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Informal sector workers constitute a large and increasing part of the labour force in most developing countries. Many of them are not able or willing to contribute a significant percentage of their incomes to finance formal sector social insurance benefits that do not meet their priority needs. Therefore, informal sector workers themselves need to (and have) set up health and other social insurance schemes that better meet their needs and contributory capacity. In addition, special social assistance schemes are necessary to protect the most vulnerable groups outside the labour force.This article also assesses some key implications of these developments for formal social insurance schemes.

In the current global context, many migrant workers, and in particular women and irregular workers, are not - or are very inadequately - covered by social security and other social protection programmes. Current human rights standards related to migrant workers and families have so far had little impact on this situation. This article first examines various national approaches to extending social security to migrant workers in low-, middle- and high-income countries, such as through affiliation to the social security systems in countries of employment and countries of origin. It then attempts to assess the impact of regional and other international migration and social security agreements, particularly within the European Union. It also explores the potential impact of wider ratification of ILO and UN Conventions on migrant workers, which would ensure basic social and labour protection, in particular for irregular migrant workers. The article concludes with some key policy challenges for the future, including for improved regional and global governance.

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This article shows that the commitment towards economic and social human rights, including the right to social security, will provide a strong force towards realizing the global socio-economic floor. The right to social security has become realizable in a growing number of countries that have focused on the extension of social security coverage. This article shows that a global social security floor is affordable, including in low-income countries, with the initial support from the international community. The article then explores how a global socio-economic floor could be better implemented through a human rights-based approach, and it reviews some of the recent initiatives undertaken by the UN Human Rights Council. It suggests a number of steps to improve the effective implementation of the human rights-based approach. It concludes that such an approach can help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and provide the framework for global policies for development and poverty eradication beyond 2015.