Social Security and the Global Socio-economic Floor: Towards a Human Rights-based Approach

This article shows that the commitment towards economic and social human rights, including the right to social security, will provide a strong force towards realizing the global socio-economic floor. The right to social security has become realizable in a growing number of countries that have focused on the extension of social security coverage. This article shows that a global social security floor is affordable, including in low-income countries, with the initial support from the international community. The article then explores how a global socioeconomic floor could be better implemented through a human rights-based approach, and it reviews some of the recent initiatives undertaken by the UN Human Rights Council. It suggests a number of steps to improve the effective implementation of the human rights-based approach. It concludes that such an approach can help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and provide the framework for global policies for development and poverty eradication beyond 2015.