Socioeconomic rights in the age of pandemics: Covid-19 large-scale lockdowns have exposed the weakness of the right to work

Ciprian N. Radavoi, Ottavio Quirico

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Large-scale lockdowns imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic may amount to a breach of the right to work in its quantitative component: the right of everyone to have at least the opportunity to find a job. Given the current diminution of the job market with the advent of artificial intelligence, and taking into account the systemic risks to employment in the global economy, the right to work’s ‘minimum core’, a concept enshrined in the social, cultural and economic rights doctrine, could be affected by policies leading to mass unemployment. Even if lockdowns do not affect the core of the right to work, to be acceptable, they have to be the least restrictive policies required by the circumstances, which has to be decided by a careful balancing of the alternatives. This paper argues that countries that chose to ‘go early and go hard’ might have circumvented the balancing requirement.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)73-90
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Human Rights
Volume21
Issue number1
Early online date13 Oct 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Socioeconomic rights in the age of pandemics: Covid-19 large-scale lockdowns have exposed the weakness of the right to work'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this