text
- [By Governments:] Develop policies, inter alia, in education to change attitudes that reinforce the division of labour based on gender in order to promote the concept of shared family responsibility for work in the home, particularly in relation to children and elder care;
- Body
- Fourth World Conference on Women
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development 1994, para. 6.17a
- Paragraph text
- [The objectives are:] To enhance, through appropriate mechanisms, the self-reliance of elderly people, and to create conditions that promote quality of life and enable them to work and live independently in their own communities as long as possible or as desired;
- Body
- International Conference on Population and Development
- Document type
- Declaration / Confererence outcome document
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 1994
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Information and communication technologies and the sale and sexual exploitation of children 2015, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The growth in mobile technology has meant that more children have access to personal use of Internet, and that the average time that children are spending on the Internet continues to grow. The actual use made of the Internet seems to differ between children. Younger children are less likely to use the social aspect of the Internet and are more likely to use it to access information. Older children (aged 14-18) primarily use it as a communication tool and will regularly use social media.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- While including wealthier older people in a universal scheme may be a legitimate concern of States in the context of scarce resources, when there is a high level of poverty and low contributory pension coverage, the proportion of non-poor older people covered by the universal pension is likely to be small. Moreover, evidence suggests that attempts to exclude the wealthiest from a social pension may decrease political support, create disincentives to contributing to other pensions systems and even increase the total costs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The Committee explicitly notes that States cannot rely solely on contributory systems for old-age pensions, as all individuals will not always be able to secure sufficient means to maintain an adequate standard of living. States must have a non-contributory pension system in place. Therefore, within the limits of available resources, States must provide non-contributory old-age benefits to assist, at the very least, all older persons who, when reaching the retirement age, are not entitled to an old-age insurance-based pension.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integration of a human rights-based approach in measures to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, and which leads to human trafficking 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In the case of services provided by trafficked persons, the person who purchases or uses such services as sexual, care for the elderly or infirm, or domestic work generally comes into direct contact with the person being exploited. In contrast, consumers seeking cheap products generally have no personal contact and are often situated in a different country altogether. However, in both cases it is conceivable that the users of the services provided are unaware that those involved in producing goods or providing services for them have been trafficked or subjected to illegal force or coercion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Women's migration generally does not prompt changes in the sexual division of labour; the extra unpaid care responsibilities usually fall to older women and girls within the household or community. These global care chains reflect and, in some ways, exacerbate enormous inequalities in terms of class, gender and ethnicity. The people who make up the chains, from the first to the last link, are almost exclusively female, often belong to an ethnic minority in their destination country, and generally cannot rely on State support for their care responsibilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The right to social security provides that all persons have the right to equal enjoyment of adequate protection from social risks and contingencies, through contributory (social insurance) or non-contributory (social assistance) schemes, without discrimination of any kind. Social security benefits such as old age pensions, child benefits and unemployment benefits, while not directly providing care, can play an important role in helping households purchase essential inputs (food, school materials, and health services) or to pay for care services where necessary.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- Where there is political will, low-income and middle-income countries can implement social pension programmes. Without detracting from developing States' own obligations, international assistance must also play a role in helping developing countries to progressively realize the right to social security. In those countries where the protection gap is widest, establishing or enhancing non-contributory pensions requires overcoming considerable resource, institutional and technical constraints. International assistance can be critical in this respect.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- To be effective social pension programmes must periodically review decisions taken on at least three key elements: (a) the procedures utilized to register beneficiaries (in particular to identify the possible wrongful exclusion of beneficiaries); (b) the implementation of the programme (to monitor all sorts of possible abuses occurring when assistance is provided at the local level, e.g. sexual harassment); and (c) the overall payment procedures (to monitor misappropriation of financial resources throughout the different stages of implementation).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Traditionally, States have privileged the establishment of contributory pension systems with the objective of achieving universal coverage once the formal sector expanded. Today, with a vast number of workers in the informal sector, this approach must be re-examined. Contributory systems have left the majority of the population unprotected when they reach old age. Estimates indicate that less than 20 per cent of older persons are covered by pensions today and only about 25 per cent of the labour force is currently contributing or accruing pension rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility also requires that policymakers assess and take into account any possible discriminatory impact of the manner in which grants or transfers are disbursed. For example, owing to limited mobility (such as that of persons with disabilities and older persons), lack of familiarity with electronic methods of payment (such as through the use of debit cards and mobile phones) and the gender impact (such as when queues are guarded by armed personnel), modes of disbursement could have unintended discriminatory effects.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Older women and protection of their human rights 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Under some statutory and customary laws, women do not have the right to inherit and administer marital property on the death of their spouse. Some legal systems justify this by providing widows with other means of economic security, such as support payments from the deceased's estate. However, in reality, such provisions are seldom enforced, and widows are often left destitute. Some laws particularly discriminate against older widows, and some widows are victims of "property grabbing."
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In some countries, on division of marital property, greater emphasis is placed on financial contributions to property acquired during a marriage, and other contributions, such as raising children, caring for elderly relatives and discharging household duties are diminished. Often, such contributions of a non-financial nature by the wife enable the husband to earn an income and increase the assets. Financial and non-financial contributions should be accorded the same weight.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Older persons
- Year
- 1994
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In Canada, two basic income approaches have been the subject of macroeconomic modelling: a full basic income for all Canadians, and a negative income tax under which the richest receive nothing and the poorest receive the maximum income supplement. Neither payment is adjusted for age. In terms of poverty, the conclusion was that: Cancelling existing income transfer programmes in favour of a single basic income results either in dramatically higher levels of poverty, or ethically and politically unsupportable compromises where seniors are pushed into poverty to lift up adults and children. The more acceptable and feasible approach would be to set up a new basic income on top of the 33 transfers that already exist, thus creating only winners, though the main beneficiaries would be middle-aged Canadians.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Under the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), States should establish and maintain social protection floors ensuring that, at a minimum, “over the life cycle, all in need have access to essential health care and to basic income security which together secure effective access to goods and services defined as necessary at the national level”. This comprises essential health care, including maternity care, and basic income security for children, for active-age adults in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity and disability, and for older persons. These goals may be achieved through any of the following schemes: universal benefit, social insurance, social assistance, negative income tax, public employment and employment support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph