Introduction

As of today, the labour remuneration for many people in Georgia is so low that it does not even meet their basic physical needs. This situation is contrary to international human rights law, according to which all employed persons should receive decent remuneration for their work. Decent remuneration implies a remuneration sufficient for ensuring the needs of decent living for the employed persons and their families. The minimum wage is a substantial means for guaranteeing decent remuneration for all workers in practice. It represents a minimum threshold of labour remuneration controlled by the state, which must be established according to the needs of decent living. The existing minimum wage in Georgia is extremely low and inadequate to meet the requirements of decent living.

The concept of fair labour remuneration related to decent living existed only as a declaratory statement in international human rights law for a long time, and it was not expressed in the concrete international mechanisms of human rights protection. This concept first appeared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted in 1948. The UDHR affirmed the right of all employed persons to receive a just remuneration, ensuring an existence worthy of human dignity for them and their families. It took several decades after this moment for the concept of decent remuneration to appear in the legally binding international human rights agreements¹, and the guiding standards were developed for its practical realization.

The present research aims to ascertain the content of the minimum wage as a human right and facilitate the formation of a vision for developing the definition of minimum wage and its protection system. For these purposes, the research envisages the following objectives:

1. Ascertaining the content of the minimum wage as a human right by analysing the standards of the main international human rights mechanisms, including identifying the common characteristics, similarities and differences;
2. Analysing the main theoretical foundations, based on which the right to minimum wage can be justiciable by the international human rights mechanisms;
3. Analysing the policy, legislation and practical situation regarding the issues of minimum wage in Georgia in the light of international human rights standards;
4. Envisioning ways for elaborating the definition of minimum wage and its protection system;

According to the above aim and objectives, within the framework of the desk research, the following sources and information were analysed by using three main methods of legal research – systemic analysis, comparative legal analysis and applying legal norms to a concrete case in question:

• The hard and soft norms of international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the European Social Charter

(ESC), the explanations provided by their respective supervisory bodies regarding the right to decent remuneration and minimum wage and the assessments of the situation in various countries in this regard;

• The conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO);
• The explanations of the international human rights mechanisms regarding the issues of justiciability of social and economic rights;
• Academic literature regarding the theoretical foundations of justiciability of social and economic rights;
• The National Strategy for Labour and Employment Policy of Georgia and its Action Plan, and the relevant legislation regarding the issues of labour remuneration and minimum wage;
• The assessments of international human rights mechanisms regarding the issues of decent remuneration and minimum wage in Georgia.

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