INTERNATIONAL: RIGHTS OF CARE : IA ANALYSIS ON ADVISORY OPINION OC-31/25 (INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS) The Recognition of Care as a Human Right and Its Relevance for U.S. Legal and Constitutional Frameworks

 Inter-American Court of Human Rights released Thursday, August 7, Advisory Opinion 31 of 2025

IA GEMINI  COMPLANALYSIS 

English (Video Description)

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights released last Thursday, August 7, Advisory Opinion 31 of 2025, in response to the request submitted by the Republic of Argentina regarding the content and scope of the right to care and its interrelationship with other rights.

This advisory proceeding addressed issues such as the right to care, to be cared for, to self-care, and its connection with life, the family, and economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights. 

With the participation of more than 265 actors from different regions, it was the Court’s second most participatory proceeding and the first in which an international court was consulted regarding the right to care.

Learn all the details of the proceeding on the microsite for OC-31/25: https://bit.ly/3UiXIh1

Consult the full text of the Advisory Opinion: https://bit.ly/3UN3K9U

This video was made possible thanks to the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

https://youtu.be/Pjtj7Jr_-KE?si=YDa2DvTGPXcSy17n

Español 

La Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos divulgó el pasado jueves, 7 de agosto, la Opinión Consultiva 31 de 2025, en respuesta a la solicitud presentada por la República Argentina sobre el contenido y el alcance del derecho al cuidado y su interrelación con otros derechos.

Este proceso consultivo abordó cuestiones como el derecho a cuidar, a ser cuidado, al autocuidado y su vínculo con la vida, la familia y los derechos económicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales. Con la participación de más de 265 actores de diferentes regiones, fue el segundo proceso más participativo de la Corte y el primero en que un tribunal internacional es consultado en relación con el derecho al cuidado.

Conozca todos los detalles del proceso en el micrositio de la OC-31/25: https://bit.ly/3UiXIh1

Consulte el texto completo de la Opinión Consultiva: https://bit.ly/3UN3K9U

Este video fue realizado gracias al apoyo de la Agencia Suiza para el Desarrollo y la Cooperación (COSUDE).

https://youtu.be/Pjtj7Jr_-KE?si=YDa2DvTGPXcSy17n

Português 

A Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos divulgou na última quinta-feira, 7 de agosto, o Parecer Consultivo 31 de 2025, em resposta ao pedido apresentado pela República Argentina sobre o conteúdo e o alcance do direito ao cuidado e sua inter-relação com outros direitos.

Este processo consultivo abordou questões como o direito de cuidar, de ser cuidado, de autocuidado e sua ligação com a vida, a família e os direitos econômicos, sociais, culturais e ambientais. Com a participação de mais de 265 atores de diferentes regiões, foi o segundo processo mais participativo da Corte e o primeiro em que um tribunal internacional é consultado em relação ao direito ao cuidado.

Conheça todos os detalhes do processo no microsite da OC-31/25: https://bit.ly/3UiXIh1​

Consulte o texto completo do Parecer Consultiva: https://bit.ly/3UN3K9U​

Este vídeo foi realizado graças ao apoio da Agência Suíça para o Desenvolvimento e a Cooperação (COSUDE).

https://youtu.be/Pjtj7Jr_-KE?si=YDa2DvTGPXcSy17n

(506) 2527-1600 www.corteidh.or.cr corteidh@corteidh.or.cr Ave 10, Streets 47 and 49 Los Yoses, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.

GEMINI AI ANALYSIS 

This analysis provides a refined, high-level legal commentary on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) Advisory Opinion 31/2025 (OC-31/25). It integrates the requested SCOTUS precedents, addresses the intersectional realities of care, and structures the arguments for use in international and domestic legal advocacy.

THE JURISPRUDENCE OF HUMAN DIGNITY: Advisory Opinion OC-31/25 and the Transformation of Care into an Enforceable Universal Right

I. Executive Summary: 

A Paradigm Shift in Human Rights

Advisory Opinion OC-31/25 represents a structural evolution in global jurisprudence. By recognizing care as an autonomous human right, the Inter-American Court has moved beyond viewing care as a private domestic matter or a mere social policy objective. It is now a legally enforceable pillar of human dignity, grounded in the principles of social co-responsibility, equality, and non-discrimination.

II. The Tripartite Framework of OC-31/25

The Court establishes three interdependent dimensions that constitute the right to care:

 * The Right to Receive Care: The entitlement of every person, particularly those in situations of dependency (children, elderly, persons with disabilities), to receive quality, sufficient, and adequate support to live with dignity.

