SOLIDAR at the ILO to promote a rights-based approach to Social Protection in the MENA region

Last week, SOLIDAR participated in a workshop on “Finding Ways Forward: Challenges and Opportunities in Creating Rights-Based Social Protection Systems “, as part of the launch of the Human Right and Social Protection Platform, at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Office in Geneva. The platform was developed by UNRISD in collaboration with the former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda, to bridge the gap between the human rights and social protection disciplines and capitalise on the parallel developments in the public discussion.

During the meeting, SOLIDAR focused on the ongoing challenges for Civil Society in the Middle East and North Africa region to organise and to promote economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) and social protection in the region, and also highlighted the possibility to create meaningful spaces for CSOs to promote a rights-based approach to social protection through policy and advocacy work at country, EU and international levels.

SOLIDAR has developed the Social Protection Monitor together with its members, to enable local civil society to monitor social protection policies in their countries and to empower them to take action in national and international decision-making processes and to produce evidence-based policy recommendations to the EU.

The results of the Social Protection Monitor for the MENA region will be discussed during a regional conference in Beirut on the 30-31 of October, organised together with the Euromed NGO Platform and the Arab NGO Network for Development.