Human Rights Council Holds Second Part of its Annual Full-day Discussion on the Human Rights of Women, Focusing on Social Protection: Women’s Participation and Leadership

AFTERNOON 30 June 2023

Concludes its Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

The Human Rights Council this afternoon held the second part of its annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women, focusing on social protection: women’s participation and leadership.

Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in an opening statement, said social security was a human right firmly embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law, and was a key lever in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, achieving gender equality and reducing inequality. The common agenda called for a new social contract, including universal social protection, and the active and equal participation of women and girls. In times of social and economic instability, social protection shielded those that were most affected. Women and girls tended to have unequal access to social protection. Women themselves needed to have a say in decisions that affected them. In an era of rising inequality and erosion of trust, they needed a new social contract that integrated social protection based on equal rights and opportunities for all. Equal access to social protection was a women’s human right, and an enabler for women’s and girls’ participation and leadership.

Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, moderating the panel, said it was the duty of States to take into account the gender dimension in the design of social security schemes.

Michele LeVoy, Director of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, panellist, said some advances in the legal and policy framework in Europe concerning access to health care, justice and labour rights for undocumented migrants had been enhanced through the participation of migrant women. Multi-stakeholder involvement was crucial for policy change in the field of health. Going forward, the international community should build on decades of experience in Europe in enacting and implementing laws and policies, and look objectively and constructively at solutions to ensure universal health care for all, regardless of migration status. Data protection was essential for ensuring access to services and justice for undocumented migrant workers.

Yamikani, girl activist from Malawi, panellist, said the United Nations and States needed to ensure the participation of girls and women in social protection decision-making processes. Social protection helped people who lived in poverty to meet their needs and address the impacts of poverty. Children appreciated established social protection programmes that aimed to end poverty, and donors who provided financial support. However, they were concerned that the coverage of children in these programmes was still limited. Sadly, funding for social protection was still very low, especially from Government budgets. Social protection was a children’s right, and a human right for all. Promoting the involvement of girls and women in social protection also ensured gender equality.

Monica Ferro, Director of the Geneva Office of the United Nations Population Fund, said this was a time of intense economic hardship across the globe, driven by COVID-19, conflict, climate change and other crises. There needed to be a global economy that removed all obstacles and empowered women to choose their future, and to own their decisions. The international community needed to intentionally lay the foundations for a gender transformative social protection system, ensuring girls’ incorporation to the labour market and equal opportunities within the world of work by promoting demographic dividend strategies. Social protection systems designed with a gender transformative lens were pivotal to achieving a world where all could live with dignity and fulfil their right to be outrageously happy.

In the ensuing discussion, speakers said multiple, intersecting crises, including the climate crisis and COVID-19, had exacerbated gender inequalities, which had led to a gap in access to social security between men and women. Women were bearing the brunt of these crises. Gender-responsive social protection systems were more needed than ever before. All women and girls deserved access to social protection. Social protection was a human right, and a critical component in empowering women. Some speakers expressed their commitment to addressing barriers limiting women’s access to social protections. A new social contract was needed to build resilient, equitable societies. One speaker raised issues regarding the privatisation of social protections. Speakers presented measures to reduce barriers for women to social protection, including maternity leave and pensions, and expand their reach; to include women in decision-making systems and political life; to combat inequalities in work-related social protection; to eliminate discrimination of women and girls; and to increase access to social protection for vulnerable women, including women with disabilities and indigenous women.

Speaking in the discussion were Viet Nam, Belgium on behalf of the Benelux countries, New Zealand on behalf of a group of countries, Kazakhstan on behalf of a group of countries, Chile on behalf of a group of countries, China on behalf of a group of countries, Lithuania on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic countries, European Union, Mauritius on behalf of a group of countries, Viet Nam on behalf of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Qatar, UN Women, Zimbabwe, India, Cuba, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Maldives, Mexico, Argentina, Botswana, Algeria, Costa Rica, Israel and Iran.

Also speaking were Make Mothers Matter, Jubilee Campaign, International Bar Association, Action Canada for Population and Development, Chinese Ethnic Minorities’ Association for External Exchanges, and Association Hazteoir.org.

Also this afternoon, the Council concluded its interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights which started in the previous meeting.

Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in concluding remarks, said that the job guarantee idea was based on the convictions that it could alleviate poverty and unemployment, that there was a shortage of jobs but not of work to be done, and that the idea was affordable due to the fiscal benefits it provided. A human rights framework needed to be applied to job guarantee programmes so that no one was left behind and accountability was ensured in the design, implementation and evaluation of these programmes. Mr. De Schutter thanked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the support it provided to his mandate.

In the discussion, speakers said poverty was the root cause of the violation of several human rights. The report highlighted, among others, that access to decent work provided income, reduced poverty and allowed individuals to gain self-confidence and a sense of purpose in society. The impact of the various global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, had resulted in the loss of employment for many people across all regions, who had gone without income for extended periods, and as such, had led to the widening of inequality and deepening poverty. The world of work was undergoing great changes, given the challenges of the previous years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis, and therefore States needed to make changes and ensure that employability and the right to work were better protected in the new era. It was high time to develop a new social contract to ensure the right to work for all, which would make societies more resilient and more equal.

Speaking in the dialogue were Venezuela on behalf of a group of countries, Ecuador, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Sovereign Order of Malta, France, Indonesia, United States, Iraq, Brazil, Malaysia, Venezuela, South Africa, Togo, Pakistan, Gabon, India, Bangladesh, Malawi, Tanzania, China, Djibouti, Libya, Chile, Senegal, Yemen, Afghanistan, Albania, Cuba, Russian Federation, Romania, Algeria, Bolivia, Tunisia, Cameroon, Belarus, Ghana, Cambodia, Iran, Zambia, Lebanon, Benin and Niger.

Also speaking were International Movement ATD Fourth World, Association of Iranian Short Statured Adults, Make Mothers Matter, FIAN International e.V., Shaanxi Patriotic Volunteer Association, VIVAT International on behalf of Edmund Rice International Limited, Sikh Human Rights Group, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Edmund Rice International Limited on behalf of VIVAT International, and Rajasthan Samgrah Kalyan Sansthan.

Speaking in right of reply at the end of the meeting were Indonesia and China.

The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here. All meeting summaries can be found here. Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-third regular session can be found here.

The Council will next meet on Monday, 3 July at 10 a.m., when it will hold the annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights, followed by an interactive dialogue on the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the impact of casualty recording on the promotion and protection of human rights.

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

The interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights started in the previous meeting and a summary can be found here.

Discussion

In the discussion, a number of speakers said the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, and putting an end to hunger worldwide had for long been a top priority for the international community. They were both at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda continued to be the internationally agreed roadmap not only for achieving more peaceful, just and inclusive societies, but also for overcoming, through collective and concerted actions, and on the basis of a greater sense of unity, cooperation and solidarity, the common challenges faced in the realisation of the inalienable right to development of all peoples.

Some speakers said poverty was the root cause of the violation of several human rights. The report highlighted, among others, that access to decent work provided income, reducing poverty as well as allowing individuals to gain self-confidence and a sense of purpose in society. The impact of the various global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, had resulted in the loss of employment for many people across all regions, who had gone without income for extended periods, and as such, had led to the widening of inequality and deepening poverty. The Special Rapporteur’s proposal of the introduction of a job guarantee, with the State acting as an employer of last resort, for the full realisation of the right to work, merited attention, as it could help transform work from a policy objective into an enforceable legal right.

The illegal application of unilateral coercive measures, which were aimed at targeting civilian populations, not only represented a deliberate attack against the right to development, but also created and aggravated the conditions for poverty and inequality in targeted countries, a speaker said. It was essential to establish measures to allow people to have job guarantees and enjoy social protection and gender equality, among other things. It was important for guaranteed jobs to allow for needs to be met, and to see the link between decent work and a clean environment, particularly as the world moved towards a green economy. Economic growth was not enough to eradicate poverty and this was why employment should dignify people and societies.