 * The Right to Provide Care: The right to perform caregiving—whether paid or unpaid—under dignified conditions, free from discrimination, and with protection for the caregiver’s own well-being.

 * The Right to Self-Care: The right of both the caregiver and the recipient to attend to their own physical, mental, and spiritual needs.

III. Correcting and Refining the CHATGPT AI  Legal Analysis

While previous CHATGPT AI analyses identified the core dimensions, a more rigorous legal interpretation must emphasize the Positive Obligations imposed on States. Unlike traditional "negative liberties" (freedom from state interference), the Right to Care mandates that States:

 * Organize the entire state apparatus to guarantee the right.

 * Legislate to ensure equitable distribution of care (e.g., parental leave, flexible work).

 * Allocate resources to professionalize care and support unpaid caregivers.

IV. Expanded U.S. Jurisprudence: Connecting OC-31/25 to SCOTUS

 Precedents

Although the U.S. is not a party to the American Convention, its own constitutional "penumbras" and the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment provide a fertile ground for these principles.

1. Substantive Due Process and Family Integrity

The right to care is deeply connected to the "liberty" interest in family life and bodily autonomy:

 * Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923): Recognized that "liberty" includes the right to establish a home and bring up children—a foundational aspect of the right to provide care.

Due process does not allow a state to prohibit teaching children any language other than English.

 * Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925): Affirmed the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of children.

"The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments of this Union rest excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. P. 268 U. S. 535."

 * Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health, 497 U.S. 261 (1990): While focusing on the right to refuse treatment, it reinforces the principle of self-care and bodily autonomy.

2. Disability Rights and the Right to "Support"

 * Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999): This landmark case mirrors the IACtHR's stance on the right to receive care. SCOTUS ruled that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities in institutions constitutes discrimination. This establishes a domestic "right to care" in the most integrated setting appropriate.

3. Gender and Racial Equity

 * United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996): Established that "overbroad generalizations about the different talents, capacities, or preferences of males and females" cannot justify unequal treatment. This supports the IACtHR’s mandate to dismantle the gendered stereotypes that place 3x more care burden on women.

V. The Intersectionality of Care: Statistical Realities

The Court explicitly acknowledges that care is not a neutral labor; it is gendered and racialized.

 * The Gender Gap: Globally and in the Americas, women perform unpaid care work in a proportion three times greater than men.

 * The Racial Marker: In countries like Brazil, the majority of the paid care workforce is comprised of Black women.

 * The GDP Factor: Unpaid care work represents a massive, often invisible, contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Without this labor, the formal economy would collapse.

VI. Practical Application for Litigants and Advocates

OC-31/25 provides a "Strategic Litigation Framework" for various contexts:

 

* Guardianship and Elder Abuse: Arguing that state-sanctioned

 guardianship systems must shift from "control" to "support," respecting the autonomy of the elderly as per the right to receive care.

 * Foreclosure and Housing: Linking the right to a life plan (established in OC-31/25) to the stability of the home. Eviction without alternative care infrastructure violates the right to self-care and family integrity.

 * Institutional Reform: Using Olmstead in conjunction with OC-31/25 to demand better community-based care resources rather than isolated institutionalization.

VII. International Correlation: A Global Consensus

The principles in OC-31/25 are echoed across other systems:

 * European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR): Kudła v. Poland (2000) emphasizes that the State has a positive obligation to ensure that a person is held in conditions which are compatible with respect for human dignity.

* United Nations: The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and CEDAW both mandate the recognition of the social value of care.

VIII. Conclusion: From Invisibility to Legality

The IACtHR has declared that "What they call love, we call work." By elevating care to a human right, the legal system finally acknowledges the invisible labor that sustains humanity. For the United States, OC-31/25 serves as a powerful interpretive tool to expand the definitions of "liberty" and "equal protection," ensuring that the law protects not just the right to be left alone, but the right to the support necessary for a dignified life.

Verified Legal References (ABNT Format)

INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Advisory Opinion OC-31/25: The content and scope of the right to care and its interrelationship with other rights. San José, Costa Rica, June 12, 2025. Available at: https://www.corteidh.or.cr/OC-31-2025/index-eng.html. Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999). Available at: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/527/581/. Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000). Available at: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/530/57/. Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES. American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. 1948. Available at: https://www.oas.org/dil/American_Declaration_of_the_Rights_and_Duties_of_Man.pdf. Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

Gostaria que eu adaptasse algum desses precedentes específicos para um argumento de petição focado em elder abuse ou guardianship?

