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Right to work



 
 
The right to work is the concept that people have a human right
Human rights

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, i...
 to work, and may not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world....
 and recognised in international human rights law
International human rights law

International human rights law is a system of laws, both domestic, regional and international, designed to promote human rights. Human rights law is made up of various international human rights instruments which are binding to its parties ....
 through its inclusion in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from January 3, 1976....
, where the right to work emphasises economic, social and cultural development.

cle 23.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world....
 states:
"Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment."


The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from January 3, 1976....
 elaborates the right to work in the context of individual freedoms and economic, social and cultural development.






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The right to work is the concept that people have a human right
Human rights

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, i...
 to work, and may not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world....
 and recognised in international human rights law
International human rights law

International human rights law is a system of laws, both domestic, regional and international, designed to promote human rights. Human rights law is made up of various international human rights instruments which are binding to its parties ....
 through its inclusion in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from January 3, 1976....
, where the right to work emphasises economic, social and cultural development.

Human right

Article 23.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world....
 states:
"Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment."


The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from January 3, 1976....
 elaborates the right to work in the context of individual freedoms and economic, social and cultural development. The Covenant also elaborates the role of the state in realising this human right. Article 6 states:
"(1) The State Parties to the present Covenant 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. (2) The steps to be taken by a State party to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right 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."


The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights is an international human rights instrument that purports to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the Africa....
 also recognises the right, emphasising conditions and pay, i.e. labor rights
Labor rights

Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law....
. Article 15, states:
"Every individual shall have the right to work under equitable and satisfactory conditions, and shall receive equal pay for equal work."


Soviet Union

The 1977 Soviet Constitution
1977 Soviet Constitution

At the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the "Brezhnev Constitution", was unanimously adopted....
 also emphasises conditions of work, or labor rights
Labor rights

Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law....
, and revered to economic, social and cultural development. Article 40 stated:
"Citizens of the USSR have the right to rest and leisure. This right is ensured by the establishment of a working week not exceeding 41 hours, for workers and other employees, a shorter working day in a number of trades and industries, and shorter hours for night work; by the provision of paid annual holidays, weekly days of rest, extension of the network of cultural, educational, and health-building institutions, and the development on a mass scale of sport, physical culture, and camping and tourism; by the provision of neighborhood recreational facilities, and of other opportunities for rational use of free time. The length of collective farmers' working and leisure time is established by their collective farms."


Criticism

Paul Lafargue
Paul Lafargue

Paul Lafargue was a France revolutionary Marxism Socialism journalist, literary critic, political writer and Activism; he was Karl Marx's son-in-law, having married his second daughter Laura Marx....
, in The Right to Be Lazy
The Right to Be Lazy

The Right To Be Lazy is an essay by Cuban-born France revolutionary Marxist Paul Lafargue, written from his prison cell in 1883. It polemicizes heavily against contemporary Liberalism, Conservatism and even socialist ideas of work....
, wrote: "And to think that the sons of the heroes of the Terror
Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror or simply The Terror was a period of violence that occurred fifteen months after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobin Club, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution." Estimates vary widely as to how many were kil...
 have allowed themselves to be degraded by the religion of work, to the point of accepting, since 1848, as a revolutionary conquest, the law limiting factory labor to twelve hours. They proclaim as a revolutionary principle the Right to Work. Shame to the French proletariat! Only slaves would have been capable of such baseness."

See also

  • Labour rights
  • Protestant Work Ethic
    Protestant work ethic

    The Protestant work ethic, sometimes called the Puritan work ethic, is a sociological, theoretical concept. It is based upon the notion that the Calvinism emphasis on the necessity for hard work is proponent of a person's calling and worldly success is a sign of personal salvation....