The pandemic and recent research have unequivocally demonstrated that the unjust, unequal, and unsustainable social organisation of care has a tremendous impact on women's[1] full enjoyment of their human rights. Equally, the overwhelming international concern around the care crisis, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, has turned care itself into a human right on the rise.

Care as a human right is gaining strength in the recognition of rights in legislation and in several governmental narratives, as well as in the scenarios of social movements for the conquest of new rights, while at the same time defending the validity and enjoyment of all human rights as indivisible, interdependent and interconnected. 

The recognition of the human right to care, to care and to be cared for throughout our lives as an individual, but also as a collective and interrelated necessity, is now more relevant than ever. It will undoubtedly be a field of dispute in a period in which the response and recovery from the pandemic requires transformative steps and not conservative reforms.

In this context, the Manifesto for rebuilding the social organisation of care is gaining momentum in a global movement pushing for a programme of action that goes beyond the economical dimension to a political approach advancing a new ethic of care promoting the human and environmental dimensions.

We place care as a human right on the international stage and debate, to be considered as a public and common good, while reclaiming the role of the State in guaranteeing and developing social care services throughout our life cycles and providing decent work for care workers.

Today, on International Human Rights Day, we highlight three of the 5 ‘R's of our Care Manifesto:

• RECOGNISE the #HumanRighttoCare

• REWARD and remunerate #care work

• RECLAIM the public nature of care services #MakeCarePublic

[1]   When we speak of women in this article, we consider women to include all feminine gender identities.