UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO WORK? A PERSPECTIVE IN THE LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION

Abstract

The protection of migrant workers is multilevel, thus reflecting the efforts made at global, regional and
national level, to protect the human rights of migrant workers in general. At international level we can
identify legal instruments that attribute and/or recognize human rights to the migrant workers with a
variable scope, while some apply to all human beings, and as such to all migrant workers, others
have a narrower application, applying only to migrant workers and, sometimes, only to those who are
in a regular situation under a certain State. Based on this context will ask, first, on the level of
protection conferred on the right to work by international human rights protection standards: is it truly
universal? We will then undergo an analysis of these standards in the light of the fundamental
principles of the dignity of the human person, universality, equality and non-discrimination. Thirdly we

will seek to clarify the normative content of the universal right to work in order to answer the question
whether undocumented immigrants enjoy (or not) that right. We will end with a brief summary of
states' responsibility for human rights, giving emphasis on the right to work.