Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T17:23:23.599Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Economic Inequality and the Right to Social Security: Contested Meanings and Potential Roles

from Part III - Socioeconomic Rights and Economic Inequalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2021

Gillian MacNaughton
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Diane Frey
Affiliation:
San Francisco State University
Catherine Porter
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
Get access

Summary

The right to social security, widely referred to in international human rights law, including in International Labour Organization conventions, is also found in more than half of all constitutions in the world (Jung et al. 2014). Social security is prominent in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); “social protection” is explicitly stated in three targets. The term “social protection” is often used synonymously with social security and at other times used as a broader concept with social security as a core component (Goldblatt 2016, 8–9). Goal 1 to “End poverty in all its forms everywhere” includes Target 1.3: “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable” (UNGA 2015, 15). While the target requires social protection for “all” this idea of equality of access in ending poverty does not necessarily ensure that economic inequality will be addressed as there may still be significant differences of income and wealth within the society once this target is met.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alston, Philip. 2018. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/HRC/38/33. May 8.Google Scholar
Alston, Philip. 2017. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Doc. A/HRC/35/26. March 22.Google Scholar
Alston, Philip. 2015. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/HRC/29/31. May 27.Google Scholar
Alston, Philip. 2014. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/69/297. August 11.Google Scholar
Behrendt, Christina and Woodall, John. 2015. “Pensions and Other Social Security Income Transfers.” In Labour Markets, Institutions and Inequality: Building Just Societies in the 21st Century, edited by Berg, Janine, 242–62. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2017. Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of Mongolia., UN Doc.CRC/C/MNG/CO/5. July 12.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2017. Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Pakistan, 23 June 2017, E/C.12/PAK/CO/1.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016a. Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of Costa Rica. UN Doc. E/C.12/CRI/CO/5. October 21.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).2016b. Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of the Dominican Republic. UN Doc. E/C.12/DOM/CO/4. October 21.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016b. Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. UN Doc. E/C.12/GBR/CO/6. July 14.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016d. Concluding Observations on the Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Reports of the Philippines. UN Doc. E/C.12/PHL/CO/5–6. October 26.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2008. General Comment No 19: The Right to Social Security (Art. 9). UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/19.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). 2016. General Recommendation No. 34. on the Rights of Rural Women. UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/34. March 7.Google Scholar
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW). 2015. Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Guinea. UN Doc. CMW/C/GIN/CO/1. October 8.Google Scholar
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). 1979. UNGA res. 34/180, UN Doc. A/34/46. December 18.Google Scholar
Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989. UNGA res. 44/25, UN Doc. A/44/49, annex 44. November 20.Google Scholar
Devereux, Stephen, and Allister McGregor, J.. 2014. “Transforming Social Protection: Human Wellbeing and Social Justice.” The European Journal of Development Research 26(3): 296310.Google Scholar
Dworkin, Ronald. 2000. Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy. 2008. Scales of Justice: Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy. 1995. “From Redistribution to Recognition? Dilemmas of Justice in a ‘Post-Socialist’ Age.” New Left Review 212 (July–August): 6893.Google Scholar
Fredman, Sandra. 2016. “Substantive Equality Revisited.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 14(3): 712–38.Google Scholar
Fredman, Sandra and Goldblatt, Beth. 2015. “Gender Equality and Human Rights.” UN Women Discussion Paper No. 4, UN Women. www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/7/dps-gender-equality-and-human-rights.Google Scholar
Goldblatt, Beth. 2016. Developing the Right to Social Security – A Gender Perspective. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Goldblatt, Beth and Lamarche, Lucie. 2014. Women’s Rights to Social Security and Social Protection. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
