Social Security and Welfare Rights

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Case No. 2009-43-01 On Compliance of the First Part of Section 3 of State Pensions and State Allowance Disbursement in 2009 2012) insofar as it Applies to State Old-Age Pension with Article 1, Article 91, Article 105 and Article 109 of the Satversme (C

Petitioners, pensioners of the Latvian State, challenged the constitutionality of the Law on State Pension and State Allowance Disbursement in the period from 2009 to 2012 (hereinafter the "Disbursement Law"), which had been passed in an effort to reduce the State's budget deficit. The overall economy was rapidly declining in 2009, and the Latvian Parliament argued that it had to act quickly to respond to the country's economic crisis. The law decreased the amount received by current pensioners by 10% and decreased the pensions of future pensioners (individuals currently employed) by 70%.

Reyes Aguilera, Daniela v. Argentina

The case was filed in March 2003 to force the Comisión Nacional de Pensiones Asistenciales (national agency in charge of welfare pensions) to grant a disability pension to Daniela Reyes Aguilera, a Bolivian girl who has a disabling condition preventing her from moving legs and arms, speaking, and eating on her own. Article 1, paragraph "e" of Decree 432/1997, which requires foreign citizens to prove legal residence in Argentina for at least twenty years in order to qualify for disability pensions, was contested as unconstitutional.

Acción de tutela instaurada por Abel Antonio Jaramillo, Adela Polanía Montaño, Agripina María Nuñez y otros contra la Red de Solidaridad Social, el Departamento Administrativo de la Presidencia de la República, el Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito P

The claimants filed a tutela action against several state institutions alleging failure to comply with their mission of protecting displaced persons and to effectively respond to the displaced’s requests related to housing, access to production projects, health care, education and humanitarian aid.

Amilcar Menéndez, Juan Manuel Caride, et al. Case Nº 11.670. Report Nº 03/01 [ENG]

Between December 27, 1995 and September 30, 1999, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received numerous petitions filed by retired persons and several non-governmental organizations. The petitions claimed violations of the rights to effective judicial remedy, due legal process, property, social security, health, well-being and equal protection, which are enshrined in the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man (ADRDM) and in the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR).

Demanda de inconstitucionalidad por omisión de la Asamblea Nacional al promulgar la Ley Orgánica de Seguridad Social. [ENG]

Provea requested the Supreme Court of Venezuela (TSJ) to issue its opinion on the constitutionality of the failure by Asamblea Nacional (AN, Parliament) to create a temporary system to regulate the Employment Benefits Scheme when it had passed the Social Security System Law. This failure implied denying benefits to employees suspended or fired. Provea alleged there had been a violation of the rights to social security, workers' protection and the principle of progressiveness regarding fundamental rights under the Constitution and international human rights conventions.

López, Glenda y otros c. Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales (IVSS) s/ acción de amparo. Expediente 00-1343. Sentencia N° 487. [ENG]

A group of persons living with HIV and covered by Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales (IVSS) filed an amparo action against IVSS requesting it to ensure regular and consistent supply of triple-therapy drugs and other drugs needed to treat opportunistic diseases, as well as to provide coverage of expenses of all necessary medical tests. The petitioners also requested that the effect of the decision be extended to all HIV-positive persons covered by IVSS.

Case of the "Five Pensioners" v. Perú

A group of retired citizens filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against the State of Peru. The IACHR subsequently filed an action with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights alleging violation of rights to private property and judicial protection, and of the obligation to ensure progressive realization of social rights. During their active working life, the petitioners were employed as officials of a State agency that had its own pension fund.

Taylor v. United Kingdom, Case C-382/98 Cited as: [1998] EHRLR 90

Regulations entitled those on social security benefits to receipt of a winter fuel payment for. The payment was available to women aged 60 and over and men aged 65 and over. Mr Taylor was 62 and brought a complaint on the basis that the regulation did not comply with the European Union Council Directive on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security. The High Court referred the interpretation of the Directive to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Khosa & Ors v Minister of Social Development & Ors. Cited as: 2004(6) BCLR 569 (CC)

The applicants were permanent residents in South Africa. They challenged legislative provisions, which limited entitlement to social grants for the aged to South African citizens, and would prevent children of non-South African citizens in the same position as the applicants from claiming any of the childcare grants available to South African children (regardless of the citizenship-status of the children themselves).

F. H. Zwaan-de Vries v. the Netherlands, Communication No. 182/1984 (9 April 1987), U.N. Doc. Supp. No. 40 (A/42/40) at 160 (1987)

Mrs Zwaan de Wries became unemployed in February 1979 and was granted unemployment benefits until October 1979. But she was denied continued support under the Unemployment Benefits Act (WWV) because she was a married woman and was not the family breadwinner'. Married men could obtain the benefits without the need to prove they were a breadwinner'.