International Labour Organization: History, Structure, and Standards

International Labour Organization (ILO): History and Mission

• The ILO is the international organization responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labor standards.
• It is the only tripartite United Nations specialized agency that brings together representatives of governments, employers, and workers to jointly shape policies and programs promoting decent work for all.

Key Milestones in ILO History

• 1919 – ILO was created as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, to reflect the belief that universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is based on social justice. The ILO was formed in order to press for social reform in employment practices.
• The ILO has made significant contributions to the world of work from its early days. The first International Labour Conference held in Washington in October 1919 adopted six International Labour Conventions.
• 1944 - Adoption of the Declaration of Philadelphia, which includes the fundamental principles on which the Organization is based and, in particular, that labor is not a commodity.
• Today, 183 countries are members of the ILO.

ILO Structure: Ensuring Social Dialogue

• The structure of the ILO, where workers and employers together have an equal voice with governments in its deliberations, shows social dialogue in action. It ensures that the views of the social partners are closely reflected in ILO labor standards, policies, and programs.
• The ILO accomplishes its work through three main bodies, which comprise governments', employers', and workers' representatives:

  • The International Labour Conference

  • Meets annually in Geneva, Switzerland, to set minimum international labor standards and the Organization’s policies.
  • Often called an international parliament of labor.
  • The Conference is also a forum for discussion of key social and labor questions.

    • The Governing Body

    • Is the executive body of the International Labour Office.
    • Meets three times a year, in March, June, and November, between annual sessions of the Conference.
    • It makes decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference, adopts the draft Program and Budget of the Organization for submission to the Conference, and elects the Director-General.

      • The International Labour Office (Secretariat)

      • Is the secretariat of the Organization (Headquarters is based in Geneva). Administration and management are decentralized in regional, area, and branch offices.

ILO's Supervisory System for Labor Standards

• International labor standards are backed by a supervisory system that is unique at the international level and that helps to ensure that countries implement the conventions they ratify.
• The ILO regularly examines the application of standards in member states and points out areas where they could be better applied.
• There are two kinds of supervisory mechanisms:
  • The regular system for supervising the application of standards (it is based on the examination by two ILO bodies of reports on the application in law and practice sent by member States and on observations in this regard sent by workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations).
  • ILO bodies, participating in this process:
    1. The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
    2. The International Labour Conference’s Tripartite Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
  • Special procedures are based on the submission of a representation or a complaint.

Procedure for representations on the application of ratified Conventions.

Procedure for complaints over the application of ratified Conventions.

Special procedure for complaints regarding freedom of association (Freedom of Association Committee).

ILO's Primary Goal and Strategic Objectives

• “The primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity.”
• Four principal strategic objectives:
  1. Standards and fundamental principles and rights at work
  2. Decent employment
  3. Social protection for all
  4. Strengthen tripartism and social dialogue