A/HRC/31/32 ensure that everyone benefits from a protection system that promotes equal access to employment under just and favourable conditions and that no one is unfairly deprived of work.13 16. The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, in its 2010 General Survey, recommended that States adopt the following approach: (a) a policy commitment to obtaining full employment, reflected in legislation; (b) the establishment of institutions focused on full employment, such as job services, social dialogue mechanisms and professional and technical training, and initiatives to foster small and medium enterprises and cooperatives; (c) deploying the best possible efforts of these institutions and structures in macroeconomic, trade, investment and industrial promotion policies, with regular monitoring. In the light of article 3 of Convention No. 122, the Committee stressed the importance for representatives of those affected, especially representatives of employers and workers, to be consulted prior to the formulation and during the application of these policies, including representatives of the rural sector and of the informal economy. 17. Although international law does not prescribe any particular economic model, policies towards full and productive employment should meet the qualitative requirements of just and favourable conditions14 or conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual 15 so that individuals can develop and update the necessary capacities and skills they need to enable them to be productively occupied for their personal fulfilment and the common well-being.16 18. Consequently, policies that result in the proliferation of precarious jobs would not be in line with the right to work. 17 The mere reduction of unemployment does not always fulfil the right to work, as policies need to meet qualitative requirements in relation to just and favourable conditions and content of work.18 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stressed that the State should ensure that measures aimed at increasing the flexibility of the market do not undermine workers’ rights.19 Human rights norms proscribe the adoption of retrogressive measures on labour protection under the guise of creating jobs, the effectiveness of which has been persuasively discredited by recent ILO studies.20 States have a duty to take into account their legal obligations when concluding bilateral or multilateral agreements with other States, international organizations and multinational entities.21 Full employment must include non-salaried forms of employment 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Ibid., paras. 4, 6 and 20. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 23. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 6 (2). ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. ILO, World Employment and Social Outlook 2015: The Changing Nature of Jobs (Geneva, 2015), preface. See, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, concluding observations on the Plurinational State of Bolivia (E/C.12/BOL/CO/2) and Ethiopia (E/C.12/ETH/CO/1-3), stating that economic growth had not been used to create decent jobs and recommending the adoption of firm and sustained measures to tackle precarious employment. The Committee recommended that Spain avoid any step backwards in the field of employment, including with regard to the protection of labour rights (E/C.12/ESP/CO/5). It also recommended that the Czech Republic assess the impact of the economic and fiscal measures taken during the financial and economic crisis on the labour market and on the enjoyment of the right to work (E/C.12/CZE/CO/2). General comment No. 18, para. 25. In its submission Brazil emphasizes the integration of macroeconomic employment policies with labour, social and educational policies around the Decent Work Agenda, while Mexico incorporated the concept of decent work into its labour law. ILO, World Employment and Social Outlook, pp. 118-129. General comment No. 18, para. 33. 5

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