Unit 2: International Labour Organization
2.1 ILO, Its Origin, Organizational Structure and Functions
The origin: the 1919 Treaty of Versailles’ Part XIII (the social-justice-as-peace thesis — “poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere”); the 1946’s specialised-agency status; the Nobel’s recognition (1969). The structure’s tripartite uniqueness: the governments-workers-employers’ equal seats (the only tripartite UN body): the International Labour Conference (the annual assembly — the standards’ adoption); the Governing Body (the executive — the agenda’s setting); the International Labour Office (the secretariat — the DG’s administration). The functions: the standard-setting (the conventions-and-recommendations); the supervision (the regular-and-direct-contacts machinery — the CEACR’s examination of the reports); the technical cooperation (the projects); the research-and-publication.
2.2 ILO’s Contribution to Global Labour Standard/Jurisprudence Setting and Its Process
The standard-setting’s process: the double-discussion path (the item’s adoption — the conference’s two readings; the convention-and-recommendation’s vote); the supervisory machinery: the states’ periodic reports (the ratified conventions’ implementation); the CEACR’s examination (the committee of experts’ comments); the conference’s committee (the special complaints’ review); the representations-and-complaints (the C87-C98 articles’ procedures — the freedom-of-association committee’s special machinery); the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (the obligations-even-unratified: the member-states’ duty to respect the fundamentals regardless of ratification) — the jurisprudence’s global diffusion (the conventions’ incorporation into the national laws — Nepal’s own alignment history).
2.3 Core International Labour Standards
The fundamentals (the 1998 Declaration’s four + the 2022 additions — now the ten fundamental conventions):
- The freedom of association-and-collective bargaining: C87 (1948) + C98 (1949).
- The forced-labour elimination: C29 (1930) + C105 (1957) + the 2014 protocol.
- The child-labour elimination: C138 (1973) + C182 (1999).
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