The Human Rights Approach to Social Protection

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The seminar

The rapid manner in which social protection has gained predominance and political support in the context of the development and poverty reduction discourse over the past few years is almost without precedent. The current political momentum around social protection provides a unique opportunity to reinvigorate the development agenda.

At the same time, despite some landmark developments such as ILO Recommendation No. 202 on Social Protection Floors, there remains a pressing need to further examine the human rights implications and outcomes of social protection systems.

Closing the gap

Considering the extensive human rights obligations which States possess by virtue of the multitude of international human rights treaties, and given that all UN agencies have committed to mainstreaming human rights throughout the UN system, the lack of a systematic discussion of social protection from a human rights perspective is a significant conceptual gap.

In this seminar, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda will explore the human rights framework for social protection. She will address how human rights obligations should be taken into account in the design, implementation and monitoring of social protection systems around the world.

Speaker: Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona is a Chilean lawyer with extensive experience in international human rights. She is currently United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, and UNRISD Visiting Research Fellow.

Relevant documents

Reports of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx.

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona and Carly Nyst. 2012. The Human Rights Approach to Social Protection. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/EPoverty/HumanRightsApproachToSocialProtection.pdf

Remote access to the seminar

If you cannot be in Geneva to attend the event, there are three ways you can access the seminar:

1. We will be tweeting key messages live from the seminar and welcome your comments and questions, which, time permitting, we may be able to put directly to the speaker. Follow us on @UNRISD and #UNRISDseminar
2. An audio recording will be made available for download on this web page shortly after the event.
3. A video of the entire seminar will also be made available for viewing on this web page a little later.

If you would like to notified when the podcast is online, please send an email with “Audio notification” in the subject line to caborn@unrisd.org