EuropaWorld 8/12/2000 The International Labour Organisation (ILO)

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is the specialised agency of the United Nations seeking to promote social justice through establishing and safeguarding internationally recognised human and labour rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which also brought the United Nations predecessor -the League of Nations - into being.

The motivations behind the creation of such an organisation were political and economic but primarily humanitarian. The condition of workers at the beginning of the last century was becoming less and less acceptable to a civilised society. Overcrowding, long hours, unsafe, unhygienic and dangerous conditions were common elements in often tedious and unrewarding manufacturing careers. It was also recognised that worker dissatisfaction could lead to great social unrest and possibly even revolution. Of course, the economically prudent were furthermore aware that increased productivity depended on a reliable and satisfied workforce and this would not come without an improvement in conditions. Despite these pragmatic and utilitarian motivations however, there is still the more noble sentiment behind the creation of the ILO that is embodied in the organisation's very constitution; that "universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice."

Thus at the 1919 Peace Conference, which convened first in Paris and later in Versailles, an international Labour Commission was established to agree upon minimum labour standards and rights for the workers of the world. The Commission was composed of representatives from nine countries, Belgium, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The result of their recommendations was a tripartite organisation - the only one of its kind - bringing together representatives of governments, employers and workers in its executive. This body would formulate international labour standards and establish minimum rights including; freedom of association, the right to organise, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues. This tripartite structure still exists today and is unique within the UN system.

Representatives of all the ILO member states meet each June at the International Labour Conference in Geneva. Each member state is represented by two government delegates, an employer delegate and a worker delegate. The Conference acts as a base from which labour standards can be adopted and as a forum from where social and labour questions of importance to the entire world are discussed. ILO policy and budget is decided by the executive board of the organisation, which is composed of 28 government members, 14 employer members and 14 worker members. The executive body meet 3 times a year to decide policy and programmes and these are then submitted to the Conference for adoption.

The International Labour Office is the permanent secretariat of the ILO. The Office employs some 1,900 officials of over 110 nationalities at its Geneva headquarters and in 40 field offices around the world. The Office oversees the activities of the ILO under the watchful eye of the executive body and under the leadership of the director-general, who holds office for five-year renewable terms..

The current director- general of the ILO is Chilean Juan Somavia, an attorney by profession. He took up office in 1999 - the ninth person to hold this post since the organisation's creation. Mr. Somavia has had a distinguished career in civil and international affairs, serving, inter alia, as Chairman of the preparatory Council of the World Summit for Social Development (held in Copenhagen in 1995) and President of the UN Economic and Social Council (from 1993 to 1994). He has held the post of Ambassador of Chile and served as an Adviser to the Foreign Minister of Chile on Economic and Social Affairs. He will hold office until 2004.

In 1969, on its fiftieth anniversary, the ILO was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its contribution to human rights and social justice. In light of the increasingly complex labour problems facing the world today - often with concomitant human rights violations, many are looking to the ILO to continue this admirable record.

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