 | |
| Formation | 1927 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
President | Dr Mohammed Azman |
| Website | https://ww1.issa.int/about |
The International Social Security Association (ISSA) is an international organization bringing together national social security administrations and agencies. Founded in 1927, the ISSA has more than 330 member organizations in 158 countries. It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in the International Labour Office (ILO).
The recognition of social security as a basic human right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). [1] The development of social security programmes is considered to be one of the most significant social achievements of the international community, but its enhancement and extension remain one of the main challenges of the 21st century.
As per the ISSA Constitution, the term "social security" means any scheme or programme established by legislation, or any other mandatory arrangement, which provides protection, whether in cash or in kind, in the event of employment accidents, occupational diseases, unemployment, maternity, sickness, invalidity, old age, retirement, survivorship, or death, and encompasses, among others, benefits for children and other family members, health care benefits, prevention, rehabilitation, and long-term care. It can include social insurance, social assistance, mutual benefit schemes, provident funds, and other arrangements which, in accordance with national law or practice, form part of a country's social security system.
At the World Social Security Forum held in 2016 in Panama the then ISSA Secretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewsky underscored that global trends, including demographic changes and the impact of the digital economy are transforming the context in which social security operates. While there is an unprecedented global political commitment to provide all people with access to social protection, and recognition that social security is a social and economic investment, the future sustainability and extension of social security will require significant innovation.
The constitutional mandate of the ISSA is "to co-operate, at the international level, in the promotion and development of social security throughout the world (…) in order to advance the social and economic conditions of the population on the basis of social justice." [2]
The ISSA's aim is to promote Dynamic Social Security [3] as the social dimension in a globalizing world through supporting excellence in social security administration. The ISSA promotes excellence in social security administration through professional guidelines, expert knowledge, services and support to enable its members to develop dynamic social security systems and policy throughout the world.
To face the evolving needs of the world’s population, the ISSA advocates that social security must increasingly adapt and innovate to foster integrated, coherent, proactive, and forward-looking social security policies with the aim of better ensuring universal access to social security. [4]
Founded under the auspices of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 4 October 1927 [5] in Brussels (Belgium), as the International Conference of Sickness Insurance Funds and Mutual Benefit Societies - Conférence internationale des unions nationales de sociétés mutuelles et de caisses d'assurance-maladie. [6] The name was changed in 1936, in Prague (Czechoslovakia), to the International Social Insurance Conference - Conférence internationale de la mutualité et des assurances sociales (CIMAS). The present name was adopted in 1947, in Geneva (Switzerland), together with a new Constitution.
The ISSA is accorded General Category consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council [7] (ECOSOC). [8] This accreditation by the United Nations has been given in recognition of the fact that the ISSA's work conforms to the spirit, charter and principles of the United Nations. The privileges that come with this title affords to the ISSA the right to attend, and contribute in a substantive manner to, UN General Assembly special sessions, as well as international conferences called by the UN and other intergovernmental bodies.
In the space of nine decades, the ISSA has expanded into a worldwide Association, now bringing together more than 330 organizations in 160 countries.
The ISSA organizes a World Social Security Forum and General Assembly at the end of each triennium (the most recent was held in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2019) and during each triennium organizes four Regional Social Security Forums (in Africa, the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe); convenes topic-related technical seminars in various regions; hosts international conferences - on information and communication technology in social security; social security actuaries and statisticians; and international policy research; and is the co-organizer of the World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health every three years. The ISSA publishes professional Guidelines for key areas of social security administration, collects and disseminates information on social security programmes throughout the world; undertakes research and policy analysis on the social security issues and distributes their results; encourages mutual assistance between member organizations; facilitates good practice collection and exchange; cooperates with other international or regional organizations exercising activities related to the field; communicates with its constituency and media and promotes social security through advocacy and information; and forges partnerships between the ISSA and other international organizations active in the area of social security to advance common strategies, including the International Labour Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank.
