10
The right to social security of the workers in the informal economy/ sector
with particular attention to the most marginalized.18 Article 2 of the ICESCR provides that
States parties to the Covenant must take effective measures, and periodically revise them when
necessary, within their maximum available resources, to fully realize the right of all persons
without any discrimination to social security, including social insurance. Further, the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) clarified that “the wording of
Article 9 of the Covenant indicates that the measures that are to be used to provide social
security benefits cannot be defined narrowly and, in any event, must guarantee all peoples a
minimum enjoyment of this human right.”19 Effectively, the government may adopt measures
such as: (a) contributory and (b) non-contributory schemes. Contributory or insurance-based
schemes such as social insurance, which is expressly mentioned in Article 9, generally involve
compulsory contributions from beneficiaries, employers and, sometimes, the State, in
conjunction with the payment of benefits and administrative expenses from a common fund;
while examples of (b) non-contributory schemes are universal schemes (which provide the
relevant benefit in principle to everyone who experiences a particular risk or contingency) or
targeted social assistance schemes (where benefits are received by those in a situation of need).
In almost all States parties, non-contributory schemes will be required since it is unlikely that
every person can be adequately covered through an insurance-based system.20
Although contributory or insurance-based schemes and non-contributory schemes such
as universal schemes are primarily recommended, other forms of social security such as (a)
privately run schemes, and (b) self-help or other measures are acceptable as long as they
conform to the essential elements of the right to social security. It must be observed as well
that whichever system is chosen, should contribute to the right to social security and States
must take steps to protect the same.
Normative contents of the right to social security
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, OHCHR and the right to social
security, available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/rightsocialsecurity/pages/socialsecurity.aspx,
(last accessed July 9, 2021).
19 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 19 The right to Social
Security,
Thirty-ninth
seession,
November
5-23
2007,
available
at
http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=4slQ6QSmlBEDzFEovLCuW1a0Szab0
oXTdImnsJZZVQdrCvvLm0yy7YCiVA9YY61Z8YHJWla0qOfZ9fbBAjHL%2FlLI5gllsqSBbczFKYlRCH3
h0ggclCkMPkxlTz7NI9wE (last accessed September 7, 2021).
20 Id.
18