Title: Social protection floors as an investment in the future

Authors: Markus Kaltenborn

Addresses: Faculty of Law, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed millions of people below the poverty line, mainly because there is often a lack of well-functioning social protection systems. In many countries, new social assistance programs have been introduced or existing programs have been expanded in response to the pandemic. In many cases, however, these measures are not sufficient to mitigate the social consequences of Covid-19. Above all, they are usually too short-term in nature to ensure long-term protection also against future crises. This paper presents the political and international legal framework in which the debate on the extension and, in particular, the financing of universal social protection takes place.

Keywords: social protection schemes; cash transfer programs; informal sector; International Labour Organization; ILO; social protection floor; SPF; right to social security; Global Fund for Social Protection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2020.114805

International Journal of Public Law and Policy, 2020 Vol.6 No.4, pp.312 - 325

Received: 30 Sep 2020
Accepted: 29 Oct 2020
Published online: 06 May 2021 *

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