The category of rights and freedoms, including the right to access information and the right to self-expression, is not immutable. Rights and freedoms are a byproduct of the historical development of society and represent a socio-cultural phenomenon that reflects the historical identity of peoples and countries throughout the world. As a result, each legal system has its own legal concept of rights and freedoms, without which the crisis-free development of a particular state is impossible. This is because the degree to which citizens’ rights to self-expression and information are realized has a direct impact on the overall quality of a democratic system. This article analyzes the sectoral normative legal acts of the BRICS countries that regulate the right to information. Based on the data obtained, a comparison was made between restrictions and prohibitions regarding the exercise of the right to information. Furthermore, the article describes and analyzes the main approaches to assessing and determining the index of democracy in the world. Based on the comparison of the democracy index, the global ranking of the right to information and the global ranking of the civilian population, a formula for calculating democracy was derived. The degree of democracy in the BRICS countries was then calculated using the formula obtained, and a regional ranking of democracy within the BRICS countries was compiled. The authors believe that providing citizens with the opportunity to fully exercise their right to information, which would be impossible without the balanced participation of the state, results in the creation of an objective information environment, which in turn provides citizens with the opportunity to justly exercise their right to self-expression. In this regard, it is self-evident that democracy is closely connected with the full realization of the right to information. Today it plays akey role in citizens’ exercise of their right to self-expression.

This article investigates the phenomenon of gender equality in employment in the BRICS countries where it is one of the factors hampering the economic development and basic human rights. The authors examine the international obligations of these states under the human rights treaties of the United Nations Organization (UNO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), compare the national anti-discriminatory norms with the international standards (ILO Conventions and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and evaluate the observations of the relevant international bodies recently adopted in respect of the BRICS states. In particular, the activities of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations are reviewed. In the paragraphs that follow, the national legislation and case-laws are examined. Furthermore, the reasons for the persistent gender stereotypes in the labor market, as well as the general attitude toward women’s roles in society in each country are reviewed. The authors identify the obstacles to achieving true gender equality in the workplace and formulate recommendations for improving protections against discrimination of women in employment as well as ensuring equal access to employment and promotion.

The COVID-19 outbreak forced many employers worldwide to organize remote workplaces and introduce new technologies of labor organization in order to protect employees from the threat of disease. After the pandemic is over, it is reasonable to anticipate an increase in telework. The legal framework of telework continues to evolve unevenly in different countries around the world. The BRICS countries lag behind the United States and the European Union in terms of the legal regulation of telework, and they lack the necessary statistical data collection. The integration of the BRICS countries calls for the development of unified approaches to the legal status of teleworkers. The creation of new jobs in the conditions of the pandemic requires the development of the regulatory framework, analysis of innovative experience and assessment of law enforcement. This article systematizes the approaches of Russian and world scientists to the major issues of telework regulation, including: the conceptual apparatus, the advantages and disadvantages of remote employment, the analysis of legislative initiatives of the BRICS countries in the context of a pandemic and the allocation of best practices, the features of concluding, changing and terminating an employment contract, determining the rights and obligations of teleworkers, the implementation of the right to social partnership, and ensuring labor protection, safety and well-being. The findings of the analysis lead to the conclusion that in order to achieve decent work in digital economy, the BRICS countries need to design a general approach to the regulation of telework for similar to the approach taken by the European Union, and to upgrade existing legislation.

The Declaration by the Labour and Employment Ministers of the BRICS countries, “Quality Jobs and Inclusive Employment Policies,” guarantees that formalization of labor markets is a global priority for the BRICS countries, as informal employment hampers productivity, potential economic growth and efforts to improve the welfare of populations worldwide. Taking into account this strategic goal, the authors analyze the informal employment processes in the BRICS countries and speculate on the transition from informal to formal employment. The article addresses the issues of inhomogeneous notional ranges used to define informal employment and recommends that the possibilities provided by labor legislation and government employment policy (such as increasing the number of formal working places and dynamic development of labor legislation directed at regulation of new employment forms) be used to tackle these issues. The potential of the social security right for achieving the goals of transition to a formal economy and social security coverage is characterized in detail; various legal forms of social security (for example, government social security, social insurance (mandatory as well as voluntary) and social support) are analyzed; and the possibilities of their application to informal workers in the BRICS countries are defined.

The post-COVID-19 economic crisis has resulted in widespread unemployment and the migration of workers in India, particularly in the informal sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of total employment in the country. Migrant workers are returning to their homes and will soon be looking for alternative sources of income. Entrepreneurship centered on locally made traditional products can provide revenue to migrant workers in such conditions. These returning underprivileged workers can use their traditional knowledge and skills to support their families and create new employment opportunities in their communities. Laws relating to geographical indications will aid in the protection and promotion of such traditional product lines in domestic consumer markets. The protection and promotion of such traditional product lines in domestic consumer markets will be aided by laws relating to geographical indications. The same can be further complemented by the new Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, which went into effect in February 2020 and allows for the registration system of Geographical Indications in multiple countries through a single procedure with the World Intellectual Property Organization. As a result, it is proposed that the government should promote geographical indications as a policy instrument to help the rural economy during these ongoing difficult times.

Value-added taxation (VAT) is an essential component of the financial system of any modern state, which determines the attention of the legislator to the development of its legal regulation, as well as the subject of this article. The processes of transformation of VAT legal regulation systems that are observed in the BRICS countries (the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of India, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of South Africa) demonstrate the greatest activity in this area of legal relations. The task of studying such changes, which makes it possible to identify common features and individual features of various types of legal regulation of value-added taxation, is solved on the basis of an integrated assessment of the characteristics of the tax redistribution of value added. Based on the results of their research, the types of legal regulation of VAT in the BRICS countries are identified and the place that the Russian model of legal regulation of VAT occupies in this classification is determined.

Декларация Министров труда и занятости стран БРИКС “Квалифицированные рабочие места и инклюзивная политика в области занятости” гарантирует, что формализация рынков занятости является глобальным приоритетом для стран БРИКС, поскольку неформальная занятость препятствует производительности, потенциальному экономическому росту и усилиям по повышению благосостояния населения. Принимая во внимание эту стратегическую цель, авторы анализируют процессы неформальной занятости в странах БРИКС и размышляют о переходе от неформальной занятости к формальной. В статье затрагиваются вопросы неоднородного понятийного диапазона, используемого для определения неформальной занятости. Предлагается использовать возможности трудового законодательства и государственной политики в области занятости (увеличение числа официальных рабочих мест, динамичное развитие трудового законодательства, направленное на регулирование новых форм занятости). Подробно охарактеризован потенциал права на социальное обеспечение для достижения целей перехода к формальной экономике и охвату социальным обеспечением, проанализированы правовые формы социального обеспечения (государственное социальное обеспечение, социальное страхование (обязательное и добровольное), социальная поддержка), определены возможности их применения к неформальным работникам в странах БРИКС.