Occupational health is a human right

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IS STILL NOT CONSIDERED A HUMAN RIGHT, just like so many other rights that have been neglected over time but have been achieving some advancements and seeking new forms of affirmation under the guise of the term human right.In a time internationalized by global media, Brazil reflects a reality of governments and societies divided between those who think, fight, and act for human rights and those who deny and try to prevent them.Regarding racism, misogyny, homophobia, and, more acutely at this moment, xenophobia, the conflict of antagonistic narratives is frequent and very present in the media in general.This fact brings social visibility and 'heated' the topic, allowing for sharper strategies in the struggle for more significant achievements.This is not the case with the human right to health at work.In August 2025, the 5th National Conference on Worker's Health (5th CNSTT) will be held.Its central theme is to consider health at work as a Human Right.It is expected to be a turning point between what has been done so far and what can be done afterward.At the 8th National Health Conference in 1986, the Brazilian population and workers engaged with the health movement in which the Brazilian Center for Health Studies (Cebes) participated, and it was clear that what existed before needed to change.And it did!Although much remains to be done with the Unified Health System (SUS), there is now more of what was previously lacking.This is what the 5th CNSTT aims for: to ensure there is more than what currently exists.Furthermore, to ensure there is something that does not currently exist: the right to health in the world of work as a fundamental human right.Why deny the recognition of human rights to those who lose their health and their lives while working?If there is a utopia in this provision, may it serve to continue striving for a world where health at work is understood as a human right.This has been Cebes' role in its journey: to provide utopias.Since its inception in 1976, the health-work relationship has been one of the key ingredients in Cebes' utopian-revolutionary pilgrimage toward health reform.Two of the classics in the literature of occupational health bear the mark of Cebes: 'A sade nas fbricas' by Giovanni Berlinguer, published by Cebes-Hucitec in 1983 1 ; and 'Ambiente de trabalho -a luta dos trabalhadores pela sade' by Ivar Oddone (and others) in 1986 2 .Furthermore, the foreword of the second book was signed by David Capistrano, one of our founders.