In 2013 the ISSA launched its Centre for Excellence in Social Security Administration, which consists of an innovative package of services to facilitate and support administrative improvements by member organizations. The ISSA Centre for Excellence provides services and support to social security administrations committed to good governance, high performance and service quality. The Centre builds on a series of internationally-recognized professional Guidelines for core areas of social security administration.
In 2012 the ISSA formalized an agreement with the International Labour Organization aimed at reinforcing collaboration in support of the extension and promotion of social security. The historic agreement recognizes the key contribution of social security institutions to the extension of coverage. The Memorandum marked a new chapter in the long-standing strategic partnership between the organizations and reinforced efforts to extend social security worldwide.
Social Security Programs Throughout the World is the product of a cooperative effort between ISSA member the US Social Security Administration (SSA) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA). Social Security Programs Throughout the World highlights the principal features of social security programs in more than 170 countries. One of four regional volumes is issued every six months.
The three topical priority areas in the current ISSA programme are:
The ISSA publishes a quarterly journal in the social security field, the International Social Security Review in English, in collaboration with Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. [9] The ISSA's periodic series Developments and Trends and Social Policy Highlight disseminate new findings on social security policy and practice internationally. It co-publishes the series Social Security Programs Throughout the World, in co-operation with the [ United States Social Security Administration]]] In partnership with the OECD and the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors [10] (IOPS), the ISSA produces Complementary and Private Pensions Throughout the World. The ISSA also issues an electronic newsletter; social security policy briefs; analytical reports on specific topics; and a range of thematic technical reports. The ISSA provides comprehensive data on various aspects of social security including: an overview of social security systems worldwide; a monitor of social security reforms; summaries of complementary and private pension systems; social security legislation; a comprehensive bibliography; and a thesaurus of social security terminology. Databases are available via the ISSA Web portal. [11]
The main statutory bodies of the ISSA are the General Assembly (meets every 3 years) that consists of delegates appointed by member organizations; the Council (normally meets at each session of the General Assembly) that comprises one titular delegate or one substitute delegate from each country where there is at least one affiliate member organization; the Bureau (meets twice annually) that comprises the President, Treasurer, Secretary General and elected representatives of the 4 geographical regions.
The ISSA's affiliate membership includes government departments, institutions, agencies and other entities and (non-international) federations of these. Associate membership includes (non-international) organizations with objectives compatible with those of ISSA but not qualified to become affiliate members.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the first and oldest specialised agencies of the UN. The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with around 40 field offices around the world, and employs some 3,381 staff across 107 nations, of whom 1,698 work in technical cooperation programmes and projects.
The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal bodies, the Specialized Agencies and related organizations. The UN System includes subsidiary bodies such as the separately administered funds and programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary entities. Some of these organizations predate the founding of the United Nations in 1945 and were inherited after the dissolution of the League of Nations.
Population ageing is an increasing median age in a population because of declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy. Most countries have rising life expectancy and an ageing population, trends that emerged first in developed countries but are now seen in virtually all developing countries. That is the case for every country in the world except the 18 countries designated as "demographic outliers" by the United Nations. The aged population is currently at its highest level in human history. The UN predicts the rate of population ageing in the 21st century will exceed that of the previous century. The number of people aged 60 years and over has tripled since 1950 and reached 600 million in 2000 and surpassed 700 million in 2006. It is projected that the combined senior and geriatric population will reach 2.1 billion by 2050. Countries vary significantly in terms of the degree and pace of ageing, and the UN expects populations that began ageing later will have less time to adapt to its implications.
Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influence working conditions in the relations of employment. One of the most prominent is the right to freedom of association, otherwise known as the right to organize. Workers organized in trade unions exercise the right to collective bargaining to improve working conditions.
The Declaration of Philadelphia restated the traditional objectives of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and then branched out in two new directions: the centrality of human rights to social policy, and the need for international economic planning. With the end of the world war in sight, it sought to adapt the guiding principles of the ILO "to the new realities and to the new aspirations aroused by the hopes for a better world." It was adopted at the 26th Conference of the ILO in Philadelphia, United States of America. In 1946, when the ILO's constitution was being revised by the General Conference convened in Montreal, the Declaration of Philadelphia was annexed to the constitution and forms an integral part of it by Article 1.
