Social Security Standards in Latin America

PAUTASSI, LAURA CECILIA

International Standard-Setting and Innovations in Social Security

Kluwer Law International

Año: 2012; p. 73 - 87

The relationship between social security and human rights in Latin America is a permanent topic of interest. Many reasons promote this discussion. One of the topics is the reform on the adjustment programmes applied during the nineties in Latin America and the consequences it had on the social system, in terms of the increase of poverty, unemployment, and the grave effect on the economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). Parallel to these reforms, states have made important changes in their National Constitutions and have adopted the main human rights treaties and protocols. All the countries in Latin America have adopted the Protocol of San Salvador (except Chile and Venezuela), and all states have undertaken to observe social rights and adopt progressive policies. In this paper, I would like to discuss how the process has developed with respect to the obligations that must be observed from the Protocol and what is needed to report the compliance with social security rights. At the level of theory, there is widespread recognition among experts and advocates that the obligation of progressive realization of these rights to the maximum of a state’s available resources is at the heart of their fulfillment. However, at the practical level, in terms of monitoring efforts, field researches, and adjudication by courts, this key obligation has largely been sidelined. Instead, the focus has been placed on various immediate obligations related to these rights, which are not dependent on resources availability. This paper is about this paradox and how the states comply with the implementation of social rights.