November 2011 UN And You

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The SPF corresponds to a set of basic social rights, services and facilities that all global citizens should enjoy. It can be seen as a core obligation of ensuring the realization of minimum essential levels of rights embodied in human rights treaties. The two main elements that would help to realize these human rights are: 1) Ensuring the availability, continuity, and geographical and financial access to essential services, such as water and sanitation, food and adequate nutrition, health, education, housing and other social services such as life and asset saving information; and 2) Realizing access by ensuring a basic set of essential social transfers, in cash and in kind, to provide a minimum income and livelihood security for poor and vulnerable populations and to facilitate access to essential services.

It includes social transfers to children, people in active age groups with insufficient income and older persons. The SPF promotes a holistic and coherent vision of national protection systems as a key component of national development strategies. It seeks to support countries in identifying and closing crucial protection gaps through coherent and efficient measures that maximize the effects of scarce resources on the reduction of poverty and insecurity to ensure “guaranteed access” to essential services and social transfers.

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The SPF will continue to be on the agenda as an essential tool in the eradication of poverty. The theme for the 2012 Commission for Social Development is the eradication of poverty. This is a policy year so governments will be making decisions and the SPF will figure prominently in the recommendations of NGOs and, hopefully, in the resolutions passed by governments.

For more information see www.social-protection.org Action Thousands of people from more than 110 countries from global North and South have signed on to the online campaign initiated by our New York based NGO Committee on Social Development at the UN, ‘Support the Social Protection Floor Initiative’. Please add your signature.

Go to www.gopetition.com/petitions/signature-campaign-social-protection-floor.html Pray for the success of this campaign and that government leaders recognize their responsibility for all of their citizens and agree to a Social Protection Floor.

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