The right to work affects the degree of enjoyment of many other rights such as the right to education, health and culture. Its realisation is not only important for the provision of income to the individual, but also for the individual’s personal development and dignity, as well as for peaceful progress of society. On the other hand, the right to work intrinsically creates a degree of dependency of the employed on his employer. As such, it could create a relationship of inequality. To protect the employed and to make a more level playing field, the right to strike and the right to associate are guaranteed, as well as the right to organise and to bargain collectively. Closely linked to the rights relating to work, are the rights related to social security. This chapter examines a) the rights relating to work, and b) the rights relating to social security.
The right to work, in a broad sense, implies the right to enter employment, and the right not to be deprived of employment unfairly. The first component encompasses the factors that come into play regarding access to work; such as education, vocational training, and unemployment levels. The latter component deals with issues regarding employment security, for instance, security from being fired unjustly. The main elements of the right to work are access to employment, freedom from forced labour and labour security. Other important components are: The freedom to work; freedom concerning the choice of occupation as well as the place of performance; The right to earn a living from work of one’s own choice, encompassing the freedom to establish one’s own independent form of employment or business; The right to free employment services; the right to work has been interpreted as the commitment of the state to undertake continuous efforts to ensure full employment. Such efforts include the formulation and implementation of employment promotion policies and the promotion of technical and vocational education programmes aimed at increasing employment, as well as free access to information and assistance for job seekers; The right to safe and healthy working conditions, as well as rest, leisure and reasonable working hours; The right to employment; the right not to be arbitrarily dismissed and the right to protection against unemployment. As in all socio-economic rights, the non-discrimination principle is an important dimension of the right to work. It entails non-discrimination in recruitment, in remuneration and in promotion opportunities, and in the treatment of aliens.
The rights relating to social security
The right to social security exists on three different levels; the first, minimal approach, is that of social assistance provided to the needy; the second is social insurance based on contributions, grounded in working relations stipulated in national law; and the third, the welfare state, combines the two, drawing means from workers’ contributions and state funding, extending to everyone in a comprehensive approach.
Article 9 ICESCR stipulates that the parties recognise the right of everyone to social security without, however, defining or indicating the degree of protection to be guaranteed. Article 10 sets out the right to social security benefits for mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth. Article 11 CEDAW recognises the right to social security for women, especially in cases of retirement, unemployment, sickness, invalidity, old age and other incapacity to work. In addition, Article 11 recognises the right to paid leave, Article 26 CRC recognises the right of the child to social security and social insurance and Article 27 CMW sets out the right of all migrant workers to social security on equal footing with nationals, as well as to special complementary benefits. Article 28 CRPD recognizes the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability and enumerates steps that states shall take to safeguard and promote the realization of this right.
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Social security can be provided on many levels and the standards do not prescribe a particular system. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has interpreted the term social security to encompass all the risks involved in the loss of means of subsistence for reasons beyond a person’s control. ILO 102 concerning Social Security (1952) defines social security as the protection society provides for its members through a series of public measures against economic and social distress, that would be caused by the stoppage or substantial reduction of earnings resulting from sickness, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, invalidity, old age or death. These measures include the provision of medical care and the provision of subsidies for families with children.
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