Some speakers said that job guarantee schemes should be favoured; by nature, they favoured the development of the economy and the social situation of the people, and may give more attention to training and education. They also contributed to the integration of the most disadvantaged in society. Job guarantee schemes enabled communities to be more inclusive and to guarantee the dignity of each individual. No community should have to choose between poverty reduction, fighting climate change, and the conservation of biodiversity: the global financial system must be fairer and more adapted to the needs of the more disadvantaged in society. The existing global financial architecture successfully achieved the opposite, i.e., promoted stringent austerity measures that constrained the capacity of States to employ further people.

Ending poverty was crucial to building a sustainable future for all, and one with no discrimination of any kind, a speaker said, quoting Nelson Mandela: “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.”

Among the questions raised were: how to ensure that job plans married with work for carers, which was often unpaid and unrecognised; what challenges could be encountered when trying to bring informal jobs into the formal economy; how could job guarantees contribute towards eradicating child labour; how could governments accelerate poverty-alleviation efforts as they fought climate change; against the debt crisis and declining resources faced by countries, what other means could Governments undertake to eradicate extreme poverty, while optimising the limited funding allocations; what specific measures could benefit from global cooperation in order to eliminate structural barriers to the full enjoyment of the right to decent work; and how to promote international cooperation for better protection of the right to work to alleviate extreme poverty, especially through the availability of financial stimulus to countries and regions where poverty was on the rise.

Intermediary Remarks

OLIVIER DE SCHUTTER, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said it was encouraging to hear pledges to promote the right to work, which could help States to win the fight against poverty. Job guarantee programmes could alleviate the burdens that women faced when they took care of children and carried out housework. One programme in India reserved one third of places for women. Such programmes could also combat gender stereotypes, training women for traditionally “male” jobs and vice-versa. Mr. De Schutter said that a past report he had prepared had shown that investment in the green economy could lead to an increase in jobs and lower energy prices, which had a positive impact on poverty rates. Including solar panel installations, for example, in a job guarantee programme could have such positive benefits.

States needed to facilitate the transition from informal to formal work through a job guarantee programme, as workers would no longer need to resort to informal work with poor conditions. The International Labour Organization was supporting a number of public work programmes providing humanitarian support. Such programmes required infrastructure and equipment. Unemployment had large impacts on public health, including the mental health of society. A job guarantee scheme would have positive effects on the economy. There were costs attached to a job guarantee scheme, but the costs for unemployment benefits were also high and yielded less benefits. A job guarantee scheme was eminently financeable.

Discussion

In the discussion, some speakers said the right to work was a human right and obligated the State to do all it could to create jobs. With the broader setbacks caused by the pandemic, multiple conflicts and climate change, the need to create jobs had become even more urgent. The world of work was undergoing great changes, given the challenges of the previous years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis, and therefore States needed to make changes and ensure that employability and the right to work were better protected in the new era. It was high time to develop a new social contract to ensure the right to work for all, which would make societies more resilient and more equal. As the report noted, access to decent work provided income, thereby reducing poverty.

Through building an all-round moderately prosperous society, putting people’s lives at the front, poverty could be alleviated, a speaker said. States should face their own problems, promoting full employment and protecting the rights of the impoverished and those seeking work. Economic growth was not always synonymous with job creation. To break the negative cycles, societies must become more resilient and sustainable. International cooperation was vital to limit poverty.

If a solid basis was provided for economic development, then the cycle of poverty could be broken, and in this context, job guarantee programmes were an essential tool, reducing precariousness, as well as the issue of under- and over-employment. Job guarantees ensured fair economic transitions. Vulnerable groups, given their socio-economic restrictions, required targeted measures and programmes in order to be able to integrate into the job economy. Favourable conditions should be created in order to aid young persons to find jobs. Climate change phenomena and other instable conditions were pushing ever more people into unemployment and poverty. Seeking viable solutions, based on human rights, was ever more timely and necessary.

One speaker noted that programmes of job guarantees could have long periods of participation, and asked how to deal with budgetary difficulties and lack of funds in this context, particularly in developing countries which also faced other challenges. Another speaker asked what support could be provided to put in place a job guarantee programme, given tight budgetary margins?

