Care must be recognised as a human right and a public good

The online meeting, entitled “Recognising Care as a Human Right: A Global Imperative”, brought together trade union leaders, experts, feminist organisations and human rights groups to discuss how to transform care into a right guaranteed by states rather than a private burden that falls predominantly on women.

The event was organised by Public Services International (PSI) together with ActionAid, FEMNET, DAWN, GI-ESCR, Oxfam, Womankind, Care International, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, CESR, the Tax Justice Network and ILAW, among other organisations that form part of the group promoting the Manifesto to rebuild the social organisation of care.

The aim of the meeting was to strengthen international momentum to recognise care as a human right in national legislation, building on the historic precedent established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The event was opened by moderator Berivan Öngörur, international secretary of the Swedish trade union Vision and a member of PSI’s Executive Board. She emphasised that the discussion sought to project globally the impact of the recent Inter-American jurisprudence on the right to care, as well as to strengthen strategies for incorporating it into legal frameworks, public policies and social protection systems across different regions of the world.

We must recognise care as a human right and a public good

PSI General Secretary Daniel Bertossa opened the session by stating that the international trade union movement is waging a decisive struggle to transform the way the world understands and organises care.

Bertossa recalled that PSI represents care workers in public, private, non-profit and domestic work settings, and stressed that the sector is currently under strain due to deep inequalities, the weakening of public services and a growing push towards commodification.

“We must recognise care as a human right and a public good,” he said, advocating a vision that goes beyond the narrow approach of the so-called “care economy” and moves towards a genuine reconstruction of the social organisation of care.

Bertossa highlighted that the opinion issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2025 represents a historic milestone by recognising care as an autonomous human right that is interdependent with other rights. In his view, the ruling also reaffirms the central role of the state in guaranteeing and organising public care systems, while placing care workers at the heart of this architecture.

Bertossa warned that this progress faces strong resistance from corporate actors and sectors seeking to turn care into a new source of profit. For this reason, he insisted that the task of the trade union movement is to strengthen organisation, collective bargaining and alliances with feminist movements and civil society in order to prevent care from continuing to be treated as a commodity.

A global snapshot of care systems

The first part of the panel focused on examining the current state of recognition of care across different regions of the world and issues related to decent work.

Georgia Montague Nelson, director of the Global Labour Institute, presented the results of a global review carried out together with PSI on care policies, privatisation, remunicipalisation and legislative frameworks in six regions.

Her presentation showed that although there have been important advances, the dominant trend remains the subordination of care to fragmented models, characterised by a strong private presence, insufficient funding and continued dependence on women’s unpaid labour.

In Europe, she noted, mixed systems predominate, with public funding but increasing outsourcing, expansion of voucher schemes and a greater presence of multinational care companies. In Africa, meanwhile, systems remain severely underdeveloped and rely heavily on informal and unpaid work. However, the region is also showing important legal and regulatory advances, such as the resolution of the African Commission on the rights of workers in the informal economy and developments in South Africa regarding equality and parental leave.

In Asia, the situation is marked by fragmentation, inequality between sub-regions and weak social protection systems. Montague Nelson highlighted some positive steps, such as reforms in Australia following the crisis in the aged care system, as well as initiatives in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia to recognise community care workers and strengthen national plans.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the study found that care remains anchored in family and patriarchal norms, with limited state involvement and a strong tendency to view it as a means of facilitating productivity rather than as a human right.

In North America, multi-level models have produced fragmented systems with significant inequalities in access and quality. Canada and Quebec were highlighted as having important public experiences, although they also face waiting lists, staff shortages and budgetary pressures.

In the Caribbean, services remain scarce, costly and limited, although some countries, such as Barbados, have begun experimenting with reforms aimed at strengthening rights and moving towards more universal systems.

In this first panel, Jeff Vogt of the international network ILAW explored the legal implications of recognising care as a right, particularly for those who perform it. From a perspective linked to international labour law and global trade union experience, he stressed that the decision of the Inter-American Court opens a historic opportunity, but that its implementation will not occur automatically.

Vogt argued that the right to care must translate into concrete guarantees for workers, both paid and unpaid. This includes fair wages, decent working hours, social protection, safe working conditions, leave entitlements, rest time and full recognition of trade union freedom and collective bargaining.

Financing care at the centre of the debate

The second panel addressed care from a feminist political economy perspective.

Mahinor ElBadrawi of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) analysed how global macroeconomic policies—including austerity programmes, privatisation and structural reforms promoted by international financial institutions—directly affect states’ ability to finance public care systems.

Nicole Maloba of FEMNET emphasised that recognising care as a human right requires guaranteeing sufficient public funding and fiscal policies that prioritise social services rather than continuing to reduce public spending.

Nilanjana Mukhia, Oxfam’s Director of Gender Justice, focused on the strategies of the global movement. She highlighted the victories achieved in recent years through coordinated work between trade unions, feminist movements and social organisations: the UN resolution on the centrality of care, the Buenos Aires Commitment, regional progress in Asia and, of course, the ruling of the Inter-American Court.

However, she warned that the global context has become more hostile. The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small elite, the debt crisis, the decline in official development assistance and the growing influence of financial capital are worsening the conditions for sustaining universal public services.

Mukhia also warned about the risks of the “uberisation” of care and of language that reduces the debate to the profitability of the “care economy”, neglecting its dimension as a right and a collective responsibility. In this regard, she highlighted PSI’s work in advancing the concept of the social organisation of care.

Latin America at the forefront

During the debate, trade union leader Juneia Batista, from the Confederation of Municipal Workers of Latin America (CONTRAM) and PSI, stressed that Latin America has been a pioneering region in the debate on public care policies.

“Today we speak of comprehensive care systems because PSI unions and women trade unionists have been on the front line denouncing the overload of unpaid work and demanding public policies that guarantee this right,” she said.

In the closing interventions, Margarita López, co-president of the Inter-American Regional Women’s Committee, underlined that care cannot be considered a public good if it is treated as a commodity. She insisted on the need to move towards public care systems that are properly funded and supported by enforceable public policies.

The event concluded with a call to strengthen collaboration between trade unions, feminist movements, social organisations and governments in order to launch a new phase of struggle to promote public, universal, well-funded and democratic care systems.