ILO Development Partners Meeting: ITUC Calls For Stronger International Financing Of Social Protection

There is an urgent need to coordinate an international response to the major financing gaps affecting social protection systems around the world.

The ILO Development Partners Meeting, organised by the ILO, brings together governments, social partners, and major development donors, to look at progress made under the ILO's Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All, which provides technical assistance and financial support to countries for the development and extension of social protection systems.

At the opening, ITUC Deputy President Antonio Lisboa highlighted that extending social protection is a key priority for the labour movement, as more than half of the world’s population lacks any form of protection.

He emphasised that this is largely due to the major financing gaps and denounced the recent decisions of some countries to cut back on their social spending as part of austerity measures, often promoted by international financial institutions.

The global labour movement calls for greater international coordination in financing through:

• The establishment of a Global Social Protection Fund.
• A substantial increase in the share of overseas development aid allocated to social protection to at least 7% by 2030.
• Assistance that goes beyond technical support to countries.

In order to develop adequate, sustainable social protection systems in the long term, development partners must provide financial assistance to states themselves, as key actors for implementation and extension of national social protection systems.

Investing in universal social protection not only means investing in human rights, but in inclusive economic growth and development.

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