CHATGPT AI ANALYSIS 

Here is a structured legal commentary in English, written at a high international level, with analytical depth, correlation with other courts, and tailored to be useful for U.S. citizens and litigants, even though the United States has not ratified the American Convention:

COMMENTARY ON ADVISORY OPINION OC-31/25 (INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS)

The Recognition of Care as a Human Right and Its Relevance for U.S. Legal and Constitutional Frameworks

I. Introduction

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), in Advisory Opinion OC-31/25 (2025), recognized care as an autonomous human right, grounded in the American Convention on Human Rights. This development represents a structural evolution in international human rights law, reframing care not merely as a social policy concern but as a legally enforceable right linked to human dignity.

Although the United States has not ratified the American Convention, the principles articulated in OC-31/25 are not normatively irrelevant to U.S. law. On the contrary, they resonate with:

Constitutional guarantees under the Due Process Clause (5th and 14th Amendments)

International human rights obligations undertaken by the U.S. through treaties it has signed or ratified

Jurisprudence from global and regional human rights systems

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II. The Core Holding of OC-31/25

The Court establishes that the right to care has three interdependent dimensions:

1. The right to receive care

2. The right to provide care (under fair conditions)

3. The right to self-care

It further imposes positive obligations on States:

To respect (non-interference)

To protect (prevent third-party violations)

To fulfill (adopt policies, laws, and infrastructure)

This tripartite framework aligns with the classical structure of international human rights obligations, as articulated by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

---

III. Care as a Structural Component of Human Dignity

OC-31/25 explicitly links care to:

Human dignity

Equality and non-discrimination

Access to health, work, education, and social security

This reasoning is consistent with:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Articles 1 and 25

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (ratified by the U.S.)

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (signed but not ratified by the U.S.)

The recognition of care as a right reflects an evolution from formal equality to substantive equality, requiring States to address structural inequalities, including those based on gender and race.

---

IV. Gender, Race, and the Doctrine of Structural Inequality

A central contribution of OC-31/25 is its acknowledgment that care work is not neutral. It is historically:

Gendered (disproportionately performed by women)

Racialized (particularly affecting Black women in Brazil and across the Americas)

This aligns with jurisprudence from:

1. Inter-American System

González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico (2009)

→ Recognition of structural gender violence

2. European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

Opuz v. Turkey (2009)

→ State responsibility for systemic gender-based violence

3. United Nations

CEDAW Committee General Recommendations

→ Recognition of unpaid care work as a source of inequality

These precedents reinforce that neutral legal frameworks may perpetuate inequality unless they actively address structural disparities.

---

V. Relevance for the United States Legal System

Although the United States is not bound by the American Convention, the principles of OC-31/25 can be translated into existing U.S. constitutional doctrine.

1. Substantive Due Process

The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that certain rights, though not explicitly enumerated, are protected under the Due Process Clause, including:

Family integrity

Bodily autonomy

Personal dignity

Cases such as:

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

demonstrate that unwritten rights essential to human dignity may receive constitutional protection.

👉 The right to care can be framed as part of this evolving doctrine.

---

2. Equal Protection and Anti-Discrimination Law

The disproportionate burden of care on women and minorities raises issues under:

Equal Protection Clause (14th Amendment)

Anti-discrimination statutes (e.g., Title VII)

U.S. jurisprudence, including:

United States v. Virginia (1996)

supports heightened scrutiny when laws or practices reinforce gender-based inequality.

---

3. Positive Obligations: A Missing Piece

A key difference emerges:

International law (including OC-31/25) → recognizes positive obligations

U.S. constitutional law → traditionally emphasizes negative liberties

However, there are exceptions:

DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989)

→ While limiting state duty, it acknowledges responsibility in special relationships

👉 OC-31/25 pushes toward a modern reinterpretation, suggesting that systemic neglect of care infrastructure may itself constitute a human rights violation.

---

VI. Comparative Perspective: Convergence Across Legal Systems

The recognition of care as a human right reflects a broader global trend:

1. European Union

EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Art. 33)

→ Protection of family and professional life balance

2. India

Expansive interpretation of Article 21 (Right to Life)

→ Includes dignity, health, and social welfare

3. South Africa

Constitutional recognition of socio-economic rights, including access to healthcare and social assistance

These systems demonstrate a convergence toward recognizing care as essential to dignity and citizenship.

