E/C.12/GC/18
page 2
I. INTRODUCTION AND BASIC PREMISES
1.
The right to work is a fundamental right, recognized in several international legal
instruments. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),
as laid down in article 6, deals more comprehensively than any other instrument with this right.
The right to work is essential for realizing other human rights and forms an inseparable and
inherent part of human dignity. Every individual has the right to be able to work, allowing
him/her to live in dignity. The right to work contributes at the same time to the survival of the
individual and to that of his/her family, and insofar as work is freely chosen or accepted, to
his/her development and recognition within the community.1
2.
The ICESCR proclaims the right to work in a general sense in its article 6 and explicitly
develops the individual dimension of the right to work through the recognition in article 7 of the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work, in particular the
right to safe working conditions. The collective dimension of the right to work is addressed in
article 8, which enunciates the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of
his/her choice as well as the right of trade unions to function freely. When drafting article 6 of
the Covenant, the Commission on Human Rights affirmed the need to recognize the right to
work in a broad sense by laying down specific legal obligations rather than a simple
philosophical principle.2 Article 6 defines the right to work in a general and non-exhaustive
manner. In article 6, paragraph 1, States parties recognize “the right to work, which includes the
right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or
accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right”. In paragraph 2, States parties
recognize that “to achieve the full realization of this right” the steps to be taken “shall include
technical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve
steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment, under
conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual”.
3.
These objectives reflect the fundamental purposes and principles of the United Nations as
defined in article 1, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations. The essence of these
objectives is also reflected in article 23, paragraph 1, of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. Since the adoption of the Covenant by the General Assembly in 1966, several
universal and regional human rights instruments have recognized the right to work. At the
universal level, the right to work is contained in article 8, paragraph 3 (a), of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Civil Rights (ICCPR); in article 5, paragraph (e) (i), of the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; in article 11,
paragraph 1 (a), of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women; in article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and in articles 11, 25, 26, 40,
52 and 54 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families. Several regional instruments recognize the right to
work in its general dimension, including the European Social Charter of 1961 and the Revised
European Social Charter of 1996 (Part II, art. 1), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights (art. 15) and the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the
Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 6), and affirm the principle that respect for
the right to work imposes on States parties an obligation to take measures aimed at the
realization of full employment. Similarly, the right to work has been proclaimed by the
United Nations General Assembly in the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, in its
resolution 2542 (XXIV) of 11 December 1969 (art. 6).