Annual Full-day Discussion on the Human Rights of Women, Focusing on Social Protection: Women’s Participation and Leadership

Opening Statement

MAHAMANE CISSE-GOURO, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said social security was a human right firmly embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law, and was a key lever in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, achieving gender equality and reducing inequality. The common agenda called for a new social contract, including universal social protection, and the active and equal participation of women and girls. In times of social and economic instability, social protection shielded those that were most affected. It helped prevent social exclusion and promoted social inclusion.

Women and girls tended to have unequal access to social protection. Globally, only 26.3 per cent of working-age women were covered by a pension scheme, compared with 38.7 per cent of working-age men. Only 44.9 per cent of women with new-borns worldwide received maternity benefits. Girls had less access to formal employment: the global labour force participation rate for women was around 50 per cent compared to 80 per cent for men. When women worked, they faced a gender pay gap. In some countries, women faced earlier mandatory retirement age, leading to less contributory years towards their pension. Unequal share of unpaid care and domestic work forced women to opt out of or interrupt their access to formal employment. This created a gender pension gap, as pension schemes in many countries were linked to the contributions made through formal employment.

Migrant women in irregular situations often struggled to access social protection, including coverage of health care, paid leave, and protection against work-related injuries, due to their migration status and their employment in the informal economy. In some countries, when they were married, women with disabilities had their disability allowance reduced or removed in line with the income of their spouse.

To overcome these problems, women themselves needed to have a say in decisions that affected them. Men continued to be over-represented in national parliaments and women continued to be under-represented in leadership positions in the private sectors and trade unions. There was a lack of women’s participation in public and political life in relation to shaping and influencing social protection policies. In some countries in Latin America, the demands of movements promoting women’s rights had resulted in subsidies for workers with childcare responsibilities and programmes for domestic workers to gain access to formal employment and social protections. There were instances in Asia where women leaders had played a crucial role in ensuring access to social protection schemes by giving a voice to marginalised and vulnerable villagers. Women’s participation advanced the enjoyment of the right to social protection.

Gender-responsive social protection could also enhance women’s and girls’ autonomy and participation in economic and public life. Social protection programmes targeting women as beneficiaries, when combined with other measures such as awareness-raising, could shift household gender dynamics and contribute to relieving the financial stress that could be a driver of intimate partner violence. Paid parental and maternity leave helped mothers to retain their participation in the labour market and not to be penalised in career development. Such leave also facilitated fathers taking up a more equal share of unpaid care responsibility in the family, creating more time for women to participate in public life.

In an era of rising inequality and erosion of trust, they needed a new social contract that integrated social protection based on equal rights and opportunities for all. Social protection was not a luxury but an essential tool for reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion. Equal access to social protection was a women’s human right, and an enabler for women’s and girls’ participation and leadership. In turn, participation was an imperative to deliver on women’s and girls’ equal enjoyment of social protection. Member States working with other key stakeholders, including women and girls in all their diversity, could make this happen.

Remarks by the Moderator

OLIVIER DE SCHUTTER, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, moderator, thanked Mr. Cisse-Gouro for his comments. When he was a member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, one of the most important decisions the Committee had adopted related to a woman who had been deprived of a pension in Ecuador. The Committee had found that this was a violation of her economic, social and cultural rights. It was the duty of States to take into account the gender dimension in the design of social security schemes.

Statements by the Panellists

MICHELE LEVOY, Director of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, said some advances in the legal and policy framework in Europe concerning access to health care, justice and labour rights for undocumented migrants had been enhanced through the participation of migrant women. Multi-stakeholder involvement was crucial for policy change in the field of health. Close cooperation - between civil society organizations, health professionals, researchers, human rights institutions, local authorities, health ministries and United Nations entities – was key to enacting new laws and policies on health care for undocumented migrant workers.

