Second ILO – UNICEF The urgent need to build universal social protection
Recently, the second joint report of International Labor Organization (ILO) – United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on social protection of children has been released.
The report titled “A Billion Reasons: The Urgent Need to Build Universal Social Security for Children” has been released.
The report expresses a shared commitment to strengthening social protection systems and extending their benefits to every child at risk.
Key Findings of the Report
- Globally, only 1 out of every 4 children (aged 0-15 years) has access to social protection.
- 4 billion Children in the world need adequate social protection. However, children are still twice as likely as adults to live in poverty.
- The growing number of children deprived of globally important social protections may hinder the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDG-1 and SDG-10.
- It should be noted that SDG-1 is related to eradication of poverty and SDG-10 is related to reduction in inequality.
- The challenges children are facing are increasing. Crises like the Covid-19 pandemic, rising cost of living, climate catastrophe are further compounding these challenges.
- Social protection refers to a set of policies and programs designed to prevent and reduce poverty and vulnerability throughout the life cycle.
Some examples of social security:
Benefits for children and families, maternity benefits, unemployment allowance, financial or medical assistance for injuries at work, etc.
Need for child centric social security –
- To enhance their work productivity and income earning potential;
- To address issues such as child labour, gender inequality and exclusion;
- To increase access to food, nutrition, education and healthcare, etc.
6 important steps have been recommended to create universal social security for children –
- There is an urgent need to move towards universal coverage of children for better survival.
- There is a need to ensure that social security systems keep pace with developments in the world of work.
- It is necessary to adopt rights based, inclusive, gender responsive and information based social security systems.
- Sustainable and equitable funding of social security systems must be ensured.
- Adequate benefit levels must be guaranteed to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children.
- A wide range of benefits that support children and families should be provided through a life-cycle approach.
Source – UNICEF
