On 30 June 2015, the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) issued a joint statement affirming a shared vision for a universal commitment to social protection globally, in support of the new development agenda aligned to the current process to the new Sustainable Development Goals.

While the ILO has long led the call for universal protection in order to promote human and economic development, and to address poverty and inequality from a platform premised on solidarity and social cohesion, the last half century has witnessed a steady onslaught of these principles.  The commitments to universalism that informed the post – World War Two reconstruction of the developed world have been increasingly scaled down to minimalist, targeted approaches that have sought to divide the ‘poorest of the poor’ from everybody else.  This was initially seen in the economic packages adopted by the developing world, under guidance by external economists, but has more recently also been seen emerging.

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