COP28: Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors Calls for Building Social Protection Systems to deal with "Loss and Damage"

PRESS RELEASE
COP28: Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors Calls for Building Social Protection Systems to deal with "Loss and Damage"

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[Montevideo, 30.11.2023] – The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) welcomes the decision to establish a Loss and Damage Fund. It is an important step towards climate justice. Estimates by scientists projecting climate damages ranging from $290 to $580 billion by 2030 and surpassing one trillion dollars by 2050 underscore the urgency of such measures.

Member organizations of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors collectively advocate for strategic utilization of financial resources from this Fund. A central concern is to specifically allocate fund resources for the establishment and fortification of rights-based Social Protection Systems. These systems play a pivotal role in mitigating the catastrophic consequences of climate change and adequately cushioning individual damages and losses, while contributing to increase resilience and improve adaptation.

The Social Protection Systems we call for encompass the right to preventive and curative health services and financial livelihood security, also in the face of crop failures or natural disasters, and support for dependent family members in the event of death. A Loss and Damage Fund, financed on the basis of the polluter-pays principle, can contribute to implementing these measures in particularly vulnerable countries.

We emphasize that well-thought-out Social Protection Systems can be more sustainable than project-specific approaches or purely humanitarian interventions. These systems have the potential not only to cushion individual damages but also to contribute to socio-ecological transformation and promote societal redistribution.

It is imperative that national Social Protection Systems are robust, coherent, and prepared for the collective risks posed by climate change. Therefore, the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors calls for investment in the development and strengthening of these systems, ensuring they can reach all residents and are prepared for climate-change-induced crises.

Financial resources from the Loss and Damage Fund and other climate financing instruments should be strategically deployed to support the establishment of rights-based social protection systems. Planning should be forward-looking, and mechanisms for rapid expansion or situation-specific adjustment of programs must be in place.

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors appeals to the international community to seize this opportunity and actively participate in fair burden-sharing. Only in this way can we collectively advance transformative societal development that leaves no one behind and brings about the positive changes our world urgently needs.

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) demands the use of climate funding to invest into social protection system building, as this will facilitate more sustainable and transformative support than humanitarian aid and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure alone.

The annual climate talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC (COP28), the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and the Paris Agreement (PA) are taking place from 30 November to 12 December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During the opening plenary the long expected Loss and Damage Fund was adopted with new pledges by the UAE, Germany, UK, Japan and the USA.

Member organizations of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors collectively advocate for strategic utilization of financial resources from this Fund. A central concern is to specifically allocate fund resources for the establishment and fortification of right-based Social Protection Systems. These systems play a pivotal role in mitigating the catastrophic consequences of climate change and adequately cushioning individual damages and losses, while contributing to increase resilience and improve adaptation.

The key priorities of the GCSPF are:

Climate-proof social protection

• Do not create separate social protection programmes to manage climate risks. Integrate climate risks, including slow-onset climate impacts, into all social protection programming.
• Plan for uncertainty. Make sure national social protection systems are flexible and can be upscaled in emergencies. Establish early warning systems that trigger quick action.

Pay for Loss and Damage and enable countries to expand social protection

• Recognise responsibility for and allocate funds to address climate-induced Loss and Damage, funds which can be used to establish systems of social protection.
• Address the link between Loss and Damage and social protection in national climate plans, including the Nationally Determined Contributions (climate pledges), so that countries can access international climate finance for investments in social protection.
• Refrain from pushing private insurance as a major approach to handle loss and damage. Complement social protection with climate insurances, such as subsidised insurance for farmers affected by weather-related risks.
• Address the present capacity and funding gap of the overstreched humanitarian system through expansion of social protection systems that address Loss and Damage. Support in slow as well as rapid onset disasters should be included and address medium and long term recovery and rehabilitation. Ensure affected people's participation in decision making.

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors appeals to the international community to seize this opportunity and actively participate in fair burden-sharing. Only in this way can we collectively advance transformative societal development that leaves no one behind and brings about the positive changes our world urgently needs.

Read more

The Loss and Damage Fund and Funding Arrangements and Social Protection Systems by Markus Kaltenborn, Professor at the Faculty of Law and Director of the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany and member of the GCSPF.
This paper was submitted to the UNFCCC Transitional Committee, July 2023.

