February 20 marks World Day of Social Justice, a fundamental reminder of the need to build more equitable and just societies. This date was proclaimed in 2007 by the United Nations General Assembly to reiterate that social justice should reach all corners of the world and be at the center of all policies.
Therefore, today we share the illustrative words of the magistrate José María Tomás y Tío, president of the Foundation for Justice, which reach us thanks to JPIC Europe.
Fundación por la Justicia is a non-profit organization, which since 1994 has brought together justice professionals for human rights and social justice. Present both in Spain and in the most disadvantaged countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, the Foundation carries out various awareness-raising, training, social action and development cooperation projects. These include the Humans Fest film festival, the streaming platform for the promotion and defense of human rights, Humans Media, and the Master in Justice program on Radio 5, with Manuela Carmena.
Social justice: a universal value
Just as we value light at night and peace in times of war, every February 20 we celebrate the World Day of “Social Justice“, which can only be defined on the basis of the concrete fact of social injustice.
What is celebrated on a World Day of Social Justice is not the structure, nor the way of administering justice, nor the way of resolving individual conflicts through justice, but the value to which we aspire and the principle that sustains the equitable and universal distribution of the rights that provide a dignified life. This is stated in the Preamble of our Constitution, and appears as one of the four pillars or higher values that make up the legal framework of the social and democratic rule of law, the only flag drawn in article one of the Spanish Constitution.
Belonging, as we do, to the universal community of people created to live together in the real world that has been assigned to us, we are also bound by the situations, challenges and proposals that the world is facing in this time in which it is our turn to live, coexist and share.
An international commitment
The international community, structured around what we call the United Nations Organization, decided to highlight some special days so that activities related to the day in question could be organized throughout the length and breadth of our globe. In this way, governments, civil society, the public and private sectors, schools, universities or any citizen can organize activities to raise awareness and involvement that allow us not to lose sight of the fact that everyone is linked to everyone else through multiple signs that allow us to coexist peacefully.
It seems essential that the choice of these days be linked to the issues that most concern the international community, such as the maintenance of peace, the protection of human rights, the promotion of sustainable development, the defense of international law and humanitarian aid. These are the great themes that make up the great symphony that should sound without stridency and with the harmony necessary for a reasonably peaceful and humanly gratifying coexistence, which leads the United Nations Assembly, made up of 193 countries, all the States of the world, or some of the specialized agencies, such as the World Health Organization, to adopt resolutions that allow for the adoption of the necessary resolutions:
- highlighting the most worrying aspects and problems at a global level;
- advise States on actions to address them, both in the ordinary activities of their government and in cooperative relations with others with whom we are called upon to be concerned;
- to look for the particular or community contribution in the context in which each one of us may be.
It was precisely the United Nations General Assembly of November 26, 2007 that agreed to highlight February 20 of each year as the date for the first time in the history of the United Nations. World Day of Social Justicethe commitment to promote national and global economic systems based on the principles of sustainable development. principles of fairness, equity, democracy, participation, transparency, accountability and inclusionThe World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2005 committed to full and productive employment and decent work for all, in particular for women and young people, as a fundamental goal of national and international policies and development and poverty reduction strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)currently reinforced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In his statement:
“1. Recognizes that social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations, and that, in turn, social development and social justice cannot be achieved in the absence of peace and security or in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Also recognizes that, in order to sustain social development and social justice, broad-based and sustained economic growth is necessary, within the context of sustainable development;
3. Further recognizes that globalization and interdependence are opening up new opportunities through trade, investment and capital flows and advances in technology, including information technology, for the growth of the world economy and the development and improvement of living standards worldwide, while serious problems, such as acute financial crises, insecurity, poverty, exclusion and inequality, persist within and between societies, and major challenges, including the need to address the challenges of globalization and interdependence, and the need to address the challenges of globalization and interdependence
obstacles to greater integration and full participation of developing countries and some countries with economies in transition in the world economy;
4. Recognizes the need to further strengthen the efforts of the international community to eradicate poverty and promote full employment and decent work, gender equality and access to social welfare and social justice for all.”
Report of the International Labor Organization
Although this should be the case with all resolutions issued by public authorities for the proper functioning of society and at any level of government, it is far from happening even in our country and in any instance, so the United Nations commissioned a worldwide report on universal social protection, which would highlight the most relevant, but also propose what is essential for progress in achieving the objectives set, and so it did for the years 2024 to 2026. The report contains five messages of great importance and impact:
- Social protection contributes significantly to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- Social protection is therefore an enabler of climate action and a catalyst for a just transition and greater social justice.
- Decisive political action is required to strengthen social protection systems and adapt them to the new realities, especially in the countries most vulnerable to climate change, where coverage is the lowest.
- However, the ability of social protection systems to contribute to a just transition is held back by persistent gaps in the coverage, adequacy and financing of social protection.
- Social justice must drive climate action and just transition, and human rights must be placed at the heart of the process.
The conclusions of the extensive report presented could be summarized as follows:
- Social protection plays a key role in counteracting the impact of climate change, but the countries most affected by the climate crisis are the least prepared.
