Regional overview of social protection for non-citizens in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

This report gives an overview of the social security status of non-citizens in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), describes measures and efforts to support labor mobility through enhanced social security protection of non-citizens in SADC, and makes recommendations as to how to improve the social security status of the said non-citizens, including through the portability of acquired benefits and other cross-country co-ordination arrangements. After dealing with the relevant conceptual framework, the report commences with a section highlighting the current diversity of social security systems in SADC countries and the problems this diversity creates for the mobility of people in SADC and their social security status. Restrictions contained in the legal system are in particular emphasized. The next section gives a high-level overview of those developments, initiatives and measures at a national, regional and international level which enhance the social security status of non-citizens in SADC. Finally, based on this descriptive and analytical section, the report proceeds with an analysis of how the problems experienced by non-citizens in SADC in social security terms, might be solved, where the shortcomings of the current initiatives are, and how to overcome these shortcomings. In this regard this final part also considers the potential to introduce cross-border social security arrangements, with particular reference to the maintenance of acquired social security rights, the aggregation of insurance periods, and the portability of social security benefits. It furthermore reflects on a range of other measures which need to be introduced in order to enhance and standardize the social security position of intra-SADC migrants.