Extending Social Protection by Anchoring Rights in Law

Organization(s): ILO
Regions: Latin America
Country: Brazil
Year: 2016
PDF of Resource

The adoption of the 1988 constitution marked a landmark in the history of the Brazilian social security system by introducing a universal social security model grounded in citizenship rights. The Constitution sets out the State’s responsibility in organizing and legislating social security. This should be done according to principles of universality of protection, adequacy of benefits and with the objective of ensuring the uniformity and equivalence of benefits and services for urban and rural populations. In the last few decades, Brazil has taken bold steps to build and maintain a comprehensive social protection system that reinforces basic social rights. Of notable example is the legislation of programmes to assist families in overcoming hunger and poverty.

Related Principles

Adequate legal and institutional framework and long-term social protection strategies

A human rights-based approach to social protection requires grounding social protection systems in a strong legal and institutional framework. This should ensure both programme stability and the recognition of beneficiaries as rights holders. The need to provide for strong legal frameworks that clearly lay out entitlements, rights and obligations is provided for in Recommendation No. […]

Social Protection and Human Rights