The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. It is consistently ranked one of the leading graduate schools for international relations in the world. SIPA offers Master of International Affairs (MIA) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees in a range of fields, as well as the Executive MPA and Ph.D. program in Sustainable Development.
The Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) is an independent regional union federation aimed at unifying trade union centres in Africa. This organisation was founded in April, 1973 as a successor to two previously competing labour union organisations in Africa: the All-African Trade Union Federation (AATUF) and the African Trade Union Confederation (ATUC). The process to unify a Pan-African labour union organisation also involved international labour organisations as decision-making stakeholders like the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). Finally, also with the help of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the AATUF and the ATUC merged to form the OATUU. The driving factors for this unification and the creation of the OATUU was to advance Pan-Africanism, economic justice, and social justice throughout African workplaces.
Juan Somavía Altamirano is the former Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). He was elected to serve as the ninth Director-General of the ILO by the Governing Body on 23 March 1998. On 7 November 2013, he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as Special Adviser on Interregional Policy Cooperation.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), previously the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), is a consortium of 36 United Nations funds, programmes, specialized agencies, departments and offices that play a role in development. It was created by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in order to improve the effectiveness of United Nations development activities at the country level.
An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty, or is an instrument governed by international law and possessing its own legal personality, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Save the Children International, and NATO. International organizations are composed of primarily member states, but may also include other entities, such as other international organizations, firms, and nongovernmental organizations. Additionally, entities may hold observer status. An alternative definition is that an international organization is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states and other actors in the international system.
Tripartism is an economic system of neo-corporatism based on a mixed economy and tripartite contracts between employers' organizations, trade unions, and the government of a country. Each is to act as a social partner to create economic policy through cooperation, consultation, negotiation, and compromise. In Tripartism, the government has a large role in the economy and engages in negotiations between labor unions and business interest groups to establish economic policy.
The Bush School of Government and Public Service is an undergraduate and graduate college of Texas A&M University founded in 1997 under former US President George H. W. Bush's philosophy that "public service is a noble calling." Since then, the Bush School has continued to reflect that notion in curriculum, research, and student experience and has become a leading international affairs, political science, and public affairs institution.
C. Wilfred Jenks was an international lawyer and director-general of the International Labour Organization (1970–1973).
The social protection floor (SPF) is the first level of protection in a national social protection system. It is a basic set of social rights derived from human right treaties, including access to essential services and social transfers, in cash or in kind, to guarantee economic security, food security, adequate nutrition and access to essential services.
International labour law is the body of rules spanning public and private international law which concern the rights and duties of employees, employers, trade unions and governments in regulating Work and the workplace. The International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization have been the main international bodies involved in reforming labour markets. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have indirectly driven changes in labour policy by demanding structural adjustment conditions for receiving loans or grants. Issues regarding Conflict of laws arise, determined by national courts, when people work in more than one country, and supra-national bodies, particularly in the law of the European Union, have a growing body of rules regarding labour rights.
John Philip Rust is an American economist and econometrician. John Rust received his PhD from MIT in 1983 and taught at the University of Wisconsin, Yale University and University of Maryland before joining Georgetown University in 2012. John Rust was awarded Frisch Medal in 1992 and became the fellow of Econometric Society in 1993.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development provides data about OECD countries related to paid parental leave length, average pay rate and full-rate equivalent. Not all countries provide mothers with a pay rate equal to what they would have received if the absence had not occurred.
The Republic of Kazakhstan became a member of the United Nations on March 2, 1992. Kazakhstan was elected to serve on the UN Security Council for the 2017–2018 term. UN Secretary-General António Guterres in remarks to the UNSC recognized Kazakhstan's work to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction and global non-proliferation efforts.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
