{"id":9662,"date":"2025-02-20T15:08:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/?p=9662"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:08:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:08:26","slug":"fulfilling-the-right-to-social-security-is-about-political-will-not-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/fulfilling-the-right-to-social-security-is-about-political-will-not-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulfilling the right to social security is about political will, not resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press release<\/p>\n

Fulfilling the right to social security is about political will, not resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Islamabad, 20 February 2025. At a roundtable held earlier today, HRCP urged the state to fulfil the right to social security under Article 38 of the Constitution by protecting vulnerable and low-income workers against income insecurity in the form of old age, unemployment, illness, injury, childbirth and maternity.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the event, Chaudhry Shaukat of the Pakistan Workers United Federation underscored the need for all employers to issue their workers with valid appointment letters and ensure that they were registered with the EOBI. Khurshid Alam, vice-commissioner of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees Social Security Institution, said that the lack of implementation of the minimum wage was also cause for concern.<\/p>\n

Director (Administration) of the Punjab Employees Social Security Institution Malik Farrukh Mumtaz said that the definition of a worker should be consistent in both the EOBI and social security institutions, irrespective of their wages. Umer Hayat, secretary general of the National Labour Federation in Quetta, observed that hundreds of coal miners in Balochistan remained unaware of their right to access EOBI provisions, including injury and disability allowances. Maqsood Ahmed, representing PILER, said there was an urgent need for a tripartite conference to secure the right to social security.<\/p>\n

Zahoor Awan, a member of the governing body of the ILO, pointed out that within the EOBI, only organizations with at least five workers were eligible for social security, leaving millions of small enterprises with fewer employees unregistered. Misbah Ullah Khan, a member of the NIRC, underscored the situation of employees who lacked permanent status despite having worked for many years.<\/p>\n

HRCP Council member Farhatullah Babar said that overlooking informal workers\u2019 right to social security amounted to \u2018criminal negligence\u2019 on the part of the state. He also recommended that Article 38 of the Constitution be made a fundamental right.<\/p>\n

HRCP vice-chair Islamabad Nasreen Azhar concluded the roundtable by observing that capitalist modes of production had entrenched the oppression of workers in this context.<\/p>\n

Asad Iqbal Butt<\/strong>
\nChairperson<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>