On May 10, the serial international lectures of "2022 Global Flexible Employment Era and Expanding Social Protection" kicked off online, which was organized by the CULR and co-organized by the Labor Relations Branch of the Chinese Association of Human Resource Development. Luis Frota, Project Manager of ILO Beijing Office presented the inaugural lecture titled Status, Challenges, International Comparisons and Approaches to Universal Social Protection Systems. The online lecture was attended by Liu Xiangbing, Secretary of the Party Committee of the CULR, and Fu Deyin, President of the CULR, as well as more than 180 scholars, experts, teachers, and students inside and outside the university.

In the lecture centered on the present status, challenges and implementation approaches to universal social protection, Mr. Luis Frota used his experience in academic research programs and jobs to profoundly analyze the options to achieve universal social protection at a crossroads. Posing the question "whether social security is important to ordinary persons", he introduced the purpose and principle of universal social protection, and the ILO's guides on social security reform. From his point of view, the biggest challenge of universal social protection comes from the fairness of protecting workers of all employment forms, while other challenges include an aging population, transition of temporary measures to long-term measures, work-life balance, emergency work disposal, social security management, financial sustainability, and protection of user dignity in the digitalization process. He proposed and analyzed three ways and policy options to develop universal social protection rapidly, i.e. residual protection vs. bottom line of basic social protection, expansion vs. restriction of social unity scope, and universal basic income vs. overall risk coverage. He said that universal social protection targets both the quantity of coverage and the quality of protection. On the future expressway of social protection, we need diversified forms of collective fundraising, social unity and equitable principles to tackle the challenges of the labor world.

In the consultation session, Associate Professor Guo Yuqiang, Vice Director of the Scientific Research Department and the Executive Dean of the Labor Relations and Trade Union Research Institute of the CULR said that the lecture presented a panoramic view of the ILO's views and methods on social security, which are of enlightening significance for governments and other social organizations to strengthen the protection of laborers' rights and interests in the future. He summarized the role of China's trade unions in assisting the government in advancing universal social security, including their engagement in the institutional construction of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan on Labor Security, and trade unions' specific measures to protect laborer's rights and interests such as pilot programs of occupational injury insurance, employees' mutual assistance security, brand services and family-friendly workplaces. He noted that as an integral part of the national governance system, China's trade unions are able to play an active role in universal social security. In the interaction session, the attending audience had in-depth discussions with Mr. Luis Frota on topics such as universal basic income, regional variance of social security and family social insurance.

Given the intricate context of global demographic change, technological innovation, public health and climate crisis, as well as a transformation era of flexible employment, expansion of social protection is a key driver for realizing decent work, social equity and sustainable development. After building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2020, China set "common prosperity" as a new goal of social development. In this regard, it is necessary to compare and study the rules and regulations of ILO and some other countries and regions to explore the path and prospect for universal insurance coverage. Therefore, the CULR organizes the serial international lectures of "2022 Global Flexible Employment Era and Expanding Social Protection" for the purposes of sharing the trends and experience of expanding social protection worldwide, and consolidating the perception and confidence of the CULR teachers and students in China's pursuit of "common prosperity".

Mr. Luis Frota is the Manager of the project "Improving China's Institutional Capacity towards Universal Social Protection" at the ILO Beijing Office. He previously served as an expert on social protection of ILO in Pretoria, South Africa, Dakar, Senegal, and Geneva, Switzerland. In 2015, he worked at the UNICEF Angola Office. He holds a MPA degree from the University of York and a Master's degree in Social Policy And Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

(International Office of Cooperation and Exchange)