Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi delivers a statement at the African Commission

Four out of five people in the world do not have access to comprehensive social security and 50% of these live in absolute poverty and majority of these people live in Africa. This is according to Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi, Socio-Economic Rights Project researcher at the Community Law Centre when delivering a statement at African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at the 55th Ordinary Session.

Her statement titled ‘Social Protection/Security as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in Africa’ pointed out that today the world remains an unfair, unequal, insecure and unhealthy place for the majority of people.

Women continue to constitute 70% of the world’s poor. About 30% of our planet’s population has no access to adequate health care. Every second a child is poor and each year millions of children die of preventable causes.

Millions of older persons face poverty, hardship and diseases. Inequalities are increasing and social progress is uneven, and unacceptably modest and slow. One of the ways of addressing the pervasive poverty and inequalities existing in many parts of Africa is the adoption of a virile national social security measures.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at the 55th Ordinary Session took place from 28 April to 12 May 2014 in Luanda, Angola.

Read the full statement here...