A/HRC/RES/31/15 5. Recognizes that ensuring equality and non-discrimination in access to work is crucial in addressing the social prejudices and disadvantages that might exist in the labour market and undermine equality and dignity; 6. Stresses that the freedom to work, which is included in the right to work, entails the right to pursue professional options under equal conditions without unjustified barriers; 7. Also stresses that States, as provided for by the relevant international legal instruments, should prohibit forced and compulsory labour and punish the use of it in all its forms; 8. Emphasizes that the right to work entails, inter alia, the right not to be deprived of work arbitrarily and unfairly, and that States, in accordance with the relevant obligations in relation to the right to work, are required to put in place measures ensuring the protection of workers against unlawful dismissal; 9. Underscores the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all human rights, including the right to work, and that equal access to work is pivotal to the full enjoyment of all human rights by women, while recognizing that women are on many occasions subject to discrimination in the context of realizing their rights in that regard on an equal basis with men and are disproportionately exposed to the most precarious working conditions, including limited or no legal protection, lower levels of remuneration and involuntary temporary and part-time employment, and are disproportionately burdened with unpaid care work, which may constitute on many occasions a barrier to women’s greater involvement in the labour market; 10. Stresses that States should take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment and to tackle any structural barrier to employment opportunities, such as in education, health, work and life balance and lack of maternity protection, in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, including in particular the rights to work, the same employment opportunities, promotion, free choice of profession and employment, job security and all benefits and conditions of service, and the rights to receive vocational training and retraining, equal remuneration, equal treatment in respect to work of equal value, social security and protection of health and safety in working conditions; 11. Recognizes that progress has been made, yet is deeply concerned that many persons with disabilities in all regions continue to face significant obstacles in exercising their right to work on an equal basis with others and that persons with disabilities are frequently subject to less favourable conditions of pay, precarious work regimes and poor career prospects in a context of environmental, social and economic barriers in their access to work and within work, and in education and training, which results on many occasions in neglect of their potential and restrictions on opportunities to earn a living through their capabilities, and in this regard encourages States to take all appropriate measures to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters concerning access to employment and job opportunities, including in relation to equal conditions of pay, hiring and career advancement; 12. Underscores the responsibility of the State to protect children from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development; 13. Expresses concern that global unemployment stood at 197 million in 2015, representing an increase of nearly 1 million compared with the previous year and of about 27 million compared with 2007, and about the severe impact that the international 3