A/HRC/31/32 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 28/15, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report in consultation with States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, particularly the International Labour Organization, as well as the treaty bodies, special procedures, civil society and other relevant stakeholders on the realization of the right to work, in accordance with their respective obligations under international human rights law and the relevant major challenges and best practices in that regard, and to submit the report to the Human Rights Council prior to its thirty-first session. 2. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) solicited submissions from States, United Nations agencies, trade unions, employers’ associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and, as of 7 December 2015, 26 responses had been received from States,1 the International Labour Office and the NGO ESCR-Net. 3. The report offers an overview of the scope and content of the right to work, drawing on applicable human rights instruments, the work of the human rights treaty bodies, international labour standards and doctrine of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the submissions received. II. Normative recognition of the human right to work 4. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the recognition of the right to work has been affirmed in national constitutions, international treaties and non-binding instruments. The establishment of ILO in 1919 was an important step in this process, establishing the basic principle that “labour is not a commodity”, as stated in the Treaty of Versailles and reaffirmed in the Declaration concerning the aims and purposes of the International Labour Organization (Declaration of Philadelphia) of 1944. Article III (a) of the Declaration recognizes the “solemn obligation of the International Labour Organization to further among the nations of the world programmes which will achieve full employment and the raising of standards of living”. 5. This recognition is underpinned by the belief that work is a means for human beings to transform the world and themselves through individual and collective production; to access socially produced assets; to organize basic structures for living together; to learn from each other and build solidarity; to contribute to the common well-being and to selfrealization; and to develop a personal and collective identity. Work should not be viewed as a commodity for sale subject to the laws of the marketplace, as this risks treating people as mere economic resources and violating their right to live in dignity. On account of the link between work and a dignified life, the simple recognition of the freedom to work is inadequate. In order to fully accord work its central role in the context of human rights, the right to work should include positive duties and correlative entitlements. 6. International law has progressively incorporated the understanding that work is not purely a means of generating income. The right to work implies just and favourable work conditions2 and full and productive work should be promoted under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual.3 These enable 1 2 3 2 Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Egypt, Fiji, France, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 23; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 7. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 6.