Social Security and Welfare Rights

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Mahlangu and Another v. Minister of Labour and Others, ZACC 24

At the time of her death, the deceased, Maria Mahlangu, was a domestic worker in a private home in South Africa. Ms. Mahlangu’s daughter and grandchild were financially dependent upon her at the time of her death. Ms. Mahlangu’s daughter asked the Department of Labour for help in the form of compensation under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) or unemployment insurance benefits. The Department of Labour denied both because Ms.

Members Urge Full Implementation of Systemic Gender Equality and Social Security Rights in UN Ecuador Case Concerning Unpaid Care Work

Case Filing Contributes to Collective Initiative to Develop a Feminist Global Social Pact on Care

Last month, in the case of ...

Nederlands Juristen Comité voor de Mensenrechten et al. v. The Netherlands, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2020:1878

Seven parties, a human rights organization, a civil rights organization, a privacy rights organization, an organization that works for the privacy rights of clients of psychotherapists, a statute-made national council of client participants in government policymaking, and two individuals brought suit against the State of the Netherlands in March 2018, challenging the legality of the use of SyRi, a government data legal instrument used to assess the risk that individuals receiving welfare benefits from the State have behaved fraudulently.

Judgment No. T-426/92

Petitioner, 69-year old Hernando de Jesus Blanco Angarita, filed a tutela action before the Constitutional Court after the First Civil Municipal Court of Bogota found that the National Social Security Fund had not violated his constitutional rights by delaying the transfer of his deceased wife’s pension. The Constitutional Court reversed the First Civil Municipal Court and held that there had been a violation of rights recognized both in the Colombian Constitution and international law.

Partido Socialista Brasileiro v. Ministro de Estado da Previdência e Assistência Social, ADI No. 1.946, 2003.

In 1998, Congress approved Amendment 20 to the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, thereby altering the country’s social security system. The amendment imposed a ceiling of R$1200 on social security benefits per beneficiary. On its face, the R$1200 maximum purported to apply neutrally to several benefits categories, including with respect to pregnancy-related leave.

Marcia Cecilia Trujillo Calero v. Ecuador, CESCR, Communication 10/2015, UN Doc. E/C.12/63/D/10/2015 (26 March 2018)

UN Committee on ESCR addresses the impact of unpaid care work on women’s social security access

Marcia Cecilia Trujillo Calero made 29 years’ worth of retirement contributions to the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS). Of the 305 contributions she made, approximately half were voluntary contributions made from 1981 through 1995, when she was an unpaid care worker at home, caring for her three children. During an eight-month period starting in 1989, Ms. Trujillo paused her voluntary payments, though she retroactively paid them in full in April 1990. Afterward, Ms.

Ecuador fails to address the impact of unpaid care work on women’s social security access

Last October, members from the Strategic Litigation Working Group and Women and ESCR Working Group submitted a collective third party intervention...

The Queen on the application of Sheila Winder, Lisa Marie Dowen and Sarah Hampton v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, [2014] EWHC 2617 (Admin)

UK Court advances women’s enjoyment of the rights to adequate housing and social protection

The Sandwell Metropolitan Council formed a new tax plan pursuant to a national change in tax law. Previously, low-income persons would be given financial assistance to pay council taxes, whereas under the new plan, individuals’ tax liability was lowered based on financial status. The relevant statute stated that local authorities would create locally-tailored plans to determine tax liability by creating classes based on income, capital, and number of dependents.

List of issues submitted to the CESCR pre-sessional working group regarding the 3rd report of China

The Society for Community Organisation submitted a list of issues to the pre-sessional CESCR working group. These issues were to be addressed in connection with the consideration of the third report of China: the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong concerning the rights...

Alternative Report For The Committee On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights For Its Upcoming Session On The People's Republic Of China

The World Uyghur Congress submitted an Alternative Report to the Committee On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights (CESCR). This was in anticipation of the session on the People's Republic Of China. The March 2013 submission addresses the right to just and favourable working...