- Governments must do more to use universal social protection to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change and achieve a just transition, according to a new ILO report.
- The countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change tend to have the lowest levels of social protection.
For the first time, more than half of the world’s population (52.4%) has some form of social protection coverage. This is up from 42.8% in 2015, when the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted.
However, in the 20 countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, 91.3% of people (364 million) still lack some form of social protection. More generally, in the 50 most climate-vulnerable countries, 75% of the population (2.1 billion people) lack any social protection coverage. Globally, the majority of children (76.1%) still lack effective social protection coverage.
There is also a significant gender gap, with effective coverage for women lagging behind that of men (50.1% and 54.6%, respectively). Nowhere is this need to protect everyone clearer than in Africa. Despite the fact that the continent is among the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, only 19.1% of people in Africa are covered by at least one social protection benefit. These gaps are particularly significant, given the potential role of social protection in softening the impact of climate change, helping individuals and societies adapt to a new climate-volatile reality, and facilitating a just transition to a sustainable future.
Climate change recognizes no borders. Many of the countries that are suffering the most brutal consequences of this crisis are particularly ill-equipped to deal with its environmental and livelihood consequences. We must recognize that what happens to the affected communities will affect us all…
World Social Protection Report 2024-2026, International Labor Organization
On average, countries spend 12.9% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on social protection (excluding health). However, while high-income countries spend an average of 16.2%, low-income countries spend only 0.8% of their GDP on social protection. Low-income countries – among which are the states most vulnerable to the effects of climate change – need an additional $308.5 billion per year (52.3% of their GDP) to ensure at least basic social protection, and international support will be necessary to achieve this goal.
The report calls for decisive and integrated policy action to close protection gaps and argues that “the time has come to up the ante” and invest significantly in social protection. The report offers important recommendations to help guide policy and ensure effective and sustainable outcomes:
- Prepare for “routine” life cycle risks, as well as climate impacts, by establishing ex ante social protection systems to ensure that everyone enjoys adequate social protection.
- Use social protection to support climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and ensure public acceptance of these measures.
- Prioritize investment in social protection, including external support for countries with limited fiscal space.
Challenges and urgent questions
The question that immediately arises is: Why is social protection essential to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from the effects of the climate crisis?
Kumi Naidoo, a long-time human rights and climate activist, stressed the importance of reframing the debate to focus on the needs of people, especially the most vulnerable.
The climate justice movement has to recognize that we have had a lack of focus. We have focused so much on mitigating emissions and adaptation that we have forgotten the vulnerability of millions of people around the world. We need to integrate social protection into the climate movement. .
Tyeisha Emmanuel, a United Nations youth activist from Anguilla, a Caribbean island at considerable risk of flooding and other climate-related disasters, shared her country’s reality in this regard.
Even though small developing islands contribute less than one percent of global emissions, we bear the brunt of the climate crisis. Hurricanes, sea level rise and other extreme weather events are destroying our homes, livelihoods, food and future. .
In my opinion, social equality, equal opportunities, the welfare state, poverty, income distribution, labor and trade union rights are the foundations of social justice. It is based on equity and human dignity, and is essential for each person to develop his or her full potential and to enable a peaceful society.
When these fundamental needs are not met, we are faced with inequities. What makes these situations injustices is that they can be avoided. The decision to promote or deny social justice is in the hands of the people, whether at the individual, local, national or global level. It is in our hands to change it and what is necessary, is possible and has to become real.
Let’s land in our small environment
Let’s ask ourselves:
- Is it possible to live with dignity on the minimum wage and cover “housing” rent, water, gas, electricity, minimum shopping basket, children’s schooling…?
- What would be the situation in which a significant percentage of people, life partners by birth, work or migration, find themselves with respect to the essential issues that make up the social reality deserving of protection, that is to say, Justice?
- To what extent can we address the improvement of the situation of inequality, which produces confrontation and hatred and generates violence?
- With what arguments do we weave our mental structure to give reasons in the face of those who maintain illegitimate discrepancies, because they are inhuman or disqualifying, of those who think differently?
- What arguments of conviction and coherence do we provide ourselves with in the face of disqualifications or exclusions?
- What are the foundations that help us not to turn our faces away, not to take detours, not to neglect those who we continue to see in the ditches, rightfully or with serious injuries to their dignity and/or humanity?
- Since when did the God we believe in disappear and we have not been able to discover him prophetically in the environment we occupy?
And so many questions that we not only have the possibility, but also the obligation to continue asking ourselves so that the justice of men and the justice of God may be possible and may coincide.
To paraphrase EBeni, the refusal to seek a serious and dignified approach to these realities, the hot cloths, the subrogation to inhuman bag-countries, the forced deaths or disappearances, the camps in Albania, the dog-faced distribution of human beings, the CIE or Guantanamo, the overcrowding, the looking the other way, the capsule dwellings… are not the solution. And neither the deportation of human beings, nor the forced removal from the territory where they anchored their existence, nor the deprivation of the most basic and elementary dignified living space can be the solution.
José María Tomás y Tío, president of Fundación por la Justicia
