Delineating the legal foundations of social protection in international human rights law could be explored as onepotentialway of underlining the significance of social protection. This is especially relevant toSouth Asia, which continues to battle poverty and has large sections of society still excluded from any form of social protection. South Asian countries are also characterised by a large informal sector that stands outside formal social protection mechanisms. Most South Asian countries have ratified the principal international human rights instruments and are obligated to implement the standards prescribed through appropriate national laws and policies and they are expected to ensure that domestic laws are compatible with these international standards.