Brief History

Surely the feeling of serenity is a fundamental goal in human life ever since ancient times where humans strived to evade areas of threat and danger. Thus this feeling has been inseparably linked to mankind throughout history. Only then, when humans acquire this feeling, they grant prosperity.

The feeling of serenity in society is the social security. It precisely provides social protection to individuals who may be threatened by:  disability, disease, work injury, occupational disease, old age, and death.

This is the concept that all countries aspire to achieve. In this regard the social security remains unchanged; what really changes is the means that each country applies in order to accomplish it.

Consequently, social security has emerged as an important, effective, and essential tool for creating social cohesion and for being a basic human right. It is indispensable from social policy and plays an important role in social protection. Moreover, it contributes to achieving human dignity in equality and justice.

Libya, like many countries, had previously known many systems other than social security as: (pension systems – social aid – social insurance) and through the development of these systems the social security was established. In Libya, the first established law was the Social Insurance Law No. (53) of 1957 and this law came after:

• The National Insurance Corporation for Work Injuries: (Ainael) from Italy.
• The National Foundation for Social Aid for Italian Africa (Iasi) from Italy.
• The National Social Security Institution: (INASI) from Italy.
  
  These were the Italian social insurance institutions operating in Libya particularly in Tripoli.

First: The issuance of Law No. (53) of 1957 within this National Social Insurance Institution pursuant to Decree No. (3) Of 1959 issued by the Minister of Finance on 2/12/59 at the time.

The activation of this law gradually started as follows:

• The city of Tripoli on 3/28/59.
• The city of Benghazi on 12/31/60.
• The city of Sabha on 12/19/62.

Despite being issued, it was not comprehensive as it excluded the following categories of insurance, namely:

1. Any institution employing fewer than five individuals.
2. Domestic workers, unless they work in a commercial institution.
3. work-at-home employees.
4. The employer’s wife or employer’s husband, her children, and her father.
5. Employees of the state and public institutions (classified and unclassified) and members of the armed forces and police forces.
6. Foreign employees who work in the state or a public institution under employment contracts.
7. Crew members of foreign ships and air crafts while they are inside the Libyan borders, except for inland navigation or internal airplanes.
8. Foreigners residing in Libya due to international and diplomatic missions, or foreign armed forces.
9. All individual activities.

This law relied upon the disbursement of financial aid with strict terms, as it emphasized obtaining, for example, but not limited to:

• Old-age pension.
• Health pension.
• Retirement Law.
• Unclassified employees.

After that, a set of laws were issued regulating the rest of the other categories that the previous laws did not address, namely:

1. The retirement law for public office holders issued on 12/24/59.
2. The Military Retirement Law for Officers issued on 10/21/59.
3. The Guarantee Fund Law for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers issued on 10/21/59.
4. The Police Retirement Law No. (11) for the year 1964.

The Retirement Law of 1967, which was issued on 3/28/67, came into force on 1/4/67, and required its application to the following categories:

1. Holders of public positions.
2. Judicial officers and public prosecutors.
3. Members of the diplomatic and consular corps.
4. Members of the Armed Forces.
5. Public sector employees.
6. Informal sector employees.

Provided that it is among the institutions to which the Public Service Law No. (55) of 1967 applies, and whose employees which the Retirement Law No. (58) of 1957 was applied to.

This law brought together all beneficiaries whose retirement conditions were governed by special laws. This law became a unified law for all beneficiaries mentioned in Article (1) thereof.

We do not deny that this law has limited the retirement rights of the beneficiaries confined to it in terms of the unity of administration, but in our view, it was unfair with regard to pensions as it set harsh conditions for pension entitlement, which are for example, but not limited to:

• Old Age Pension Article (16)
• A pension due to death, disability, or lack of medical fitness for reasons other than work.

Social Security Law No. (72) of 1973:

This law was issued on 10/10/1973 by the Libyan state and defined in Article (28) of Chapter 3 (The Beneficiaries) in which it mentions the application of social security systems, according to their quality, to the following jobs:

1. Employees of the state, public bodies, institutions, members of the armed forces, and the police.
2. Workers with oral or written work contracts in the state, private, and public sectors.
3. Self-employed persons.
4. Self-employed people and home workers.
5. Employers.
6. Elders, widows, and orphans who do not have a breadwinner.
7. Those with poor livelihoods and have no supporter.
8. Foreigners residing due to work, except for the basic pension system, childcare, old age, and delinquents.

Among the advantages of this law are the following:

• Spreading the concept of social security.
• Consistency of security legislation in the Libyan state with the basic principles of Islamic law in achieving solidarity and social integration, reforming the condition of the individual and the group, and being inspired by its progressive principles whose basic foundations are justice, mercy, brotherhood.
• Making social security a right guaranteed by the state for all citizens and the protection of non-residents due to work.
• It has not excluded any slice of society that carries out business by registering for Social Security.
• Consolidation of administration by including (social insurance – pension systems – piety and social assistance – any system or project established or developed in line with the purposes of this law, which the state considers its affiliation to this law).

Law No. 43 of 1974 in Military Retirement:

This law was issued on 7/27/1976 and targeted the military forces, and it arranged for them special social security rights guaranteed by this law.

Finally, the Social Security Law No. 13 of 1980:

As Libya issued Law No. (72), In 1973 the state has taken a giant step towards achieving social justice, and that signaled a great work that supports its entity, strengthens its foundations, and achieves security, family care, support, and protection for citizens and workers who are not Libyans. So that there is tranquility, compassion, and solidarity in society and an increase in production capacities.

However, the state did not consider this law to achieve its aspirations of social renaissance and still needs to introduce amendments to it.

Therefore, it saw the need to form specialized technical committees to study this law and bring about important changes, and that through its great interest in the principle of social security, it considered it an important pillar of the renaissance in this context.

These committees completed and drafted Law No. (13) for the year 1980, which was approved for the year 1979.

The dignity of the people in the state has been restored and social protection has been provided to them among all kinds of risks and that it is characterized by comprehensiveness and unity and applies the principle of non-discrimination between citizens residing in the state.

On the Arab level, the General Conference of the Arab Labor Organization in 1971 approved an Arab agreement on setting some basic levels that are internationally recognized to be taken as a minimum in the social insurance legislation in the Arab countries, as it required that national legislation include at least two branches of the following social insurance branches:

1. Work injuries.
2. Aging.
3. Illness.
4. Death.
5. Maternity.
6. Unemployment.
7. Disability.
8. Family benefits.

Consequently, it becomes clear that Social Security Law No. (13) covered all that came from either the International Labor Organization or the Arab Labor Organization.

This indicates that this law was consistent with Islamic Sharia, because it aims at the principle of solidarity, compassion, righteousness, filling the need for disability, and determining the right of the deprived in the state’s money required by the rule of Sharia and the law.

It also includes every individual in the state to perform his duty and practice his work and continue giving and producing.

The social security umbrella shall shadow whosoever realizes the end of their services by reaching the eligibility age or in case if they are incapable of serving.

It also entitles the insured persons in the new community to permanent pensions, not lump-sums or total subsidies.

It also facilitates the service period for all of the benefits of the beneficiaries and combines the period of work and previous service; in addition, it takes into account the principle of correlation between what the contributors share in terms of subscriptions and the benefits they receive.