Latin America and the Caribbean lead the way in recognising care as a human right

Photo by: Julliana Saborío

On the International Day of Care and Support, Equality Now welcomes the leadership of Latin America and the Caribbean in recognising and establishing a comprehensive international standard on the “right to care”. From the Advisory Opinion 31/25 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to the Tlatelolco Commitment, the region has given legal and political substance to one of the most urgent transformations of our time: recognising that care is a collective responsibility and an essential component of gender equality.

A new regional legal and political framework

Advisory Opinion 31/25 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, issued in August 2025, establishes that all Member States of the Organisation of American States have a legal obligation to guarantee the right to care in all its dimensions: to care, to be cared for, and to care for oneself.

The Court interpreted existing international law to firmly conclude that care is a right and is linked to other human rights. The Court also explicitly stated that care is a joint responsibility of the family, the community, civil society, the company, and the State. Care is no longer treated as a private or family matter but as an issue that belongs on the public agenda and within international law. Its legal recognition conveys an important idea: sustaining life is a collective responsibility that requires laws, resources, and sustainable public policies.

Days after the Court’s Opinion was issued, during the 16th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, convened by Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and UN Women in Mexico City, 31 Member States and associate members of ECLAC adopted the Tlatelolco Commitment, which recognises care as a human right and sets out a decade of action (2025–2035) to advance substantive equality and build a “society of care”.

Together, these developments place Latin America and the Caribbean at the forefront of global human-rights progress and anticipate the central discussion that will guide the 72nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW72) at the United Nations, dedicated specifically to care and support systems, in 2028.

The right to care as a pathway to substantive equality

Advisory Opinion 31/25 affirms that care is a universal need and a legal obligation of the State. 

The Inter-American Court found that the disproportionate burden of care work placed on women, who perform approximately three times more unpaid care work than men, driven by gender stereotypes, constitutes a form of structural discrimination. The Court comprehensively defined care and how it impacts the complete life cycle of an individual. 

The Court emphasised that States must progressively recognise, protect, and guarantee this right through legislative, budgetary, and policy measures that:

• redistribute care responsibilities among families, communities, businesses, and the State;
• ensure equal paid parental leave and accessible, high-quality public care services;
• recognise the economic value of care work in national accounts and social-protection systems.
  

For Equality Now, this recognition has far-reaching implications. Guaranteeing the right to care is addressing a historic inequality and redefining the relationship between the State, the economy, and gender justice. Without strong public care systems, women continue to shoulder the majority of unpaid work, limiting their economic autonomy, access to justice, and ability to live free from violence. This standard therefore offers a vital opportunity to drive legal and economic reforms that tackle the structural roots of inequality.

Enhanced protection

Advisory Opinion 31/25 provides a roadmap for enhanced protection for excluded and vulnerable groups; a principle that should be replicated globally to advance legal equality.

The Court explicitly highlights the impact on single mothers, Indigenous, Afro-descendant, migrant women, older persons, and women living with disability, establishing that care systems must be designed with an intersectional approach to ensure that the right to care reaches communities historically left behind.

The Court also underlines that the care burden must not obstruct girls’ access to education, turning care infrastructure into a legal guarantee and reinforcement of their right to learn, participate, and realise their potential.

Towards legal equality and economic justice

Recognising care as a human right is a significant step forward for realising gender equality. Yet to bring about real change, this achievement must not be implemented in isolation from other key dimensions of the women’s rights agenda.

Care cannot be addressed separately from legal equality, social and economic justice, and the elimination of gender-based violence. These priorities must progress together. Ensuring the right to care requires equality in legal frameworks, institutions that protect caregivers, and public budgets that reduce economic inequality and strengthen women’s autonomy.

At Equality Now, we maintain that a genuine society of care will only be possible when States fulfil their obligations to repeal discriminatory laws, invest in accessible public services, and ensure that no woman or girl is denied her right to live with freedom, dignity, and free from violence.