The American Court of Human Rights decision is a victory for women and care workers across the Americas, says Public Services International (PSI).

The PSI has argued for years that care is not a commodity in the market economy but a human right.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has concurred, and in a recent decision recognised care as an autonomous human right.

“This historic ruling confirms what we, as trade unionists, feminists and public service workers, have long fought for: care work – carried out overwhelmingly by women – is the backbone of our societies and must be decent work,” the PSI said following the ruling.

“This opinion is not only for the Americas; it sets a global standard that challenges all governments, everywhere, to follow suit: to recognise, legislate and invest in care as a human right, progressively and sustainably.”

The PSI says the decision should lead to a reorganisation of care so that:

• robust, universal, public-funded care systems with public provided services, are not the exception but the norm
• care workers – the vast majority of whom are women – have access to decent work and are recognised, protected and fairly remunerated
• gender equality is not merely an aspiration, but a lived

Latin American unions say the challenge now is to translate this legal decision into concrete realities: decent wages, fair working conditions, universal access to, and public provision of, care services.