The Protection of Fair Remuneration and Collective Representation of Solo-Self-Employed Workers in International Human Rights Law

Solo-self-employed workers are self-employed persons who exclusively offer their own work as they do not have employees themselves. Their labour is often carried out under flexible arrangements which exhibit precarious working conditions, inter alia due to their classification as entrepreneurs and not as workers. Protection through labour law usually requires an employment relationship. This lack of protection of solo- self-employed workers is addressed in two analytical steps: first, rights need to be detached from the employment status, and second, the rights protection systems need to accommodate the specific needs of solo-self-employed workers. Our analysis focuses on the rights to fair remuneration and collective representation in the UN system, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Based on the already established framework, we found that the UN system is compatible with the first step proposed in this article, while requiring a further development of the second step.