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VII. Practical Implications for U.S. Citizens and Advocates

Even without formal treaty obligations, OC-31/25 can serve as:

1. Persuasive Authority

Used in:

Constitutional litigation

Civil rights advocacy

Policy reform arguments

2. Interpretive Tool

To support arguments that:

> “Human dignity requires not only freedom from state interference, but also the conditions necessary for meaningful existence.”

3. Strategic Litigation Framework

Particularly in cases involving:

Elder care

Disability rights

Guardianship abuses

Gender-based inequality

Access to healthcare

Access to housing 

Foreclosures's frauds

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VIII. Conclusion

Advisory Opinion OC-31/25 represents a paradigm shift:

> Care is no longer invisible labor — it is a legal right and a state obligation.

For the United States, the decision offers:

A comparative constitutional lens

A normative framework for expanding dignity-based rights

A powerful advocacy tool, especially in contexts where existing protections are insufficient

Even outside the formal jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court, the principles articulated in OC-31/25 reinforce a universal proposition:

> A legal system that ignores care fails to protect human dignity.

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If you want, I can next:

Add full Bluebook + ABNT citations with URLs (SCOTUS, UN, IACHR, ECtHR, etc.)

Adapt this into a petition-style argument for U.S. courts

Or connect directly with your cases (guardianship, elder abuse, foreclosure) with concrete legal strategies

HUMAN RIGHTS :INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS AND GLOBAL JURISPRUDENCE

This analysis examines the international human rights obligations applicable to the United States, 

**INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS AND GLOBAL JURISPRUDENCE:

APPLICABILITY TO THE UNITED STATES LEGAL FRAMEWORK**

I. INTRODUCTION

This analysis examines the international human rights obligations applicable to the United States, including those derived from:

Treaties ratified by the United States

Treaties signed but not ratified

Customary international law

Regional human rights instruments

It further integrates jurisprudence from global and regional human rights systems, demonstrating that:

Procedural fairness, access to justice, and protection of human dignity constitute binding or persuasive legal obligations that transcend formal treaty ratification.

II. BINDING INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES

1. Ratified Human Rights Treaties

The United States is legally bound under international law by several core human rights treaties:

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

Convention Against Torture (CAT)

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

These treaties impose enforceable obligations, including:

Due process guarantees

Prohibition of arbitrary detention

Protection from torture and degrading treatment

Equal protection under the law

Even where the United States declares provisions “non-self-executing,” it remains bound internationally under:

Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (pacta sunt servanda)

2. ABNT Footnotes (Verified Sources)

UNITED NATIONS. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 1966. Available at:

https://treaties.un.org/PAGES/ViewDetails.aspx?chapter=4&clang=_en&mtdsg_no=IV-4&src=TREATY

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED NATIONS. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 1984. Available at:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading

UNITED NATIONS. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 1965. Available at:

https://treaties.un.org/pages/viewdetails.aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg_no=iv-2&chapter=4&clang=_en

UNITED NATIONS. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. 1969. Available at:

https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf⁠

https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg_no=xxiii-1&chapter=23&Temp=mtdsg3&clang=_en

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

III. SIGNED BUT NOT RATIFIED TREATIES: GOOD FAITH OBLIGATIONS

The United States has signed, but not ratified:

American Convention on Human Rights

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

Under Article 18 of the Vienna Convention, a signatory State must:

“refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty”

Thus, the United States has binding obligations of good faith conduct, even absent ratification.

ABNT Footnotes

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES. American Convention on Human Rights. 1969. Available at:

https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%201144/volume-1144-i-17955-english.pdf

https://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_b-32_american_convention_on_human_rights.pdf

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED NATIONS. Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989. Available at:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED NATIONS. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. 1979. Available at:

https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women

⁠

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

IV. CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW AND JUS COGENS NORMS

Certain human rights norms bind all States regardless of treaty ratification:

Prohibition of torture

Right to life

Fundamental due process

Freedom from arbitrary detention

These norms are recognized as:

Customary international law and, in many cases, jus cogens (peremptory norms)

ABNT Footnotes

UNITED NATIONS. Report of the International Law Commission: Jus Cogens. 

The International Law Commission was established by the General Assembly, in 1947, to undertake the mandate of the Assembly, under article 13 (1) (a) of the Charter of the United Nations to "initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of ... encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification".

