Extending Social Security in the Developing Countries: Between Universal Entitlement and the Selectiveness of International Standards
![handle is hein.journals/cllpj27 and id is 221 raw text is: EXTENDING SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: BETWEEN
UNIVERSAL ENTITLEMENT AND THE
SELECTIVENESS OF INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS
R. Filali Meknassit
Social security is a concept so familiar that we hardly bother to
define it. The copious legal writing on the subject and the many
historical experiences associated with social security have given it such
a solid, commonly understood meaning that it needs no definition.
Yet as a fundamental right,' it would probably have been preferable
to have specific standards determining its content and allowing an
objective assessment to be made of countries' efforts to comply with
it. In the absence of such standards, the temptation is to turn instead
to the ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention (No.
102) (Convention 102),2 which sets out nine fundamental benefits
that should form the substance of social security,3 and most
importantly establishes institutional thresholds to be met for their
implementation. However, Convention 102 was not drawn up to
serve as a yardstick for the universal application of this right, and the
relatively small number of States that have ratified it should be
enough to deter people from using it in this way.4 Moreover, even if
the benefits Convention 102 provides for are certainly still relevant
today, the social needs for which they cater have altered a great deal
t Professor at the Faculty of Law, University Mohamed V, Aydal, Rabat, Morocco.
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 22, available at
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html; International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights art. 9, available at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a-cescr.htm.
2. Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 35th Session of the International
Labour Conference, adopted June 28, 1952, available at http://193.134.194.11/ilolex/cgi lex/
convde.pl?C102 [hereinafter Convention 102].
3. These are the sections on, respectively, medical care, sickness benefits, unemployment
benefits, old-age benefits, employment injury benefits, family benefits, maternity benefits.
invalidity benefits, and survivors' benefits.
4. Forty-one countries have ratified Convention 102 to date, and only a few of these have
accepted all of Parts I to X, Convention 102, supra note 2.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cllpj27&div=21&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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