As with all other human rights, governments need also to realize the right to social security without discrimination on the grounds of gender, age, disability, race, nationality or immigration, or other status. This means that countries should be careful to ensure that the design and operation of social security systems do not directly or indirectly discriminate against anyone, such as through language or technology barriers that can cause de facto exclusion or negative treatment. As with other human rights, the right to social security should be enshrined in domestic law, and give victims of violations an effective remedy.

More recent international human rights law instruments recognize a right to social protection, in addition to and as distinct from, the right to social security. For example, a recent protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights enshrines both rights separately. According to the Protocol, social security protects against income insecurity caused by events such as unemployment, sickness, or maternity. And social protection encompasses all forms of social security while also including strategies and programs that help ensure a minimum standard of livelihood, health services, and care.

Similarly, the concept of the “social protection floor,” developed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency, draws from the human right to social security, comprising at least four social security guarantees: access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health care, including maternity care, that meets the criteria of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality;  basic income security for children, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, providing access to nutrition, education, care, and any other necessary goods and services; basic income security during people’s working life, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for people who are unable to earn sufficient income, in particular in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity, and disability; and  basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for older people.

In Viet Nam, Social security is one of the basic criteria for assessing progress of a society, a community, and a country.Social security is one of people’s legitimate rights and demands.

The Party's viewpoints and lines have been implemented by the State and social forces through policies and programs to ensure that all people have at least minimum income, access to basic social services, such as education, healthcare, housing, clean water, information, among others and through the improvement of people's self-security and support of the Government. Accordingly, the social security system in our country has focused on four main contents and achieved certain results, making positive contribution to "the realization of social progress and equity in each step, and each development policy."

First, Vietnam has increased employment opportunities, ensured minimum incomes and sustainable poverty reduction for vulnerable laborers through support to individuals and families in their production, providing them credit, employment and information on labor market.

Second, we have expanded coverage of social and unemployment insurance to assist people proactively respond to income decrease or contingencies like risks, sickness, labor accidents, and old age.

The social security system has made a positive impact, contributing to minimize risks to people which they themselves cannot overcome, such as unemployment, underemployment, low income, old age, invalidity, orphanage, and poverty to boost social progress. Social issues have been resolved through social, health, and unemployment insurance, socialelief and assistance, social incentives, among others.

Social insurance coverage has broadened and increased. In the past, social insurance beneficiaries included only workers, public servants and armed forces. Now social insurance has been extended to all people in society.

Unemployment insurance has combined temporary allowances with job creation for the unemployed. This has a profound social implication in conformity with the line of harmoniously developing economy with job creation. In addition, unemployment insurance has made up for income, while creating positive motivation for unemployed people to find job opportunities.

Third, regular support has been given to people in special circumstances and irregular assistance to people when they face unforeseen or uncontrollable risks (crop loss, natural disasters, poverty) in cash or in kind from the state budget.

Fourth, people's access to basic social services of education, health, housing, clean water and environmental sanitation, information has been increased.

In spite of the economic fluctuation and limited resources, the Party and State have set great store by investing in mountainous and ethnic minority areas, poor districts, communes, and villages. Accordingly, many social security policies have been issued; hunger eradication and poverty alleviation programs for mountainous and ethnic minority people in Vietnam have obtained notable results which are highly appreciated by international public opinion. Viet Nam achieved and completed ahead of time the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on poverty reduction.

However, there remain prolonged constraints and weaknesses in social sector. Policies on social security and poverty reduction are overlapping, not synchronous, ineffective thus have not yet encouraged the poor to strive hard to get out of poverty. The causes of these limitations stem primarily from low awareness on the role of social security.

In order to overcome these shortcomings and weaknesses, in addition to raising the productivity and efficiency of labor for economic growth, creating resources for the State to materialize well social security policies, it is necessary to simultaneously implement the following groups of measures:

First, renew awareness on social security policy.

Second, renovate the way of thinking and enhance the Party's leadership capacity towards social security to achieve social equity.

Third, perfect the State’s social function in order to bring into play the leading role of the State in the development of social security, management, supply and mobilization of resources for social security.

Fourth, promote social inclusion for the implementation of social security.