In accordance with resolution 80/164 of 15 December 2025, the International Law Commission is scheduled to hold its seventy-seventh session from 27 April to 5 June and 29 June to 30 July 2026 (11 weeks), at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Available at:

https://legal.un.org/ilc/

https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2019/english/chp5.pdf⁠

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026

V. THE AMERICAN DECLARATION AND OAS OBLIGATIONS

As a member of the Organization of American States, the United States is bound by:

American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948)

The Inter-American Commission has held that:

The American Declaration is a source of binding obligations for OAS member states.

ABNT Footnotes

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES. American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. 1948. Available at:

https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/565094

https://www.oas.org/dil/American_Declaration_of_the_Rights_and_Duties_of_Man.pdf

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

VI. GLOBAL AND REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS JURISPRUDENCE

1. Inter-American System

The Inter-American system establishes that States have:

Positive obligations to prevent violations

Duty to investigate and punish

Obligation to ensure effective remedies

Relevant case:

Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras (1988)

ABNT Footnotes

INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Judgment of July 29, 1988. Available at:

https://www.globalhealthrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/IACtHR-1988-Velasquez-Rodriguez-v.-Honduras.pdf

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

2. United Nations Human Rights Bodies

The UN Human Rights Committee and Committee Against Torture have clarified:

Due process violations may constitute inhuman treatment

Procedural abuse can cause psychological harm

States must provide effective remedies

ABNT Footnotes

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE. General Comment No. 32 – Right to a Fair Trial. Available at:

https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/606075

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

3. European Court of Human Rights (Comparative Authority)

The European Court has consistently held:

Excessive delays violate fair trial rights

Lack of access to counsel invalidates proceedings

Procedural abuse may violate human dignity

Relevant case:

Kudła v. Poland (2000)

26.10.2000

Press release issued by the Registrar

JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF KUDŁA v. POLAND

(no. 30210/96)

In a judgment delivered at Strasbourg on 26 October 2000 in the case of Kudła v. Poland (no. 30210/96), the European Court of Human Rights held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) of the European Convention on Human Rights; that there had been a violation of Article 5 § 3 (right to trial within a reasonable time or release pending trial) and that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a hearing within a reasonable time). By 16 votes to 1 the Court held that there had also been a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in that the applicant had had no domestic remedy to enforce his right to a hearing within a “reasonable time”. Under Article 41 (just satisfaction), the Court awarded the applicant 30,000 Polish zlotys (PLN) for non-pecuniary damage and PLN 20,000 for legal costs and expenses.

ABNT Footnotes

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Kudła v. Poland. 2000. Available at:

https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press#{%22itemid%22:[%22003-68478-68946%22]}

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

4. United States Supreme Court (Comparative Integration)

Key precedents align with international standards:

Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970

ABNT Footnotes

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.  (1976). Available at:

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970). Available at:

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/397/254/

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

VII. SYNTHESIS: GLOBAL CONSENSUS

Across international systems, a unified principle emerges:

Procedural fairness, access to justice, and protection of human dignity are universal legal obligations.

This applies regardless of:

Formal treaty ratification

Domestic legal classification

Jurisdictional differences

VIII. PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO THE UNITED STATES

Even without full treaty incorporation:

International law serves as interpretive authority

Courts may consider global consensus

Litigants may invoke these norms to demonstrate:

Systemic due process violations

Institutional abuse

State responsibility for omissions

Particularly relevant in cases involving:

Guardianship systems

Elder care institutions

Family systems 

Foreclosure and deprivation of housing

IX. CONCLUSION

The United States operates within a multi-layered system of human rights accountability, composed of:

Binding treaty obligations

Customary international law

Regional commitments

Persuasive global jurisprudence

Accordingly:

Human dignity, due process, and access to justice are not optional principles—they are enforceable legal standards recognized across the international legal order.

NEXT STEP (if you want)

Posso agora:

Inserir decisões específicas sobre guardianship, elder abuse e foreclosure (EUA + internacional)

Incluir jurisprudência da Índia, Japão, África e ONU com o mesmo nível técnico

Ou integrar isso direto no seu artigo completo (com índice e capítulos numerados)

Just tell me.

READ 

OEA: Advisory Opinion No. 31 of 2025

1. THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT RECOGNIZES THE EXISTENCE OF AN AUTONOMOUS HUMAN RIGHT TO CARE 

OEA - Press Release 55/2025

San José, Costa Rica, August 7, 2025.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights notified today its Advisory Opinion No. 31 of 2025 on the content and scope of the right to care and its interrelationship with other rights, adopted on June 12, 2025, in response to the consultation made by the Republic of Argentina in January 2023.

 This was the second advisory proceeding with the greatest participation in the history of the Court, with a total of 129 written observations submitted, and the first in which an International Court is consulted in relation to the right to care.

