The Role of Standards in Labour & Social Security Law examines international standards, their interrelationship, and their interaction with national labour law, social security systems and regional regimes. The book approaches this vast subject from a number of different thematic and geographic perspectives, and focuses on specific areas that exemplify the key issues under discussion.

The Role of Standards in Labour & Social Security Law reflects on the relevance and limitations of international standards and also highlights the importance of a human rights approach and the role of private actors in the protection of labour- and social security rights.

The editors and authors of this compilation are internationally renowned experts in the field, and represent a variety of regions and perspectives. In particular, the book represents important voices and perspectives from the developing world, notably the African continent.

“The overall subject is most salient, and while assembling a multitude of different individual topics and perspectives, the book still offers a very coherent framework. The individual contributions ... offer informative accounts of recent developments, others inspiring reflections on long-term debates. The book is likely to become a valuable resource, both for experts in the field and for those seeking an "international standards-related” perspective on the many individual social policy aspects addressed.”
Prof. Alexander Graser - Lehrstuhl für Öffentliches Recht und Politik, Universität Regensburg

International perspectives

• International labour standards: A complex public-private policy mix

• International labour and social security standards: A developing country critique

• The Social Protection Floors Recommendation 2012 (No 202): The human rights approach to social security in ILO wrapping paper

Regional perspectives

• The still complex relationship between the ILO and the EU: The example of anti-discrimination law

• Co-ordination of social security schemes: The case of SADC

• The challenge of regional social security co-ordination: The case of the Ibero-American Multilateral Agreement

• Social security, gender and legal plurality: Challenges to harmonisation in SADC

• The failure of the Minimum Age Convention to eradicate child labour in developing countries, with particular reference to SADC

• Children’s rights and child labour from a global, African and SADC law perspective

• EU health and safety law: Improving standards for young workers

 National perspectives

• Retirement reform in South Africa: The influence of international social security standards and human rights instruments

• Protective or disruptive social security? Burial societies in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

• The role of international and regional standards in the development of an appropriate rehabilitation, reintegration and return-to-work policy framework in South Africa

• Labour standards & foreign direct investment in SADC: A case study of Malawi

• Social assistance and the right to social security: The case of Zimbabwe

• Pre-dismissal procedures in terms of ILO Convention 158: South African and comparative perspectives

• Reforming the South African social security adjudication system: The role and impact of international and regional standards

• Learnerships and internships: Relations of employment or learning?