Challenging Neoliberalism: ILO, Human Rights, and Public Health Frameworks on Decent Work

In the 2008 report Closing the gap in a generation, the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) described “fair employment and decent work” as components of daily living conditions that have “powerful effects on health.” The CSDH therefore proposed far-reaching structural changes to bring about decent work and health for all. Crucially, however, it failed to acknowledge two relevant international legal frameworks, the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the right to decent work in international human rights law. This article compares the three frameworks for decent work—CSDH, ILO, and human rights—and makes two arguments. First, it contends that the CSDH, as a creation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and therefore part of the UN system, should have grounded its report—including the section on decent work—in the applicable international law, including the UN Charter and human rights treaties. Second, had the CSDH linked its report to established international law, it would have strengthened all three frameworks, bringing coherence to international law and policy and bolstering the power of the ILO, WHO, and the human rights mechanisms to counter neoliberalism toward achieving their common goal of decent work and health for all.