Social Protection and Climate Action. A policy brief by Act Church of Sweden, Olof Palme International Center, Social Policy Initiative and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

Press Release: COP28 - Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors Calls for Building Social Protection Systems to deal with "Loss and Damage"

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) delivered a written statement at the 62nd session of the Commission for Social Development 2024 which priority theme is “Fostering Social Development and Social Justice through Social Policies to accelerate Progress on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieve the overarching goal of poverty eradication”.

Save the Children International, member of the Global Coalition for Social Protection, also submitted a written statement. Download pdf version here.

Statement delivered by the GCSPF

Download pdf version of the written statement

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) consists of more than 120 CSOs, NGOs and Trade Unions from all parts of the world, united in their motivation to realize social protection for all. We welcome the theme of the 62^nd Commission of Social Development of “Fostering social development and social justice through social policies to accelerate progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieve the overarching goal of poverty eradication”.

Halfway to Agenda 2030, we are nowhere near achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Member States are failing to commit to the urgent action required to accelerate response towards poverty eradication and rising inequalities, to uphold human rights, to make tangible progress on gender equality, to tackle violence and discrimination of all types, to end ageism and xenophobia and to take clear and lasting decisions to halt and reverse climate change. We need clear pathways for social and climate justice, to achieve peace and the end of militarism, and for all to double down on efforts for the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Governments must match the political determination and persistence of civil society and activists, many of whom face significant dangers in calling out our failure to achieve the SDGs, which if allowed to happen will be catastrophic for humanity and our planet.

We are extremely concerned that with seven years to go, barely 15% of the targets of the SDGS have been reached and the transformative vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is in jeopardy.  The principle of leaving no one behind and of upholding human rights is fundamental to achieving the topic of this Commission. It is imperative therefore that we focus on the full implementation of target 3 of Goal 1.

Universal Social Protection (USP) and the full implementation of Social Protection Floors in all countries must be at the heart of social and economic policies required to achieve the SDGs. Universal Social Protection is a right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. USP is an essential lever to realise the sustainable development goals and their targets (specifically SDGs 1.3, 3.8, 5.4, 8.5 and 10.4) and underpins the global commitment to end poverty and reduce inequalities for all people within and between countries (SDGs 1 and 10). USP is a driver of social development and affords agency and self determination to recipients over the life course. It is a core lever to tackle poverty and marginalisation. The inclusion of target 3 of Goal 1 to end poverty ‘to implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable’ is a clear acknowledgment that social protection and social protection floors are recognized as foundational to ending poverty.

National floors of social protection are vital to leave no one behind. They ensure universal access to essential health care and basic income security across the life course and are a human right. However currently only 47% of the global population are effectively covered by at least one of the guarantees; in Africa this is a mere 18%.  This is at a time when as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, ongoing conflicts and wars and highly volatile situations affecting millions of children and adults of all ages, the number of people facing acute food and economic insecurity has more than doubled - from 135 million in 2019 to 276 million in 2022.

In this challenging environment multiple studies have shown that ensuring a basic level of social protection for all is not only urgently needed now, but doable and affordable for most countries. It is entirely achievable through the solidarity and political will of the international community. And while many national governments are developing, financing, implementing and monitoring social protection floors, with the participation and monitoring of civil society, trade unions and informal worker organizations, and while generally and principally the financing of social protection systems must be within national budget frameworks, some countries will require temporary international co-financing of social protection floors, while they strengthen domestic resource mobilisation and digital and technical support in their establishment.

This is why the UN Secretary General, the International Labour Conference and the Un Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights have expressed their support for mechanisms to increase financing for SPFs including the establishment of a new international financing mechanism, such as a Global Fund for Social Protection.

