The International Evolution of the Right of Children to Social Security

Abstract

This article seeks to provide an analysis of the right of children to social security as provided for in the various international legal instruments, and as assimilated in other legal documents. Furthermore, it argues that scarcity of resources prevents children from enjoying socio-economic rights, including the right to social security adopted through international instruments and entrenched in domestic laws. The Convention on the Rights of a Child provides for the right to social security in the event of lack of resources to benefit the child. So does the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. In all the said legal instruments, the clauses on social security do not explicitly prescribe the rights that ought to be promoted through it. However, since the jurisprudence on socio-economic rights= emphasises the view that socio-economic rights are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible, it can also be safely said that through social security, beneficiaries, that is children, should be able to enjoy access to other socio-economic rights in general. Therefore, the significance of the right to social security as a means to address poverty and facilitate the development of children is explored.