Migrant women had played a key role in many developments. Going forward, the international community should build on decades of experience in Europe in enacting and implementing laws and policies, and look objectively and constructively at solutions to ensure universal health care for all, regardless of migration status. One of the key barriers for undocumented migrant women in accessing services or justice was the fear that they might be detained and deported. Going forward, data protection was essential for ensuring access to services and justice for undocumented migrant workers, and should be clearly outlined and communicated to administrators and to undocumented migrants. On social protection and social security in the world of work, regularisation schemes were essential. Sharing experiences on how to ensure that those who were at the heart of policies were part of the process was key to ensuring the success of these efforts, Ms. Levoy concluded.

YAMIKANI, girl activist from Malawi, said the United Nations and States needed to ensure the participation of girls and women in social protection decision-making processes. In Malawi, poverty was very high. Social protection helped people who lived in poverty to meet their needs and address the impacts of poverty. Children appreciated established social protection programmes that aimed to end poverty, and donors who provided financial support. However, they were concerned that the coverage of children in these programmes was still limited. Sadly, funding for social protection was still very low, especially from Government budgets. Social protection was a children’s right, and a human right for all. By empowering children and valuing their perspectives, they could contribute to the creation of social protection policies and programmes that genuinely addressed children’s needs, and prioritised and targeted children who were in real need. Promoting the involvement of girls and women in social protection also ensured gender equality.

Ms. Yamikani recommended that Governments and the United Nations invest in sensitisation to empower girls to demand active participation in decision-making processes related to social protection. Governments, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations should create safe and enabling spaces where girls and women could express their views freely, without any fears. States should establish partnerships involving girls and share responsibilities equally on social protection, especially on ensuring that there was adequate support for the needs of girls and women. States needed to also ensure that policies and programmes addressed gender inequalities and were inclusive, taking into account the unique needs and perspectives of girls and women. By actively involving girls, they unlocked their potential, challenged gender inequalities, and paved the way for a more just and inclusive society. Ms. Yamikani called on the international community to build a future where all individuals, regardless of their gender, had an equal chance to thrive and contribute to the well-being of nations.

MONICA FERRO, Director of the Geneva Office of the United Nations Population Fund, said this was a time of intense economic hardship across the globe, driven by COVID-19, conflict, climate change and other crises. There needed to be a global economy that removed all obstacles and empowered women to choose their future, and to own their decisions. Social protection schemes played a pivotal role in doing so. In turn a more gender equal society and economy - one where women enjoyed equal opportunities and outcomes in the labour market and the public and private sectors - would make social security systems more inclusive and sustainable. The international community needed to intentionally lay the foundations for a gender transformative social protection system, ensuring girls incorporation to the labour market and equal opportunities within the world of work by promoting demographic dividend strategies. To that end, Governments needed to take deliberate policy investments prioritising youth rights and needs.

Bringing women into the labour market in equal conditions with men required the implementation of legislation enabling women to balance reproduction and production, which critically depended on the availability of care services for children, as well as for older persons, as the burden of care still largely fell on women. Furthermore, there was a need for greater work-life balance and flexible work arrangements, and to enable the equal participation of men and women in care and household work. Social protection could contribute to value and recognise unpaid care and domestic work and support women’s access to and participation in the labour market. Finally, gender inequality and discrimination explained the lesser resilience and adaptability of women to social and economic shocks. Social protection systems designed with a gender transformative lens were pivotal to the world that they wanted, Ms. Ferro concluded: a world where all could live with dignity and fulfil their right to be outrageously happy.

Discussion

In the discussion, speakers, among other things, said multiple, intersecting crises, including the climate crisis and COVID-19, had exacerbated gender inequalities, which had led to a gap in access to social security between men and women. Women were bearing the brunt of these crises. Gender gaps and food insecurity had widened. Gender stereotypes also continued to impact women and girls. Structural discrimination of women and girls needed to be addressed. Gender-responsive social protection systems were more needed than ever before.

Speakers said women and girls were often forced to leave work early due to having children, reducing the amount of pension and other social protections they could access. Women continued to face gender pay gaps and discrimination in the workplace, and often worked in jobs that provided insufficient access to social protection. States needed to close gender pay gaps, address workplace discrimination, and provide increased maternity and paternity leave.

