Human right to regulated work

Decent Work as a normative framework

Abstract

Introduction: This article analyzes the right to regulated work as a human right, within the context of contemporary transformations in labor relations marked by neoliberal logic, the flexibilization of labor law, and the structural precarization of work. The research states that work is not merely a legal relationship, but an essential social relationship for the expression of human dignity and social cohesion, which requires its protection at a global level.

Objective: The objective of this study is to demonstrate that the right to regulated work must be recognized as a human right and to propose Decent Work as a normative model capable of expressing this right in its essential minimum content.

Methodology: The article is based on multidisciplinary research and adopts a bibliographic methodology, using the deductive method. The analysis is built on international documents from the UN and the ILO, as well as theoretical references from law, philosophy, and the sociology of work.

Results: The study shows that work is an expression of human nature and a constitutive element of human dignity, and it reveals a global social demand for its regulation, especially considering the expansion of precarious employment and labor overexploitation. It also demonstrates that international law already provides sufficient normative bases to support regulated work as a human right.

Conclusion: It concludes that Decent Work—understood as productive work, adequately remunerated and performed under conditions of freedom, equity, security, and dignity—constitutes the most appropriate formulation of the irreplaceable ethical minimum of labor human rights.