A Global financing mechanism for Social Protection must be based on the principle of global solidarity, to support countries and their citizens to design, implement and, in specific cases, provide temporary co-financing for national social protection floors as described in ILO recommendation 202.[1]

Recommendations:

• Establish a well coordinated Global Financing Mechanism with a long term perspective to ensure the introduction and full implementation of rights based national social protection floors;
• Adopt governance principles for the Financing Mechanism to guarantee democratic (not donor driven) and effective participation of social partners, organisations representing people of all ages, including women, people with disabilities, older persons, minorities, and those living in poverty, in their design, implementation and monitoring;
• Commit to ambitious and relevant financial contributions for the Mechanism;
• Pay special attention to the participation of the people experiencing persistent poverty and historically excluded in the design and monitoring of USP to ensure that it corresponds to the reality of their lives;
• Address the obstacles that currently prevent many people from benefiting from social protection, such as lack of legal identity, overly complicated administrative procedures, disabilities, and residence in remote areas;
• Guarantee gender -responsive and age friendly public services including childcare and long-term care for dependent relatives and ensure they do not exacerbate unequal distributions of care work to the detriment of women’s labour and social protection entitlements;
• Ensure that national social protection floors are embedded in national legislation, budgets and programmes with long term budget provision to provide for sustainability and reach, and to support their expansion in the event of climate and conflict related shocks that affect entire communities, from the very young to the very old.

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[1] https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID,P12100_LANG_CODE:3065524

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e-GCSPF #94 - November 2023 Video of the Event “Building a New Eco-social Contract and Advancing Social Security in Times of Debt and Austerity” The video of the event "Building a New Eco-social Contract and Advancing Social Security in Times of Debt and Austerity" is now online. The event took place on Friday, October 13, 2023 during the Civil Society Policy Forum of the WBG-IMF Annual Meetings 2023 held in Marrakech, Morocco. Webinar: A Global Fund for Social Protection Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds Based on the study “A global fund for social protection. Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds” produced by a team of researchers and published by the ILO, this webinar presented experiences of setting up global funds across the health, climate and agriculture sectors and the lessons to be learnt from them that can guide further thinking about the implementation of a prospective global fund for social protection. Discussion focused on institutional governance arrangements of existing global funds carefully selected for their diversity in terms of origins, longevity, aims and institutional structures, and what they tell us about critical governance issues that need to be carefully navigated in the design and institutionalization of a global fund for social protection. Watch the webinar's recording Where women work: Female-dominated occupations and sectors Despite women breaking barriers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations and some overcoming obstacles in leadership roles, the transformation of the gender landscape in the workplace remains somewhat limited. Read more 2024 UN Summit of the Future The Global Policy Watch Team Considered a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to address inequities in global governance and reset international cooperation, the Summit of the Future (SoTF) will be a cornerstone among a series of high-level UN meetings in 2024. While Member State priorities differ, they have confirmed that the Summit will be held on 22-23 September 2024 and have agreed on the elements and next steps towards the adoption of “a concise, action-oriented outcome document entitled ‘A Pact for the Future’, agreed in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations”. This Global Policy Watch fact sheet explores the process and negotiations going forward and the different priorities revealed in Member State statements. Read more UN General Assembly: PR and Platitudes By CIVICUS The annual high-level opening week of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly saw discussion on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), making clear that the 17 goals are badly off track. Much of the discussion focused on financing for the goals but didn’t produce a breakthrough. Little attention was paid to the growing repression of civic space that is stopping effective civil society action on the SDGs. National-level exclusion of civil society is reproduced at the UN level, with civil society denied access to the week’s official events and left unable to engage with decision-makers. Read more Building Resilient Social Protection Systems through Integrated Policies Lessons from 100 years of social protection. This webinar organized by ILO brings together some of the authors of the ILO recently published second volume of the compendium 100 years of social protection: The road to universal social protection systems and floors. to discuss the importance of integrating social protection and job creation policies, integrating social protection financing and coordination in order to have a bigger impact on achieving just transitions to formalization, green economies, and decent work in the care economy, among others. The case studies will provide the basis for a further discussion on the possibilities and opportunities of integrating social protection policies for greater impact. The webinar will also serve as an opportunity to present and discuss the Global Accelerator research agenda. Read more 23 November, 2023 - 13:00 GMT +2 Welcome to new member RAISE - Research & Action for Income Security 'RAISE - Research & Action for Income Security' has as its mission to ensure that everybody has income security. We work towards this through two objectives: job creation and social protection. RAISE has worked on livelihoods for refugees in Uganda since 2018, but are now in the proces of widening its scope both geographically and thematically. Part of this is the development of their work on social protection. We recently had our first project in this area approved, which is a collaboration with ISER in Uganda with the title: Popularising the African Charter Protocol on the Rights of Citizens to Social Protection and Social Security as a new advocacy tool in Uganda. Contact information: Rasmus Schjødt, Programme Director for Social Protection. Read more Subscribe to our Newsletter! Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences, subscribe or unsubscribe from this list.

