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In March 2006, over a hundred representatives from 13 African countries gathered in Zambia and agreed to the Livingstone Declaration. This document, which has since been endorsed by the African Union, declares that social protection is a basic human right. It is now one of several international codes, conventions and agreements asserting the right to social protection.

'Social protection' refers to an essential public service aimed at helping citizens cope with risk, vulnerability and hunger. The recognition of social protection as a human right means it is not simply an option that policymakers can choose or reject. It is an obligation that governments must honour, and something that citizens can legitimately demand.

The earliest recognition of social protection as a human right occurs in the United Nation’s (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, which states that every member of society has the right to social security. More recently, the Livingstone Call to Action of 2006 names social protection as a basic human right that directly tackles poverty, contributes to economic growth and stimulates local markets.

While human rights place obligations and duties on everyone in society, the state must ultimately ensure those rights are respected and must protect citizens from rights violations. Furthermore, the state must also actively ensure that human rights are fulfilled. The fulfilment of the right to social protection does not have to happen immediately. The obligation to fulfil can be met progressively, as available resources and capabilities improve, but the state must clearly describe the steps it will take towards full realisation of socio-economic rights.

It could also be argued that donors and international agencies have a moral obligation to provide funding and technical assistance in order to assist a state to fulfil its obligations.

Despite the provision for progressive fulfilment of socio-economic rights, there are certain core minimum obligations that must be met immediately. A General Comment on the Right to Social Security, drafted by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2006, proposes the following core obligations:

• A minimum essential level of social security which ensures access to water and sanitation, foodstuffs, essential primary health care and basic shelter and housing and basic education;
• Non-discriminatory access, especially for disadvantaged and marginalised groups;
• Implementation of a national social security strategy and plan of action, and monitoring of realisation and non-realisation of the right;
• Social assistance to protect marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

Many organisations, such as the International Labour Organisation, are campaigning to have these core obligations extended to explicitly include a minimum level of basic family allowances, disability benefits and old age pensions.

Effective regulation is important to ensure that a state meets its obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil the right to social protection. Such regulation includes independent monitoring, public participation and enforcement.

This piece was based on the policy brief entitled “Why social transfers: the rights case”, which forms part of a series of 10 policy briefs providing an overview of the issues and arguments in the current debate on the role of social transfers as a means of reducing chronic hunger and poverty in southern Africa.