To access the full text of the Advisory Opinion, the official summary, an easy-to-read version, as well as the details of the request and the advisory proceeding, click here to access the microsite with this information, available in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

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The Court, in its Advisory Opinion No. 31, stated that care constitutes a basic, unavoidable, and universal necessity, on which both the existence of human life and the functioning of life in society depend. 

It also recognized that care is configured as the set of actions necessary to preserve human well-being, including assistance to those persons who are in a situation of dependency or who need support, on a temporary or permanent basis. 

Likewise, it stated that care is necessary to guarantee minimum conditions of attention for a dignified existence, especially in relation to persons in a situation of vulnerability, dependency, or limitation.

Taking this into consideration, the Court concluded that, based on a systematic, evolutive, and pro personae interpretation of various rights enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights, there exists an autonomous right to care. It further emphasized that the right to care also derives from the rights recognized in the American Declaration and in the Charter of the Organization of American States. 

It stated that, therefore, it corresponds to the States to respect and guarantee this right, as well as to adopt legislative and other measures to achieve its full effectiveness.

The Court understood that the autonomous right to care comprises the right of every person to have the time, spaces, and resources necessary to provide, receive, or seek conditions that ensure their own integral well-being or that of others, and that allow them to freely develop their life plans, according to their capacities and stage of life. 

It stated that this right finds its foundation and scope in the principles of social and family co-responsibility, solidarity, and equality and non-discrimination. 

In addition, it established that the right to care has three basic dimensions: to be cared for, to care, and self-care.

The right to be cared for implies that all persons who have some degree of dependency have the right to receive quality, sufficient, and adequate care in order to live with dignity. Such care must guarantee physical, spiritual, mental, and cultural well-being.

The right to care consists of the right to provide care under dignified conditions, whether in an unpaid or paid manner. 

It implies that caregivers may carry out their activity without discrimination and with full respect for their human rights, guaranteeing their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and cultural well-being.

The right to self-care implies the right of the person who cares and of the person who is cared for to seek their own well-being and to attend to their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and cultural needs.

The Court also stated that the guarantee of the right to care and its content are closely related to other rights, due to the principles of interdependence and indivisibility of human rights, acquiring specific characteristics based on the demands and needs of groups in a situation of vulnerability.

When referring to the obligations of States in the sphere of the right to care in light of the right to equality and non-discrimination, the Court found that, due to negative gender stereotypes and sociocultural patterns of conduct, unpaid care work falls predominantly on women, who perform these tasks in a proportion three times greater than men. 

This unequal distribution constitutes an obstacle to the exercise of the rights to work, social security, and education of women, children, and adolescents under conditions of equality. 

The Court also stated that unpaid care represents a significant contribution to the gross domestic product of countries, a contribution which, with few exceptions, remains invisible. 

For this reason, it concluded that States must adopt measures to reverse the stereotypes that lead to such unequal distribution and to guarantee the exercise of the rights of women, children, and adolescents who devote themselves to unpaid care work under conditions of equality. 

The Court also indicated that, by virtue of the principle of co-responsibility, measures must be adopted so that both the State and society contribute jointly to the guarantee of the right to care.

Additionally, the Court verified that, in some cases, persons who require more intensive care face obstacles to the exercise of this right under conditions of equality and non-discrimination.

 Therefore, it spoke on the right of children and adolescents to receive care, stating that States must establish a legal framework aimed at guaranteeing access to care whenever this cannot be provided by their families. 

With regard to the right of older persons to receive care, it stated that States must adopt measures to guarantee access to and continuity in quality care services, considering their rights to autonomy, independence, security, and a life free from violence. 

As for the right to receive care of persons with disabilities, the Court declared that the guarantee of the right to care must start from their needs for “support” and not only for “attention,” and must be based on respect for their rights to autonomy, independence, security, and a life free from violence.

Finally, the Court spoke on the relationship between the right to care and economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights. In relation to the right to work, the Court stated that care activities constitute work protected by the American Convention. 

Consequently, it determined that States must progressively guarantee to paid care workers—such as those who work in daycare centers, schools, and medical centers—the same rights as any other worker.

 On the other hand, it indicated that persons who perform unpaid care—that is, those activities carried out without remuneration, generally in the domestic environment—must progressively enjoy a minimum set of social security guarantees aimed at ensuring their health, dignity, and self-care.

