The analysis of the draft law drawn up by the Government to establish a public system of social protection in Equatorial Guinea began this Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies, in sessions taking place within the Parliamentary Commission on Justice and Human Rights, under the moderation of its President, Gaudencio Mohaba Mesu.
The social protection system is the set of State policies and actions aimed at improving individual and social well-being, reducing or eliminating social vulnerability and its factors, reducing poverty rates and levels of marginalisation, vulnerability and exclusion, through actions aimed at improving people’s ability to participate in, contribute to and benefit from the economic, social, cultural and political climate in their communities.
People are considered to be in a situation of vulnerability when, due to their social, economic, educational or disability situation or condition, they are at a disadvantage or require special public intervention in order to develop, while poverty is understood as the lack of basic resources essential for the normal economic, social and cultural development of a human being.
Through this draft law, presented by the Minister for Social Affairs and Gender Equality, Consuelo Nguema Oyana, the Government aims to create a universal public social protection system to contribute to the reduction of inequality, the sustained reduction of poverty and the improvement of the productive capacity of society in all areas, so that everyone can enjoy the right to a continuous, progressive improvement in their standard of living.
The Executive also aims to contribute to the progressive reduction in gender inequalities in order to move towards substantive equality between men and women, to contribute to the reduction in inequality gaps between rural and urban dwellers, to combat any cause or form of discrimination and social exclusion, promoting equal opportunities for the development of the individual, establishing policies for a growing achievement of social equity and guaranteeing the population broad, safe, sufficient social protection, from a rights-based perspective, particularly for sections of the population that are most vulnerable, in conditions of poverty, exclusion or social inequality.
If passed, the future provision would apply to the entire resident population exposed to factors that could lead to poverty, vulnerability, exclusion and discrimination, giving priority to children, unemployed youth, single mothers, women, elderly people, people with disabilities or in a state of neglect, and all those at risk of social exclusion.
The implementation of social policies framed within the social protection system will be based on specific programmes, which will be designed in a coordinated manner by the various ministerial departments with powers in the social issue in question, and the Ministry for Social Affairs and Gender Equality will propose to the Government a series of criteria for the identification of poverty factors and vulnerability, in addition to measures involving active policies to prevent and combat these factors.
In their initial assessments of the draft law, the deputies congratulated the Government on this legislative initiative, which will help the most vulnerable layers of society, but some raised the need to study how to implement non-contributory benefits, particularly in terms of medical and pharmaceutical care, for people who have not been able or will not be able to pay social security contributions, in order to avoid social exclusion.
The deputies also wanted to know whether the vulnerable social strata and local authorities were involved in the drafting of this bill, how the status of a person as someone who is really poor and is not pretending to be vulnerable is to be determined, and what role will be played by Non-Governmental Organisations and humanitarian associations in the implementation of this Social Protection System.
All these issues were clarified by the Government delegation, which assured that the Ministry for Social Affairs and Gender Equality was already working to identify the most vulnerable social groups in our country, with the establishment of indicators covering poverty, vulnerability or exclusion, and the creation of an Institute for Social Protection, as an autonomous body in charge of these issues, is planned.
After the general considerations, the preamble of this draft provision was analysed. It makes reference to our Basic Law, which establishes, as supreme values of the State, the protection and safeguarding of social rights and the promotion of active policies for the social inclusion of the individual and the family, in order to strengthen social cohesion.
Our Constitution also includes the State’s recognition of the principles of International Law and the reaffirmation of its adherence to the rights and obligations arising from the International Organisations and Bodies of which it is a member, which is why the Government has adopted the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals, approved by the United Nations General Assembly, and has established a social protection policy, within the framework of the national development strategy, which includes the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, in addition to an improvement of the living conditions of the most vulnerable social strata.
After several debates, the preamble was left to be reworded, because the deputies want it to mention the actions already implemented by the Government in the field of social protection, and an ad-hoc commission was appointed to look at the redrafting.
The articles covering the aim and scope of application of this draft law, the concepts, objectives, structure and principles of action of social protection, were then adopted.
Source: Official Web Page of the Government