Work (Right to) and Workers’ Rights

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R.K.B. v. Turkey (Communication No. 28/2010)

R.K.B.’s employer accused her of having an affair with a male colleague and dismissed her from the position but did not dismiss the male colleague, and threatened to “spread rumours about her relationships with other men” to pressure her to sign a document, attesting that she had been paid all her benefits upon termination. R.K.B. presented a claim to the Committee, alleging that her employer, a hairdressing salon, had unfairly terminated her contract of employment based on gender stereotypes.

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Prakash Mani Sharma v. Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare & Ors., SCN, Writ No. 2822 of 2062

The petition was presented by advocates of the Nepalese organization, Pro Public, to protect the international and constitutional rights of thousands of women employees working in cabin and dance restaurants and massage parlors. These businesses have spread throughout urban areas in Nepal over the last ten years with women compromising more than 80% of all employees.

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April 19, 2010: Towards a Human Rights-Centered Macro-Economic and Financial Policy in the US

Read this joint submission on the human rights implications of the financial crisis and subsequent domestic policy responses in the USA. In particular, it focuses on the human rights obligation to protect and fulfill economic and social rights as well as the need for transparency, accountability and participation in the making of macroeconomic policy.
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Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC)

Country: 
Australia
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Corporate Accountability
Strategic Litigation

Azad Rickshaw Pullers Union (regd.) Ch. Town Hall, Amritsar V. State of Punjab & Ors 1981 AIR 14 1981 SCR (1) 366

The state of Punjab enacted a law to prevent rickshaw pullers from being exploited by middlemen. It created a program whereby rickshaw pullers would be given an interest-free loan to buy their own rickshaws, and the state issued licenses to the owners to make sure the law was enforced.  Only the owners could pull the newly purchased rickshaws, and licenses would not be issued or would be revoked if the state learned that someone else was pulling the rickshaw.

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Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR)

Country: 
United States of America
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Women & ESCR
Strategic Litigation
OP-ICESCR

Acción de tutela instaurada por Abel Antonio Jaramillo, Adela Polanía Montaño, Agripina María Nuñez y otros contra la Red de Solidaridad Social, el Departamento Administrativo de la Presidencia de la República, el Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito P

The claimants filed a tutela action against several state institutions alleging failure to comply with their mission of protecting displaced persons and to effectively respond to the displaced’s requests related to housing, access to production projects, health care, education and humanitarian aid.

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Sindicato de las Empresas Varias de Medellín c. Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Municipio de Medellín y las Empresas Varias de Medellín s/ amparo. Sentencia T-568. [ENG]

The Ministry of Labor declared a strike by a group of workers at Las Empresas Varias de Medellín (EVM) to be illegal alleging the right to strike was prohibited in public services. As a consequence, 209 workers were laid off. After their claims were internally rejected, the laid-off workers filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Administrative Board (AB) requesting protection for their right to work and to unionize.

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Demanda de inconstitucionalidad por omisión de la Asamblea Nacional al promulgar la Ley Orgánica de Seguridad Social. [ENG]

Provea requested the Supreme Court of Venezuela (TSJ) to issue its opinion on the constitutionality of the failure by Asamblea Nacional (AN, Parliament) to create a temporary system to regulate the Employment Benefits Scheme when it had passed the Social Security System Law. This failure implied denying benefits to employees suspended or fired. Provea alleged there had been a violation of the rights to social security, workers' protection and the principle of progressiveness regarding fundamental rights under the Constitution and international human rights conventions.

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Baena, Ricardo et al. (270 workers v. Panama) [ENG]

Comité Panameño por los Derechos Humanos denounced the State of Panama before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for having arbitrarily laid off 270 public officials and union leaders who had taken part in several rallies against the administration's policies and to defend their labor rights. The lay-offs had followed an accusation made by the Government against the same individuals based on their participation in the demonstrations and on their alleged collaboration with a military uprising.

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