International labor standards often aim to protect groups on the margins of and within the labor market that are potentially in a vulnerable, precarious, or disadvantaged position. The unequal bargaining position of workers, their economic dependency on their jobs, and their subordinate position vis-à-vis their employer are core reasons for granting them protection in the form of labor rights. Additionally, international labor standards protect a number of other or subgroups such as victims of

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... iolence and harassment at work, domestic workers, victims of discrimination, Indigenous peoples, children, and many more. That they do underscores the close connection between internationally recognized workers' rights and the human rights regime. It is for good reason that fundamental labor standards are often dubbed "human rights at work." This edition of the International Labor Rights Case Law Journal (ILaRC) features several cases that deal with the protection of specific groups of workers in specific sectors. Lucia Jeremiašová, who studies at Tilburg University, won this year's edition of the ILaRC student commentary competition with her contribution on the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (ceacr) observation on the application of the Forced Labour Convention in Qatar. In its observation, the ceacr analyzes and tracks the developments in light of the abolishment of the kafala sponsorship system. Jeremiašová explains that the issues related to migrant workers facing forced labor were so severe that every ilo supervisory mechanism has been put in practice in recent years. She goes on to observe, however, that although Qatar seems to be on the right track to adequately address forced labor practices, a number of issues that require attention remain, such as effective law enforcement and recruitment fees charged to migrant workers. Geoffrey Allsop, candidate attorney from Johannesburg, analyzes the Mahlangu case from the Constitutional Court of South Africa, in which the exclusion from the definition of employee of domestic workers was challenged. When a domestic worker died as a result of a workplace-related accident, her daughter was denied compensation under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act because domestic workers are excluded from the scope of this law. Allsop explains that the resulting judgments of the Constitutional Court provide valuable insights into the interconnected © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2021