The composition of the Court when issuing the present Advisory Opinion was as follows: Judge Nancy Hernández López, President (Costa Rica); Judge Rodrigo Mudrovitsch, Vice President (Brazil); Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot (Mexico), Judge Ricardo C. Pérez Manrique (Uruguay), Judge Verónica Gómez (Argentina) and Judge Patricia Pérez Goldberg (Chile). Judge Humberto Antonio Sierra Porto did not participate in the deliberation of the present Advisory Opinion for reasons of force majeure.

Judge Patricia Pérez Goldberg made known her partially dissenting opinion.

Judge Nancy Hernández López, Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot, and Judge Verónica Gómez made known their concurring opinions. The texts of the opinions will be released soon.

The present release was drafted by the Secretariat of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, being the exclusive responsibility of the same.

For more information, please go to the website of the Inter-American Court www.corteidh.or.cr or send an email to Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Secretary, at corteidh@corteidh.or.cr. For the press office, contact Danniel Pinilla at prensa@corteidh.or.cr.

ENGLISH 

Advisory Opinion 31 of 2025:

THE CONTENT AND SCOPE OF CARE AS A HUMAN RIGHT AND ITS INTERRELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER RIGHTS

https://www.corteidh.or.cr/OC-31-2025/index-eng.html

Written Observations

I. Written observations submitted by States

II. Written observations submitted by Organization organs of American States (OAS)

III. Written observations submitted byorgans of United Nations (UN)

IV. Written observations submitted by state organs

V. Written Observations submitted by non-governmental organizations

VI. Written Observations submitted by academic institutions

VII. Wirtten Observations submited by members or groups of civil society

PORTUGUÊS 

Parecer Consultivo 31 de 2025:

O CONTEÚDO E O ALCANCE DO DIREITO DE CUIDAR E SUA INTER-RELAÇÃO COM OUTROS DIREITOS

O CONTEÚDO E O ALCANCE DO DIREITO DE CUIDAR E SUA INTER-RELAÇÃO COM OUTROS DIREITOS

https://www.corteidh.or.cr/OC-31-2025/index-por.html

ESPAÑOL 

Opinión Consultiva 31 de 2025:

EL CONTENIDO Y ALCANCE DEL DERECHO AL CUIDADO Y SU INTERRELACIÓN CON OTROS DERECHOS

https://www.corteidh.or.cr/OC-31-2025/#videos

You may subscribe to the Court’s information services here. To stop receiving information from the IACtHR, send an email to prensa@corteidh.or.cr. 

You may also follow the activities of the Court on the following social networks: Facebook, X (@CorteIDH for the Spanish account, IACourtHR for the English account and @CorteDirHumanos for the Portuguese account), Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube, LinkedIn, and SoundCloud.

REFERENCES

1. ABNT Footnotes (Verified Sources)

UNITED NATIONS. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 1966. Available at:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights⁠

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED NATIONS. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 1984. Available at:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading⁠

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED NATIONS. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 1965. Available at:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racial

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

UNITED NATIONS. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. 1969. Available at:

https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf⁠

Accessed on: 20 Mar. 2026.

2. BRAZILIAN FEDERAL JUDGE & LAWYER' S OPINION

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) recognizes care as a human right.

By Inês Virgínia Soares and Melina Fachin

December 8, 2025, 6:39 AM

SOURCE : CONJUR 

International

In early August, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) published Advisory Opinion OC-31/25, in which it recognizes care as a human right, establishing a legal framework for the region and redefining public policy and social protection priorities for countries that are members of the Organization of American States (OAS), including Brazil.
elderly caregiver

The decision was a response to a query from Argentina and took a historic step by recognizing care as an autonomous human right, protected by the American Convention on Human Rights. The IACHR defined that this right has three essential dimensions — being cared for, caring, and self-care — and that states have an obligation to respect, protect, and promote it through appropriate public policies and legal frameworks.
Conflict between federal regulations is hindering the port sector, says association representative.

The Court emphasized that the support network for care is indispensable for human dignity and for the exercise of other fundamental rights, such as health, work, education, and social security. Recognizing its normative autonomy aims to overcome the fragmented way in which the issue has been treated, addressing in a comprehensive manner the needs of both those who receive and those who provide care.

The incorporation of care as a human right demands, from the very beginning, the recognition of the profound racial mark that structures both caregivers and those who are cared for in Brazil. Even before discussing the legal framework established by Constitutional Amendment 31/25, it is necessary to affirm that the social division of care in the country is permeated by historically produced racial inequalities: Black women not only comprise the majority of the paid care workforce, but also disproportionately accumulate unpaid tasks within the domestic sphere. Without this recognition, the discussion about the right to care risks remaining abstract and detached from the colonial hierarchies that organize Brazilian daily life.

