A/HRC/37/32
I. Introduction
1.
The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its
resolution 34/14, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare an analytical report on the
relationship between the realization of the right to work and the implementation of relevant
targets in the Sustainable Development Goals, in accordance with States’ respective
obligations under international human rights law. The Council specified that the report
should indicate the major challenges and best practices in this regard, and be prepared in
consultation with States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, particularly the
International Labour Organization (ILO), and the treaty bodies, special procedures, civil
society, national human rights institutions and other stakeholders.
2.
Having invited input for the preparation of the from Member States, United Nations
agencies and non-governmental organizations, OHCHR received a total of 27 contributions
from Member States (Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dominican
Republic, Estonia, Finland, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Romania, Sri Lanka and
Sweden), one United Nations agency (ILO), regional bodies (the Council of Europe and the
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights), civil society organizations (the Child
Rights International Network, the European Youth Forum and ATD Fourth World) and
national human rights institutions (the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the India
National Human Rights Commission, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, the New
Zealand Human Rights Commission, the People’s Advocate Ombudsman of Moldova, the
Office of the Human Rights Advocate of Nicaragua, the Ombudsmen of Latvia and the UK
Equality and Human Rights Commission).
3.
The present report provides an overview of the normative content of the right to
work and the corresponding State obligations to ensure its full realization. It also reviews
the Sustainable Development Goals framework as it pertains to the right to work,
underscores the importance of paying attention to marginalized groups to ensure that no one
is left behind, and highlights several challenges and best practices.
II. The right to work under international human rights law
4.
The right to work is well established under international human rights law, and is
recognized in, inter alia, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (arts. 23 and 24), the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (arts. 6, 7 and 8), the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art.8 (3)(a)), the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (art. 5(e)(i)), the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(art. 11(1)(a)), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 32), the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families (arts. 11, 25, 26, 40, 52 and 54) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (art. 27).
5.
In its general comment No. 18 (2005), the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights described the right to work as both an individual and collective right. The
individual dimension, referenced in article 6(1) of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, relates to “the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his
living by work which he freely chooses or accepts”. Article 7 of the Covenant protects the
right to just and favourable conditions of work, which is also an element of the individual
aspect of the right to work. Just and favourable conditions of work include adequate and
equal wages for work of equal value without discrimination, safe and healthy working
conditions, equal opportunity for promotion, and rest, leisure and a reasonable limitation on
working hours. The collective component of the right to work is detailed in article 8 of the
Covenant, which stipulates the right to form and to join trade unions of one’s choice.
Article 8 also elucidates the rights of trade unions themselves to establish national
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