The video of the event "Building a New Eco-social Contract and Advancing Social Security in Times of Debt and Austerity" is now online. The event took place on Friday, October 13, 2023 during the Civil Society Policy Forum of the WBG-IMF Annual Meetings 2023 held in Marrakech, Morocco.

Recent research analyzing IMF programs show that, far from “mitigating” austerity measures, IMF policies and social spending floors fail to address negative social impacts. The panel explored how the World Bank and IMF could build a human rights-based economy with better developmental outcomes.

The event was moderated by Shahir Ishak (Senior Social Protection Specialist, Inclusive Social Security Policy Forum).

And the speakers were Sarah Saadoun (Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch), Allana Kembabazi (Program Manager, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights), Isabel Ortiz (Director of the Global Social Justice, Initiative for Policy Dialogue) and Rodrigo Cerda (Division Chief, IMF), the World Bank Group (WBG) declined the invitation to participate in the event.

The event was organized by Act church of Sweden, ActionAid international, AWC, ANND, Amnesty International, CESR, End Austerity Campaign, FTC, Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF), Global Social Justice/Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), HRW, ISSPF, ISER, ITUC, Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Oxfam International, BWP, WIEGO, ARI and MenaFem.

Further information on this event is available here. Further information about the Right to Social Security Campaing is available here.

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e-GCSPF #93 - October 2023 “Social Justice: Social Protection and Health, People’s Vaccine” The session “Social Justice: Social Protection and Health, People’s Vaccine” coorganized by GCSPF, GCAP Asia, GCAP Africa, PVA and Africa Japan Forum was held during the GPA 2023 on 17th September at the UN Church Centre from 11.15 am to 12.45 pm New York time. Read more Global People’s Assembly 2023 The Global People’s Assembly (GPA) 2023 was held on September in New York – at the UN SDG Summit and the UN General Assembly. The GPA brought together people’s representatives together and creates a strong voice at the SDG Summit for the midpoint of Agenda 2030. Read the declaration Bandage on a Bullet Wound IMF Social Spending Floors and the Covid-19 Pandemic This report by Human Rights Watch analyzes 39 IMF loan programs approved between March 2020, the official start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and March 2023 under three lending facilities that include conditionalities—the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and Stand-By Arrangement (SBA)—to understand how the IMF is approaching the current crisis in practice and to assess the extent to which it aligns with international human rights standards. Read more ILO: Global Fund for Social Protection Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds The ILO published this study that aims to understand the experiences of setting up global funds across the health, climate and agriculture sectors and identify lessons to be learned from them that can guide further thinking about the implementation of a prospective global fund for social protection. This paper examines the idea of a global fund for social protection which has emerged as a potential solution to these structural failings. By drawing on the experiences of seven global funds across the health, climate, and agriculture sectors, the aim of this working paper is to identify key lessons that can guide the possible implementation of a prospective global fund for social protection. Through a careful analysis of the governance structures, norms and standards of these funds, the paper makes certain recommendations to be taken into consideration if a global fund for social protection is to be developed and implemented in the future. Read more A Global Fund for Social Protection: Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds The idea of a global fund for social protection has taken hold over the last decade as a potential solution to structural gaps in the global financial and development architectures. Based on a study produced by a team of researchers, led by Professor Nicola Yeates at the Open University in the UK, and published by the ILO, this webinar aims to present experiences of setting up global funds across the health, climate and agriculture sectors and the lessons to be learnt from them that can guide further thinking about the implementation of a prospective global fund for social protection. Webinar 26 October, 2023 - 14:00 - GMT+2 / CEST Read more Well-Being without growth? A new approach to combating global poverty The eradication of poverty has traditionally relied on growing the economy, combined with redistribution: GDP growth, in this approach, is essential to the fight against poverty, a condition for financing public services and social policies. Prof Olivier De Schutter argues that we now need to move beyond this approach, and to expand our toolkit in the fight against poverty. 9 November 2023 - Online on Zoom Read more Subscribe to our Newsletter! Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences, subscribe or unsubscribe from this list.