Gender and racial inequality

In Brazil, however, this gender inequality is intertwined with racial inequality: while women, in general, perform three times more care work than men, Black women experience the most intense, precarious, and invisible form of this social division of labor.

In line with the Brazilian reality, one of the central aspects of the Inter-American Court's decision in the aforementioned Advisory Opinion was addressing gender inequality in the distribution of caregiving responsibilities. The IACHR highlighted that care work, especially unpaid care work, falls disproportionately on women—on average, three times more than on men—and that this overload perpetuates historical inequalities, limiting women's participation in the labor market and public life. To reverse this scenario, it determined that States adopt structural measures, such as equitable parental leave, public care services, flexible working hours, and campaigns that promote cultural change and shared responsibility between men and women.

Spacca

OC-31 reinforces that a care policy should be guided by principles of equality, solidarity, social and family co-responsibility, and promote the autonomy of the person being cared for, aligning with the parameters of the Inter-American System.

National Care Policy

In Brazil, OC 31 is directly connected to the National Care Policy (PNC), established by Law 15.069, enacted in December 2024. This law stipulates that the PNC will be implemented in a cross-cutting and intersectoral manner through the National Care Plan, indicating as priority targets of this policy: children and adolescents, elderly people and people with disabilities who need assistance, support or help to perform basic and instrumental activities of daily living, and paid and unpaid care workers.
Incorporating the IACHR's understanding into the Brazilian legal system could strengthen the legal basis of the very recent National Care Policy, as well as require the revision of labor and social security regulations to recognize and expand social and infrastructure programs focused on care and protect the work of unpaid caregivers — including the possibility of counting care work time for retirement purposes or for reducing the sentence of mothers who breastfeed in prison or who are under house arrest because they have minor children.

OC 31 should influence judicial decisions, which may use its content as a reference in the interpretation of social and economic rights and in the promotion of gender equality. The lens of care in judging cases that address issues such as maternity and the sexual and reproductive rights of women experiencing homelessness or victims of violence, the right to housing, environmental racism, girls and the right to childhood without labor, the transmission of traditional knowledge, the valuing of collective memory, taxation, the right to income and informality, religious freedom and child custody, maternity of migrant women, among others, has a transformative power in society, in addition to reinforcing the importance of applying the Judgment Protocols from a gender perspective and from a racial perspective, both established by the CNJ (National Council of Justice) and mandatory.

Special care for black women

The combined vulnerabilities of women caregivers—their intersectionalities—require the implementation of public policies that strengthen the right to care, especially for Black and poor women, whose fate is shaped from a very young age.

The challenge lies in the paradigm shift that allows us to speak of a care society instead of continuing to address care from an intersectional perspective, where gender and race markers are watertight and stubbornly portray a reality that continues to reproduce inequalities.

Therefore, the racial and gender lens in judgments is not an optional addendum: it is the axis through which the Judiciary must reinterpret cases that, historically, have been judged from a supposed neutrality that masked inequalities. A hermeneutics of care needs to recognize that Black women are more exposed to obstetric violence, barriers to accessing reproductive health, informality, multiple work shifts, and time poverty—all aggravated by racist structures that permeate the Brazilian State.
Recognizing care as a human right in Brazil means acknowledging that the country's social reproduction has always been sustained by the hands, bodies, and time of Black women. Any public policy or judgment that ignores this fact incurs a racial blindness that neutralizes the transformative power of OC-31.

The state's duty to treat care as a human right definitively removes from invisibility activities that are part of women's daily lives. "What they call love, we call work," a famous phrase by Silvia Federici, becomes a political and legal call for the protection of women: it is the state's duty to create the conditions so that care is a free, shared, and valued choice, and not a silent imposition that perpetuates inequalities.

Inês Virgínia Soares

She is a federal judge at the TRF of the 3rd Region (São Paulo). She holds a doctorate in law from PUC-SP, with a post-doctorate from the Center for Violence Studies at the University of São Paulo (NEV-USP). She is a specialist in sanitary law from UnB (University of Brasília). Author of the book "Right to (of) Brazilian Cultural Heritage" (Ed. Forum).

Melina Fachin

She is a lawyer, holds a doctorate in Law, and is the director of the Law School at UFPR (Federal University of Paraná).

Tags: Cidh Human rights National Care Policy violence against women 
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