The UN declaration of human rights states that “everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”. But for one group, the so called precariat, this is hard to fulfill. The precariat consists of millions of people being forced to accept a life of unstable labour and unstable living. In this lecture the British professor Guy Standing from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and with long experience from working for the International Labour Organization will advance our understanding of the precariat. He will discuss the political and economic tensions being created around the group and how they are losing all forms of rights – civil, cultural, social, political and economic.