Work with Dignity

What is the Human Right to Work with Dignity?

The right to work guarantees the opportunity to have fulfilling and dignified work under safe and healthy conditions, with fair wages affording a decent living for oneself and one's family. It also provides for freedom from unemployment and the right to organize. Several key human rights principles are fundamental to the right to work with dignity:

Individual and Collective Right: The right to work is an individual right that belongs to each person and is at the same time a collective right to form and join trade unions.

Availability: The government must provide specialized services to assist and support individuals in order to enable them to identify and find available employment.

Accessibility: The labor market must be open to everyone and free of discrimination, as well as physically accessible to all.

Acceptability and Quality: Workers are entitled to just and favorable work conditions, including safe working conditions, the right to form trade unions, and the right to freely choose and accept work.

 The Right to Work is Protected by:

In addition, there are United Nations committees (“treaty bodies”) made up of experts that oversee the implementation of particular human rights treaties. These committees oversee the treaties by, among other things, receiving government reports on the implementation of the treaties, making comments to the government reports, and issuing general comments about the treaties or specific rights contained therein.

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights has issued a general comment on the right to work.
Further Resources
  • To learn more about a human rights approach to work with dignity click here.
  • To see NESRI publications on the human right to work with dignity click here.