Members of the Social Security for all Campaign participated at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) - International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings 2023 held in Marrakech, Morocco, from 9 to 15 October, 2023.

Members of the Social Security for all Campaign participated at the Reclaim our Future Conference, from 8 to 9 October 2023. The event End Austerity! Reclaim the Right to Education, Health and Social Security took place on October 8th.

This session presented the new austerity policies advised by the IMF and the World Bank, and implemented by most Ministries of Finance, from cuts to public services and social security/social protection, to privatization and labor flexibilization reforms, affecting more than 6 billion people. All the human suffering these reforms cause is unnecessary: there are alternatives that even the poorest countries can implement to achieve human rights including the right to education, health and social security.

The speakers were Isabel Ortiz (Director of the Global Social Justice Programme), Matti Kohonen (Director of the Financial Transparency Coalition), Nabil Abdo (Senior Policy Advisor, Oxfam International), Roos Saalbrink (Global Lead on Economic Justice and Public Services, ActionAid International) and Sarah Saadoun (Senior Researcher and Advocate, Poverty and Inequality, Human Rights Watch).

Members of the Social Security for all Campaign participated at the Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) of the WBG-IMF Annual Meetings 2023, from 9 to 13 October 2023. The event "Building a New Eco-social Contract and Advancing Social Security in Times of Debt and Austerity" took place on Friday, October 13th. The video is here and further information is available here.

Recent research analyzing IMF programs show that, far from “mitigating” austerity measures, IMF policies and social spending floors fail to address negative social impacts. The panel explored how the World Bank and IMF could build a human rights-based economy with better developmental outcomes.

The event was moderated by Shahir Ishak (Senior Social Protection Specialist, Inclusive Social Security Policy Forum). And the speakers were Sarah Saadoun (Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch), Allana Kembabazi (Program Manager, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights), Isabel Ortiz (Director of the Global Social Justice, Initiative for Policy Dialogue) and Rodrigo Cerda (Division Chief, IMF), the World Bank Group (WBG) declined the invitation to participate in the event.

Members of the Social Security for all Campaign participated at the Global Counter-Summit of Social Movements, that was held from 12 to 15 October 2023. See the programme here.

Further information about the Right to Social Security Campaign is available here. Please sign on to the statement using this link here, and help us spread the word and encourage others for endorsements.