Hickey, Sam. 2014. “Relocating Social Protection within a Radical Project of Social Justice.” European Journal of Development Research 26(3): 322–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 1965. 660 UNTS 195. December 21.Google Scholar
International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. 2007. UNGA res. 61/106, UN Doc. ARES/61/106. January 24.Google Scholar
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families. 1990. 2220 UNTS 93. December 18.Google Scholar
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). 1966. UNGA res. 2200 A (XXI), UN Doc. A/6316.Google Scholar
International Labour Office. 2017. World Social Protection Report 2017–19: Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization (ILO) 1944. “Declaration of Philadelphia.”Google Scholar
International Labour Organization (ILO) 1952. CO102, Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, No. 102.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization (ILO) 1962. CO118, Equality of Treatment (Social Security) Convention, No. 118.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization (ILO) 2012. R202, Social Protection Floors Recommendation, No. 202.Google Scholar
Jung, C., Hirschl, R., & Rosevear, E. (2014). “Economic and Social Rights in National Constitutions.” The American Journal of Comparative Law 62(4), 1043–93.Google Scholar
Kabeer, Naila. 2014. “The Politics and Practicalities of Universalism: Towards a Citizen-Centred Perspective on Social Protection.European Journal of Development Research 26(3): 338–54.Google Scholar
Lamarche, Lucie. 2014. “Unpacking the ILO’s Social Protection Floor Recommendation from a Women’s Rights Perspective.” In Women’s Rights to Social Security and Social Protection, edited by Goldblatt, Beth and Lamarche, Lucie, 6589. Oxford: Hart.Google Scholar
Langford, Malcolm. 2015. “Rights, Development and Critical Modernity.” Development and Change 46 (4): 777802.Google Scholar
Lister, Ruth. 2008. “Recognition and Voice: The Challenge for Social Justice.” In Social Justice and Public Policy: Seeking Fairness in Diverse Societies, edited by Craig, Gary and Burchardt, Tania and Gordon, David, 105–22. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Luebker, Malte. 2015. “Redistribution Policies.” In Labour Markets, Institutions and Inequality: Building Just Societies in the 21st Century, edited by Berg, Janine, 211–41. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
MacNaughton, Gillian. 2018. “Equality Rights Beyond Neoliberal Constraints.” In Economic and Social Rights in a Neoliberal World, edited by MacNaughton, Gillian and Frey, Diane F.. 103–23. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha. 2003. “Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and Social Justice.” Feminist Economics 9(2–3): 3359.Google Scholar
Riedel, Eibe. 2007. “The Human Right to Social Security: Some Challenges.” In Social Security as a Human Right, edited by Riedel, Eibe, 1728. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Saiz, Ignacio and Donald, Kate. 2017. “Tackling Inequality through the Sustainable Development Goals: Human Rights in Practice.” The International Journal of Human Rights 21:(8): 1029–49.Google Scholar
Saiz, Ignacio. 2019. “Human Rights in the 2030 Agenda: Putting Justice and Accountability at the Core of Sustainable Development Governance.” In Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2019 – Reshaping Governance for Sustainability: Transforming Institutions – Shifting Power – Strengthening Rights, edited by Barbara Adams, Cecilia Alemany Billorou, Roberto Bissio, Chee Yoke Ling, Kate Donald, Jens Martens, and Stefano Prato, 4850. www.2030spotlight.org/sites/default/files/spot2019/Spotlight_Innenteil_2019_web_gesamt.pdf.Google Scholar
Salomon, Margot E. 2011. “Why Should it Matter that Others Have More? Poverty, Inequality, and the Potential of International Human Rights Law.” Review of International Studies 37(05): 2137–55.Google Scholar
Saul, Ben, Kinley, David and Mowbray, Jacqueline. 2014. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentary, Cases and Materials. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 2009. The Idea of Justice. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Sepúlveda Carmona, Magdalena. 2014. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/HRC/26/28. May 22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepúlveda Carmona, Magdalena. 2012. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: Final Draft of the Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/HRC/21/39. May 9.Google Scholar
Sepúlveda Carmona, Magdalena. 2011. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/HRC/17/34/Add.1. May 9.Google Scholar
Sepúlveda, Magdalena and Nyst, Carly. The Human Rights Approach to Social Protection. Finland: Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 2012.Google Scholar
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1948. UNGA res. 217 A (III), UN Doc. A/810 at 71. December 10.Google Scholar
UN Secretary General. 2009. Compilation of Guidelines on the Form and Content of Reports to be Submitted by States Parties to the International Human Rights Treaties. UN Doc. HRI/GEN/2/Rev.6, 3. June 2009.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (UNGA). 2015. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UN Doc. A/RES/70/1. October 21.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×