Advancing the rights of peaceful assembly and of association of workers in the Informal Economy (A/HRC/53/38/Add.3)
Workers’ rights to freedom of association and assembly are poorly respected in many countries around the world. The situation is even worse for workers in the informal economy, who often face additional de jure and de facto limitations on their enjoyment of their rights. In many ways, moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic enhanced existing restrictions.
The Special Rapporteur’s Report on Workers in the Informal Economy highlights several ways in which such workers’ rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association have been limited and violated. In contrast to the approaches adopted in many States, the Special Rapporteur’s report highlights the fundamental importance of ensuring the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are fully enjoyed by workers in the informal economy. Enjoyment of such rights is important in its own right; it is important in order to enable such workers to bargain for and enhance their access to other essential workers’ and social rights and guarantees; and it is important in order to ensure more equitable and inclusive societies more broadly.
Supporting the freedom of association of workers in the informal economy requires not only removing restrictions but also supporting the ability of such workers to take part in institutions designed to promote worker voice and inclusion in relation to the policy structures and decisions that shape their lives, in both the ‘public’ and ‘private’ realms. Among other steps, this requires creating new institutions as and where needed, with attention, as noted in ILO Recommendation 204, to the “diversity of characteristics, circumstances and needs of workers and economic units in the informal economy.”
Read the full report (A/HRC/53/38/Add.3) here.
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