Court upholds right to unemployment social security

CAIRO – 3 July 2017: The High Administrative Court issued a decision on Monday affirming unemployed citizens’ right to social security.

The court asserted that a fundamental aspect of social security in accordance to the Constitution and the law is to protect the unemployed.

The court cited Article 17 of the 2014 Constitution which stipulates that “all citizens who do not benefit from the social insurance system have the right to social security, in a manner that ensures a decent life in the event of being incapable to provide for themselves and their families, as well as in cases of incapacity to work, old age or unemployment.”

The court's judgment obliges the state, represented in the Cabinet, to include unemployment within the entitlement criteria to social security.

Two young men have filed a lawsuit in 2014 complaining that they are unable to obtain a suitable job that provides an appropriate income to ensure them a decent living as stipulated in the Constitution.

The court ordered the prime minister to provide a social pension for the two young men but he refused.

The decision also overturned the Cabinet’s previous decision to refrain from the inclusion of unemployment within the criteria of social security.