Social protection is an internationally recognised human right and is enshrined in the African Union Charter on Human and People’s Rights as the right of all citizens. However, less than one in five people – around 17 per cent – across the African continent have access to social protection,1 the lowest percentage in the world.
African trade unions, supported by the global trade union movement, have long called for the extension of social protection, as a right and fundamental component of decent work, to be ensured across the continent. Unions demand that policymakers urgently work to extend social protection coverage; increase national-level funding for social protection through reprioritising resources, mobilising progressive forms of taxation, and making efforts to address tax evasion, and that they strengthen international financial support to social protection.
