Social protection for the family in the Maghreb

This article is based on a study of the protection afforded to the family under the social insurance schemes of the five Member States of the Arab Maghreb Union, and considers the usefulness of family benefits in economically poor countries gripped by the great problems of population growth and unemployment. This type of social protection is conditional upon the individual being actively employed and covers only a very small part of the working population, leaving out the majority. Should not priority be given to coverage against real occupational risks that threaten employment? This is not an easy question to answer in an increasingly unfavourable economic climate, but it should be possible, in the name of those social and human ethics founded on Maghrebi sentiments of family, local, national and regional solidarity, to mobilize particularly the political will to find better solutions or alternatives. It will, however, be necessary first to reconsider family benefit systems in relation to other, more urgent forms of protection in accordance with a social choice based on the rights and cultural values of Maghrebi citizens. By showing the common features of the Maghrebi schemes at the same time as some of their differences, the article will also present useful elements for their harmonization and even their unification into a regional social security system.