Panellists at the World Social Security Forum yesterday.
Doha: The general assembly of International Social Security Association (ISSA) has called on the governments and societies to shape the future by investing in people as it will go a long way in ensuring sustainable development of the society and social security administration. Panellists at a plenary session on proactive and preventive social security of World Social Security Forum (WSSF) at Doha Sheraton Hotel observed that government, employers and employees should work together to build stronger and protected societies.
Inter-generational equity, solidarity and responsibility are the key overlapping principles of proactive and preventive social security and the priority goals include increases in quality life of workers, in participation and responsibility of citizens and in long-term sustainability and trust in social security systems.
The forum evaluated that rising costs, budgetary constraints and lack of professional career management in social security administrations were obstacles in realising the main aims of proactive and preventive social security.
Authorities should seek to treat each generation fairly and tailor social security measures to match the different needs of people. As unemployment and poverty contribute to the incidence of physical and mental illnesses, appropriate actions and policies are to be implemented to promote income security and the well-being of populations.
A proactive and preventive social security system is a key component of part what the ISSA calls “dynamic social security”.
Social security in the workplace, provisions to prevent occupational illnesses and accidents, empowering youth to overcome the challenges of the current economic turmoil, empowering populations through education and higher awareness, involving the public in debates about social security, following demographic and migration patterns carefully, supporting the complementary roles of mutual benefit societies, were some of the important topics deliberated at the forum on the second day.
Social investments, in form of conditional cash transfers for example, can improve health, stimulate primary education, increase self-responsibility, break the inter-generational transfer of poverty and heighten awareness about the need for social responsibility. The longer-term aim is to invest more in people, said the ISSA.
Edmundo Mao De Ferro Martinho, Director, Social Security Observatory, ISSA, was the moderator and the panellists included Saleh N Al Araimi, General Manager, Public Authority For Social Insurance, Oman; Jean Claude Menard, Chief Actuary, Office Of The Chief Actuary, Office Of The Superintendent Of Financial Institution, Canada; Michel Regereau, Chairman of the Board, National Sickness Insurance Fund For Employers, France; Olaf Petermann Chairman of the Board, Statuary Accident Insurance in Energy, Electricity, Textile And Media Industries, Germany; Georges Carlens, General Administrator, National Employment Office, Belgium; Joachim Breuer, Director General, German Social Accident Insurance; Jean-Louis Derroussen, Chairman of the Board, National Family Allowances Fund, France, and Jean-Philippe Huchet, Board Member For International Affairs, National Federation of French Mutual Benefit Societies, France.
The Peninsula