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e-GCSPF #92 - October 2023 Launching of the Campaign “Social Security for All” The Campaign: Social Security for All – Key Pillar for a New Eco-Social Contract was launched on an event moderated by Farah Al Shami (Arab Reform Initiative). Global testimonies on the challenges of poverty targeting and pension privatization were presented by Allana Kembabazi (ISER, Uganda), Sarala Emmanuel (Feminist Collective for Economic Justice in Colombo, Sri Lanka), Guillermo Zuccotti (CGT, Argentina) and Manuel Riesco (CENDA Foundation, Chile). Isabel Ortiz (Global Social Justice) presented the Campaign Social Security for All. Watch the video Global Demand for Universal Social Security Governments and international financial institutions should make a commitment to create social security systems that enable everyone to realize their rights, 43 human rights and economic justice organizations said today. Governments and financial institutions should end policies that have been failing millions of people. The groups sent a joint statement to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in advance of the 2023 annual meetings of both institutions in Marrakesh, Morocco, from October 9 to 15, 2023. Read more Invitation: Event at the IMF/WBG Annual Meetings in Marrakech The hybrid session “Building a New Eco-social Contract and Advancing Social Security in Times of Debt and Austerity” will take place during the Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) of the WBG-IMF Annual Meetings 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco on Friday, October 13th, 2023 - 2 pm (UTC+1). Read more Statement at the 54the Session of the Human Rights Council The GCSPF presented a statement to support the Study “Inequality, social protection and the right to development" published by the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development that was released at the 54th regular session of the Human Rights Council. Read more What is the right to social security? A Global Fund for Social Protection: Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds The idea of a global fund for social protection has taken hold over the last decade as a potential solution to structural gaps in the global financial and development architectures. Based on a study produced by a team of researchers, led by Professor Nicola Yeates at the Open University in the UK, and published by the ILO, this webinar aims to present experiences of setting up global funds across the health, climate and agriculture sectors and the lessons to be learnt from them that can guide further thinking about the implementation of a prospective global fund for social protection. Webinar 26 October, 2023 - 14:00 - GMT+2 / CEST Read more Well-Being without growth? A new approach to combating global poverty The eradication of poverty has traditionally relied on growing the economy, combined with redistribution: GDP growth, in this approach, is essential to the fight against poverty, a condition for financing public services and social policies. Prof Olivier De Schutter argues that we now need to move beyond this approach, and to expand our toolkit in the fight against poverty. 9 November 2023 - Online on Zoom Read more Welcome to new member Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a global movement of more than 10 million people campaigning for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Amnesty International campaigns and advocates for human rights change on the basis of serious and thorough research on a variety of issues all over the world. Amnesty International is funded by members and is independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion. Amnesty International works on the full spectrum of human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political, and social. In the realm of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR), and has done extensive research and campaigning on a number of issues including on the rights to education, food, health, adequate housing, sanitation, water, and work. Around two years ago, Amnesty International expanded its ESCR portfolio to also work on the right to social security. Amnesty International is building their body of work on the right to social security, in particular around – universal coverage, comprehensive coverage and non-discrimination. It is in this context that Amnesty International seeks to join the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors as we believe that we can both benefit and contribute to the work of the Coalition. Contact information: Malavika Vartak, Researcher / Policy Adviser, Economic and Social Justice Team, Read more Subscribe to our Newsletter! Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences, subscribe or unsubscribe from this list.

The session “Building a New Eco-social Contract and Advancing Social Security in Times of Debt and Austerity” will take place during the Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) of the WBG-IMF Annual Meetings 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco.

Recent research (for instance, by Oxfam, IPD, and HRW) analyzing IMF programs show that, far from “mitigating” austerity measures, IMF policies and social spending floors fail to address negative social impacts. The panel will explore how the World Bank and IMF could build a human rights-based economy with better developmental outcomes.

The organizers of the session are Act Church of Sweden, ActionAid international, AWC, Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Amnesty International, CESR, End Austerity Campaign, FTC, GCSPF, Global Social Justice/Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD), HRW, ISSPF, ISER, ITUC, Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Oxfam International, BWP, WIEGO, ARI and MenaFem.

Moderator: Shahir Ishak, Senior Social Protection Specialist, Inclusive Social Security Policy Forum

The Panelists are:

• Sarah Saadoun, Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch
• Allana Kembabazi, Program Manager, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights
• Isabel Ortiz, Director, Global Social Justice, Initiative for Policy Dialogue
• Rodrigo Cerda, Division Chief, Expenditure Policy Division, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• Invitation declined, World Bank Group (WBG)

Friday, October 13th, 2023 - 2 pm - 3:30 pm (Marrakech time). Confirm your local time here.
Hybrid session: Location Room SC03 Saghro
Join us on Zoom at: https://imf.zoom.us/j/91582662390?pwd=dUtYUjIwNnI4NnJDbFFYTmt4ZGpUZz09

The video of the launching of the Campaign: Social Security for All – Key Pillar for a New Eco-Social Contract is now online. The event took place on Wednesday, October 4th, 2023.

The event was moderated by Farah Al Shami (Arab Reform Initiative). Global testimonies on the challenges of poverty targeting and pension privatization were presented by Allana Kembabazi (ISER, Uganda), Sarala Emmanuel (Feminist Collective for Economic Justice in Colombo, Sri Lanka), Guillermo Zuccotti (CGT, Argentina) and Manuel Riesco (CENDA Foundation, Chile). Isabel Ortiz (Global Social Justice) presented the Campaign: Social Security for All – Key Pillar for a New Eco-Social Contract.

Further information about the campaign is available here. Please sign on to the statement using this link here and the list of signatories is here.