The population of the United Arab Emirates reached approximately 9.38 million in 2016, with a workforce totaling approximately 84 per cent of the population. In 1971, the Government of the United Arab Emirates took important steps to guarantee the right of working-age persons to basic income security through provisions in the 1971 Constitution of the United Arab Emirates.
Article 20 of the 1971 Constitution of the United Arab Emirates stipulates that “Society shall esteem work as a cornerstone of its development. It shall endeavour to ensure that employment is available for citizens and to train them so that they are prepared for it. It shall furnish the appropriate facilities for that by providing legislations protecting the rights of the employees and the interests of the employers in the light of developing international labour legislations”. Furthermore Article 34 of the Constitution states that “Every citizen shall be free to choose his occupation, trade or profession within the limits of law”. These constitutional provisions encouraged the adoption of Federal Law No. 7 (1999) issuing the Pensions and Social Security Law, which created the General Authority for Pensions and Social Security aimed at providing insurance against unemployment, old age, disability and death, and is available for employees insured in the public and private sectors and their dependents.
Based on these constitutional and legislative provisions, the Government of the United Arab Emirates is now mandated to provide basic income security to employees in the public and private sectors in the event of unemployment, old age, disability and death through a comprehensive employment scheme. Through this process the Government of United Arab Emirates has acted boldly to uphold equality and ensure that constitutional and legal provisions for income security form strong legal foundations for the creation of a social protection floor.
Further Reading:
Government of the United Arab Emirates (1871, as amended in 1996). United Arab Emirates: Constitution. Accessed from https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_Arab_Emirates_2009.pdf?lang=en on December 2016.