The Human Rights Approach to Social Protection

This publication constitutes a summary of the analyses and arguments presented by the Special Rapporteur in her reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly over the past three years in regard to the human rights approach to social protection. It is intended to be an articulation of the fundamental elements of the human rights framework applicable to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of social protection systems, and to provide some concrete examples of obstacles that arise when implementing social protection.

It is hoped this framework for a human rights approach to social protection will be useful to practitioners, agencies and organisations working on social protection, as well as to civil society, intergovernmental organisations and States. While the ultimate objective of advocating a human rights approach to social protection systems is to maximise the effectiveness of such systems in reducing poverty and facilitating the realisation of human rights by those living in poverty, it is also hoped that social protection can provide a useful strategy around which human rights and development practitioners can collaborate and pursue coordinated efforts.