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| Sunday, 29 June 2003 |
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Social security for poor : Programmes have suffered under successive governments - ILO by Chamikara Weerasinghe The International Labour Organisation says their programmes to promote social security for the poor and the excluded have suffered under successive Sri Lankan governments for the past ten years without practical results. "It appears that lack of Treasury allocations, inadequate policies and lack of Trade Union participation as impeding the process in establishing a practical structure to extend social security for the poor and the excluded as expected by the ILO," an ILO official said. "Ensuring social security coverage for the country's main informal sectors, farmers and fisherfolk with pension schemes was first discussed in 1990, but nothing has been done so far to meet this objective in practical terms," the official added. Commenting on the present situation, she said that the ILO was conducting studies into an EPF structure to be run by the Labour Secretariat and the Central Bank. "Also, we are in the process of preparing a pension scheme for farmers and fishermen by an Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board, and an insurance scheme for the self-employed under the Social Security Board of the Social Welfare Ministry," she said. Labour Ministry sources said that Labour and Employment Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe had appointed a tripartite committee comprising trade union officials , employees and government official to submit recommendations for extending social security coverage for the poor and the excluded. " Steps will be taken to reform the existing pension schemes so as to broaden the sphere of social security once the relevant studies have been concluded," the official said. The Dutch Government is funding Sri Lanka to conduct technical surveys in the programmes to extend social security to the poor and the excluded under ILO 's global campaign on social security. ILO officials said that they were prepared to support Sri Lanka in its efforts to establish social security to this group of people by mobilising funds from international donors and funding agencies for Sri Lanka. "That, of course, is if they agree to ILO principles on the matter," he said. |
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