The paper deals with the theoretical and legal practical foundation of the concept of alternative care for children in the social welfare system. Applying the human rights principle and child best interest doctrine along with the contemporary holistic and integrated approach to the research subject, we aim to identify the proper interpretation of the notion of alternative care for children in international, European and national domains. The recent case law of the European Court of Human Rights has beenconsidered as well. The role of civil society organizations in providing special care services for vulnerable populations such as children in terms of sustainable development agenda has been seen as a precondition for building a stable democratic and inclusive society when the world is facing significant challenges of natural hazards, climate changes and consequently,social inequities. Accordingly, an adequate policy and legal framework need to be developed including engagement of all relevant actors – public, private and civil organizations as well as the beneficiaries of services.
Vulnerability may arise from individual characteristics of individuals or social groups, employment conditions or as a result of difficulties in exercising fundamental social human rights. Principle of equity in terms of labor and employment as well as equity in health are closely linked and represented in a concept of decent work for all, promoted by the International Labor Organization. The concept of decent work aims to improve work conditions for the marginalized and vulnerable workers, where the notions ?vulnerable? and ?marginalized? represent people on the periphery of formal, standard employment, people working in an environment where the risk of being denied employment rights is high and also those who do not have the capacity to protect themselves from the abuse. The labor status of social groups whose personal characteristics, i.e. health characteristics, make them vulnerable in terms of work conditions and labor rights has been analyzed. In international, comparative and Serbian law, workers with disabilities are already protected by the special law provisions of professional rehabilitation and employment of people with disabilities. On the contrary, the status of workers who are not considered as people with disabilities but who are faced with some health problems are not recognized in the labor legislation and protected by the law. People with health problems may be those who are chronically ill i.e. people in a remission of a disease. Considering the current demographic process of population aging, an increase of elderly in economically active population/labor force could be expected, which also means the increase of chronically ill workers. This fact, argue in favor of regulation the labor status of people with health problems. Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, where the third component of health ? social well-being could be used as justification for the integration of workers with health problems in the workplace. The aim is to prevent the occurrence of disability in terms of preventive approach. The integration and protection measures are represented in a form of flexible work arrangements (for instance, part-time work, tele-work), assignment a person with a health problem to another adequate job, establishment the right to a paid leave for the purpose of therapy by the law, prohibition of a night shift and overtime job for worker with health problems. The Serbian Labor Act (2005) has introduced a category of workers with the health problems and stipulates that those workers could not be assigned to a job that could have a negative effect to a health status/condition of an individual. A broader protection measures in terms of decent work and health equity, meaning that everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential with the aim of performing major life activities, including working activities, are not introduced by the Serbian Labor Act. That need to be changed, taking into account the fact that the Serbian Disability Act does not recognize the workers with temporary or/and occasional health impairments, meaning that the special measures of professional integration of people with disabilities could not be applied to the people with health problems.
The aging of populations and the labour force, combined with the process of digitalisation, have a significant impact on labour markets, employment, and labour rights worldwide. Industries and jobs that rely on age-appreciating skills, which improve with age, are positively affected by both aging and digitalisation, since automation compensates for the lower physical abilities of older workers, thereby increasing their productivity. On the other hand, automation threatens physical and routine jobs that require low skills. In this paper, the authors used an empirical approach and inductive method to analyse the simultaneous influence of aging and digitalisation on workforce skills and demand for employees. In the future, governments? efforts to stimulate employment and decent work should include providing high-quality education that prepares the workforce to gain and upgrade creative and social skills. These changes require policy and regulatory interventions to address the issues of skill shifts and the transition towards both digital and green economies, while simultaneously promoting and standing for decent work conditions. This presupposes that businesses introduce and adopt sustainable, dynamic, and inclusive workplace practices. The authors propose the age management mechanism as a human resource tool, as well as its legal counterpart, the age-responsible due diligence approach, for managing the necessary changes.
This paper aims to introduce a legal framework for exercising one of the most basic socio-economic rights of people with rare diseases: the right to decent work. Considering the specificity of the medical and, consequently, social status of the people affected, the appropriate labour-law measures need to be determined. Applying the comparative and normative method along with the contemporary anti-discrimination principle, the labour status of the rare diseases population has been analysed based on the proposed classification in legal terms. As a precondition for labour legislation, new Serbian healthcare legislation on rare diseases should be supported through the process of implementation to reduce adverse cases as effectively as possible, advance genetic and other clinical diagnoses, and thus increase the efficiency of available medical treatment. Concerning public health policy, updated registries and better health statistics should be created. These activities require certain amendments to both general and specialist labour legislation (disability legislation), aiming to include patients with rare diseases in the working (and social) environment without discrimination.