Many speakers said that social protection played an important role in reducing inequality. All women and girls deserved access to social protection. Social protection was a human right, and a critical component in empowering women. Speakers expressed their commitment to addressing barriers limiting women’s access to social protections. States needed to enhance regional dialogue to promote women’s empowerment and reduce gender inequalities. Adequate financing in social protection from public and private sources was required. Women and girls needed to be able to actively participate in decision-making processes, and be equally represented in all public offices and private organizations.

Challenges posed to social security by climate change and digital technologies needed to be addressed, some speakers said. States needed to work toward the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals. States also needed to consider how to empower disadvantaged women in small islands developing States, one speaker said.

A number of speakers said that a new social contract was needed to build resilient, equitable societies. Social protection programmes needed to ensure that their measures did not reinforce the gendered division of labour. Unpaid domestic and care work needed to be recognised as work. One speaker said States should implement the provisions of the Buenos Aires commitment to protect the rights of female carers. Women needed to be able to exercise all economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights. States needed to combat violations of the rights of women occurring in conflict.

With the aging of the global population, older women faced discrimination, inequality and limited access to social protections. States needed to eliminate barriers for older women. One speaker said States needed to effectively deliver on the Beijing Declaration and Plan of Action to eliminate barriers for older women. They needed to make joint efforts to promote older women’s participation in economic, social and cultural affairs.

One speaker raised questions regarding the privatisation of social protections. Health systems around the world had been weakened by neo-liberal ideologies that emphasised the responsibilities of the individual. States needed to enact measures to address this situation, including to ensure the right of bodily autonomy for all.

Many speakers expressed their commitment to eliminating discrimination of women and girls, and promoting their access to social protection and participation in public and political life. They presented national measures to reduce barriers for women to social protection, including maternity leave and pensions, and expand their reach; to include women in decision-making systems and political life; to combat inequalities in work-related social protection; to eliminate discrimination of women and girls; to increase access to social protection for vulnerable women, including women with disabilities and indigenous women; to provide training on capacity building and empowerment of women; to increase women’s representation in government bodies and private organizations; to create formal jobs for women; to collect data and establish indicators to examine the standing of women in society; to devise national plans promoting women’s development; to provide equal pay for equal work; to promote the rights of carers and develop gendered care policy; to revise legislation to increase women’s access to land; and to provide women entrepreneurs with microcredit.

Questions were asked on how States could address the root causes of social protection inequalities; on how to ensure women and girls could take up positions in decision-making bodies; on how to expand social protection to make it gender transformative; on methods to collect better disaggregated data on access to social protections; on best practices for women-led community projects for developing value chains; on how teachers could play an active role in breaking patterns of inequality that children were exposed to; and on how States should share responsibility for the anti-human actions of major health corporations.

Concluding Remarks

OLIVIER DE SCHUTTER, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said not only did women work for free, but it came at a cost to them and their children. Women disproportionately shouldered unpaid and unrecognised work in households and communities, and social systems were not organised to recognise or value this work, resulting in a double burden being imposed on women. Social protection should achieve three things at the same time. Women must be relieved by investing in social protection, allowing them better access to employment, and to relieve their burden. These revamped social systems should relieve women by providing them with access to services such as childcare; at the same time, existing gender roles should be challenged, redistributing the tasks between women and men. All women should have access to social protection.

MICHELE LEVOY, Director of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, said when trying to make social protection more gender-transformative, the starting point was now. In 2023, the international human rights framework had clarified through various means that undocumented migrants, including undocumented women and girls, had human rights. They must be given universal healthcare. The legal frameworks at the national level had to be reformed to include provisions for undocumented migrants and enable them to benefit from protection if they had a workplace accident, for example. Laws must be examined, but other barriers had to be investigated, including data protection. Developing policy measures was another issue, as undocumented migrant children were also a priority action group requiring access to services including education. Migrant women were taking leadership positions, but increasingly community organizations and migrant organizations were criminalised for providing assistance to others in irregular situations.

