Right to Social Welfare: A comparative Analysis of National, International and Islamic Law
Keywords:
Right to Welfare, Welfare State, International Law, Pakistan, Sharia, Islamic LawAbstract
Right to Welfare is regarded as one of the basic rights of states’ citizens. The economic and social well-being of the citizens, by utilizing taxes, with a view to provide a better welfare state is deemed as the topmost priority. However, the ground reality concerning this is substantially more than the concept of ‘envisioning’. Contextually, International Law is regarded as the "Guardian of Welfare Rights" in scholarly perspectives and protects this right under UDHR, ICCPR and CRC. International Law plays a significant role in recognition, promotion and protection of welfare rights enfolded in human rights, molding several European states into "welfare states”. Shariah also protects the Right to Welfare and gives guidelines for developing a welfare state that can be exemplary for the non-Islamic world, nevertheless, Muslim world fails to attain that goal. Evidently, Shariah secures people’s right to seek assistance from public finances to pursue a decent life which is amalgamated with state’s economic stability. Shariah allows taxing people to secure law's aims, including preservation of religion, life, property and human integrity. Pakistan, being a struggling state, aims to be at par with the requisites of a welfare state by ameliorating the general standard of the masses and often strives towards maintaining a welfare state by promulgating laws to ensure the social welfare, in accordance with Islam. Presently, Pakistan seems to deteriorate with regards to social wellbeing, with increasing inflation resulting in societal imbalance and contains loopholes in its framework regarding the social welfare. To address this issue, implementation of Islamic welfare-state system, in light of Quran, Hadith and Islamic history, is needed which can assure protection of Right to Welfare. Hence, this paper concludes that it is critical to examine into the loopholes, to comprehend what constitutes a welfare system and how it may be applied today.
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