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Ministerial Declaration of ECOSOC urges the creation of social protection floors
In the Ministerial Declaration produced by the participants in the high-level segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council, held in New York from 2 to 9 July 2012, and in what concerns social protection, the Ministers and Heads of Delegations stress the need to provide social protection to all members of society, fostering growth, resilience, social justice, and cohesion, and encourage national and local initiatives aimed at providing social protection floors for all citizens.
They recognize the importance of providing social protection schemes for the formal and informal economy as instruments to achieve equity, inclusion and stability and cohesion of societies, and urge Governments to develop systems of social protection and to extend or broaden their effectiveness and coverage, recognizing the need for social protection systems to provide social security and support labour-market participation. They also urge Governments to give particular consideration to universal access to basic social security systems, recognizing that social protection floors can provide a systemic base to address poverty and vulnerability.
A specific mention is made to the importance of promoting universal access to social protection systems including by establishing nationally determined social protection floors as a fundamental element of national social security systems, and in line with ILO Recommendation 202 (2012) on National Social Protection Floors and bearing in mind ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention 102 (1952). This is seen as an important means of assisting those living in or vulnerable to poverty while also helping to stabilize the economy, maintaining and promoting employability and protecting and further consolidating the gains towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Finally, the Ministers and Heads of Delegations call upon the UN agencies, funds and programmes to continue to coordinate in a coherent manner their activities in order to support national governments to develop and expand social protection floors, in line with ILO recommendation 202, including through the facilitation and promotion of South-South cooperation.