YAMIKANI, girl activist from Malawi, said it had been a great honour to participate in the panel discussion. She expressed hope that, based on the discussion, policy recommendations would be made to Governments to promote the participation of children in public spheres. The difference of opinions provided by children was important. Children had the right to participate in decisions affecting them. By involving children and especially girls, they could challenge barriers to inequality. Global leaders needed to prioritise the voices of children, including children with disabilities.

MONICA FERRO, Director of the Geneva Office of the United Nations Population Fund, said social protection measures needed to be intentional and gender transformative. Women faced overlapping forms of discrimination that stemmed from stereotypes of women’s roles. The “motherhood employment penalty” was impacting women throughout their lifecycles. Women received lower pensions, which led to increased fragility in old age. Data and policies were needed, as well as investment from an early age. Children needed to be taught to challenge discriminatory norms. If such norms were not challenged, patterns of discriminations would be repeated. Tapping into the potential of women was smart economics for States. Their contribution helped economies and society.

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

Discussion

In the continuing discussion, some speakers said the report clarified that a job guarantee could contribute to the right to work and enhance social protection. The data on the low percentage of paid work for women showed how domestic work was ignored by societies. The work of all workers was a motor for development, reducing poverty and overcoming inflation. Unemployment increased the risk of poverty and decent work was an effective tool for poverty reduction, and the most vulnerable, including youth and women, must be included in the labour market. Work was a human right, and some speakers said States should take all necessary measures to provide work through a perspective of equality and poverty alleviation.

Many speakers said poverty was the main threat that targeted human rights and fundamental freedoms and exacerbated exclusion: the international community should work in greater solidarity to provide more resources in order to ensure a transfer of technology and knowhow and improve infrastructure. Spoliated funds that were illegally taken out of developing countries should be retrieved and returned. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, Governments must continue to pursue initiatives and strategies to bring their populations out of extreme poverty, establish macro-economic stability, and pursue growth. Some speakers said employment was a social policy priority, and there should be training for unemployed persons and carers. However, unilateral coercive measures could impede States’ capacities in this regard.

The severe impacts of COVID-19 increasing global poverty could not be ignored: there should be global food security, and all States should redouble their efforts to address global nutrition and food security. Full and productive employment and decent work for all were powerful tools in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Inadequate protection and social security systems only encouraged poverty and inequality. Fostering social justice was part of the way forward: opportunities in development were vital. States must take steps to achieve full and productive employment under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual: the right to work was a human right.

Some speakers said that a job guarantee scheme could help solve the situation by creating care jobs – a solution to unemployment or under employment. This would also help to recognise, reduce and redistribute women’s disproportionate share of unpaid domestic work; and enable them to devote time to activities outside the home. However, care must be taken to avoid perpetuating gender stereotypes. The job guarantee scheme could and should in fact boost men to take up care jobs. By answering societal needs, employment guarantee schemes could be the cornerstone of a new economic system that put the wellbeing of people and the planet first. The report, speakers said, stated very clearly the importance of job guarantee programmes in reducing poverty, and the ways in which such programmes could create jobs in areas of unmet, yet urgent social need that were currently undersupplied by the market.

The international community was not as supportive as it could be, given that many facets of the international economic crisis were not due to the actions of developing countries, some speakers said. Greater efforts needed to be made to support capacity building to build employment and address migration as well as the inflow of youth into the labour market. Poverty remained a denial of human rights. Addressing poverty was to protect human rights: poverty eradication was the foundation for the comprehensive development of all human rights.

Among questions raised were: what guarantees could be provided to the work of peasants whose work was essential in overcoming food insecurity in the context of overcoming poverty; what role could the private sector play in implementing programmes to guarantee employment; and what were some of the concrete implications of a rights-based approach within the context of job guarantee schemes.

Concluding Remarks

OLIVIER DE SCHUTTER, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said that the job guarantee idea was based on the convictions that it could alleviate poverty and unemployment, that there was a shortage of jobs but not of work to be done, and that the idea was affordable due to the fiscal benefits it provided. A human rights framework needed to be applied to job guarantee programmes so that no one was left behind and accountability was ensured in the design, implementation and evaluation of these programmes. Mr. De Schutter concluded by thanking the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the support it provided to his mandate.