Right to work is a very important human right that places a positive obligation on states to provide, within certain limits, job opportunities for individuals. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees to everyone; the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment, the right to equal pay for equal work without discrimination, to just and favourable remuneration to ensure an existence worthy of human dignity.
The right to work is a foundation for the realization of other human rights. The right provides the opportunity to earn a livelihood by work freely chosen or accepted. States must therefore ensure non-discrimination in relation to all aspects of work.
Article 15 of the African Charter provides that “every individual shall have the right to work under equitable and satisfactory conditions, and shall receive equal pay for equal work”.
This provision is interpreted by Evelyne Ankumah in her book ‘The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ to impose an obligation on states to adopt programmes and other measures to create job opportunities for every person.
The right under the abovementioned provision is not limited to individuals’ right to work, but it extends to the provision of healthy conditions of work and fair employment terms. This includes reasonable working hours, safety working conditions, proportionality of payment to the work done, and absence of discrimination of individuals at work places.
Unlike article 7 of both the ICCPR and the ICESCR which specifically recognize the right to rest, leisure, limited working hours and paid holidays, the African Charter on the other hand is silent as to these features. However a broad interpretation of the phrase “equitable and satisfactory conditions” has been argued to have encompassed those features as provided under the two international instruments.
In Communication 39/90, in the case of Annette Pagnoulle (on behalf of Abdoulaye Mazou) v Cameroon, the victim was a magistrate who has been tried and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. The complaint was brought for his reinstatement to his post of magistrate under an amnesty law of 23 April 1992 which provided amongst others that persons granted amnesty and who had public employment will be reintegrated. The Commission held that by not reinstating Mr. Mazou in his former position after the amnesty law, the government has violated article 15 of the African Charter because it prevented him to work, even though others who have been condemned under similar conditions have been reinstated.
Also, the letter part of article 15 extends the right to work to includes equal pay for equal work. This protects against wage or salary discrimination based on sex, or inequality in wages between men and women who perform substantially equal jobs. Equal work does not however mean identical works; rather they must be ‘substantially equal’ in the overall job content. To be considered substantially equal, the job duties must be closely related or very much alike. In this regard, therefore, minor difference in the job duties, or the skill, effort, or responsibility required for the jobs will not render the work unequal.
