Contribution of the United Nations Independent Expert on the Question of Human Rights and Extreme Poverty: Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona Minority Forum- social security panel 14th December 2010 For the purpose of this presentation, I should stress that I will use interchangeably the concept of social security and social protection. In this regard, by social protection I will refers to policies and programmes that aim to enable people to respond to various contingencies and manage levels of risk or deprivation that are deemed unacceptable by society. These schemes aim to offset deprivation and secure “protection” from, inter alia, the absence or substantial reduction of income from work, insufficient support to families with children or adult dependents, lack of access to health care, general poverty and social exclusion. Social insurance and social assistance are the two main segments of social protection. Social insurance refers to contributory insurance schemes providing pre-specified support for affiliated members. Social assistance encompasses initiatives providing both cash and in-kind assistance to those living in poverty. Relevant social protection measures addressing include cash transfer schemes, public work programmes, school stipends, social pensions, food vouchers and food transfers, and user fee exemptions for health care, education or subsidised services. The duty to implement social protection policies to advance the protection available to persons living in extreme poverty flows directly from a number of human rights, in particular the right to social security and the right to an adequate standard of living enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, several international and regional human rights treaties, ILO conventions, and national constitutions. Ensuring access to social protection is thus not a policy option, but a State obligation under international human rights law.