Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) - Niger (Ratification: 1966)

For a number of years, the Committee has been noting the constant difficulties with which Niger is faced in trying to implement the provisions of the Convention. These may mainly be attributed to the fact that the national social security scheme was designed to cover the formal sector which, in the present state of the economy, accounts for less than five per cent of the economically active population in Niger. According to the World Social Security Report 2010–11, this country is continuing to experience adverse conditions from the standpoint of the low rate of coverage of its social security system, the poor quality of medical care (especially with respect to maternity), and the level of pensions – all this in the context of a low-life expectancy and a very high poverty rate among the population. In these circumstances, the Committee considers that the Convention’s objective to guarantee that the greatest number of workers receive the benefits provided for under the Convention for each of the contingencies accepted requires the introduction of more efficient programmes aimed at the informal economy and most vulnerable categories of the population.

The Committee notes that, with a view to providing guidance to States whose social security systems are experiencing difficulties on account of national economic and social conditions and guaranteeing that everyone is entitled to social security, the International Labour Conference adopted the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), designed to establish all the necessary social security guarantees to prevent and alleviate poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. In the case of Niger, the Committee notes that the constituent branches of the social security system, for which Niger accepted the obligations under the Convention (Parts V–VIII), provide the necessary institutional mechanisms for building national social protection floors and extending basic social security guarantees to other sections of the population. From this standpoint, the implementation of the Convention and Recommendation No. 202 should be carried out in parallel, by identifying and drawing upon synergies and complementarities. In this context, the Committee notes with interest that the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) introduced in 2012 includes the drafting of a pilot programme aimed at institutionalizing a national social protection floor incorporating the informal sector. In order to attain this, the DWCP provides for, inter alia: integrating social protection policies within a national policy to create a national social protection floor; conducting a survey on social protection needs within the informal economy; and strengthening the capacities of actors in the area of social protection. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could provide in its next report information on the progress made with respect to the implementation of the national social protection floor, specifying the way in which the new social protection mechanisms are harmonized with the existing social security system.