Publications on International Labour Standards
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Publications on International Labour Standards

Key publications on International Labour Standards

  1.  Rules of the Game: a brief introduction to International Labour Standards (Revised edition 2009)
    2009 - Aimed at a non-specialist audience, this revised booklet provides an introduction to international labour standards and discusses their importance in today’s global economy, the subjects they cover, how they are applied and supervised, and where further information can be sought.
  1. Les normes internationales du travail: un patrimoine pour l'avenir. Mélanges en l'honneur de Nicolas Valticos
    2004 - Comprises a collection of legal essays in honour of former ILO Assistant Director-General, Nicolas Valticos (1918-2003). Twenty-nine articles exclusively dedicated to standard-setting and supervision of international, labour standards.
  1. Guide to international labour standards (2008)
    2008 - Provides summaries of the contents of ILO Conventions and Recommendations by subject matter.
  1. Fundamental rights at work and international labour standards
    2003 - Offers a detailed description of the relevant Conventions and their principles, along with specific problems encountered in their application at national level.
  1. International labour standards: A global approach
    2002 - Describes the main content of all ILO Conventions and Recommendations which respond to current needs and makes reference to those instruments which are to be revised. Identifies the most frequent problems encountered in the application of these standards in various countries.
  1. Handbook of procedures relating to international labour Conventions and Recommendations (Rev. 2012)
    2012 - This Handbook describes the procedures operating within the International Labour Organization in relation to the adoption and implementation of Conventions and Recommendations.

Articles and Working papers on International Labour Standards

  1. Rights at work in times of crisis: Trends at the country level in terms of compliance with international labour standards
    2011 - This paper seeks to identify trends in rights at work during the global financial and economic crisis that began in 2008, in terms of international labour standards. Its primary sources of information use recent observations of the International Labour Organisation’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) relating to the crisis, as well as data collected in the ILO/World Bank inventory standardized questionnaire of policy responses to the crisis on a sample of 50 countries covering the period mid-2008 - mid-2010.
  1. A legal perspective on the role of international labour standards in rebalancing globalization
    2011 - Research Conference on ‘Key Lessons from the Crisis and Way Forward’, 16-17 February 2011, International Institute for Labour Studies.
  1. International labour standards: Recent developments in complementarity between the international and national supervisory systems
    2008 - International Labour Review, Vol. 147 (2008), No. 4
  1. Working Paper No. 58 - Decent work, standards and indicators
    2005 - This paper presents a highly detailed and comprehensive method for constructing country profiles based on normative indicators as a tool for progress towards decent work. Country profiles on occupational safety and health (OSH) are available for a large number of countries.

Standard-setting activities and supervisory system of the ILO

  1. The Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour Conference: A dynamic and impact built on decades of dialogue and persuasion
    2011 - On the occasion of the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference, and the 85th anniversary of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, this study aims at emphasizing the significance of the work carried out by this body.
  1. The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations: its dynamic and impact
    2003 - Describes the composition and functioning of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and reviews cases of progress in relation to the application of eight fundamental Conventions. Also lists cases of progress in relation to the implementation of the "priority and technical" conventions from 1988 to 2002 and the fundamental conventions from 1978 to 2003.
  1. The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations: Progress achieved in national labour legislation
    2006 - International Labour Review, Vol. 145 (2006), No. 3
  1. The Committee of Freedom of Association: Its impact over 50 years
    2002 - Based on a selection of examples from the past 25 years, examines the manner in which the Committee on Freedom of Association of the Governing Body of the ILO carries out its supervisory role.
  1. Protecting Labour Rights as Human Rights: Present and Future of International Supervision (proceedings)
    2007 - Proceedings of the international colloquium on the 80th anniversary of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Geneva, 24-25 November 2006 (Articles in English, French and Spanish)
  1. Governance, International Law & Corporate Social Responsibility
    2008 - Examines the legal dimensions of corporate social responsibility and links with the ILO's supervisory system (International Institute for Labour Studies)

Freedom of Association

  1. Freedom of association - Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee of the Governing Body of the ILO. Fifth (revised) edition, 2006
    2006 - Summarizes the decisions and principles of the Committee on Freedom of Association up to its 339th report (November 2005).
  1. Working paper No. 1 "Freedom of association and collective bargaining in export processing zones: Role of the ILO supervisory mechanisms"
    2007 - Discusses the principles of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and the Committee on Freedom of Association concerning the freedom of association and collective bargaining rights of workers in export processing zones (EPZs), the recommendations made by them and the measures taken by the governments of EPZ-operating countries pursuant to such recommendatio.
  1. Working Paper No. 2 - Labour relations in the public and para-public sector
    2007 - It is normally accepted that the public sector includes, on the one hand, the public service, consisting of State administrations and public bodies throughout the country (at the regional and local levels) and, on the other hand, public enterprises, which are owned wholly or in part by the State or regional public authorities. In general, for the purposes of the paper, the concept of the public sector is understood in its broadest sense, that is covering all public administrations, irrespective of their level and enterprises wholly or partly owned by public bodies at whatever level.
  1. Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
    1994 - General Survey of the Reports on the Freedom of Association and the Right to Organize Convention (No. 87), 1948 and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention (No. 98), 1949
  1. Collective Bargaining: ILO standards and the principles of the supervisory bodies
    2000 - Provides an analysis of the observations made by the Committee of Experts in 1998 and 1999 on the application of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) and related ILO standards
  1. ILO principles concerning the right to strike
    2000 - Examines the principles laid down by the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association concerning the right to strike, covering inter alia political strikes, compensatory guarantees if the right to strike is denied, and protection against reprisals for strike action.
  1. Freedom of association: A user's guide - Standards, principles and procedures of the International Labour Organization
    2000 - Serves as a companion volume to "ILO law on freedom of association: standards and procedures" (Geneva, 1995). Describes the practical influence and impact of the ILO’s freedom of association standards and principles and the use of procedures for their enforcement.
  1. ILO Law on Freedom of Association: Standards and procedures
    1995 - Part one contains texts of and extracts from ILO Conventions and ILO Recommendations dealing with freedom of association and labour relations. Part two contains extracts from the regulations governing the procedure of the ILO’s supervisory bodies.
  1. Report I(B): Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
    2008 - Freedom of association in practice: Lessons learned.

Informal economy

  1. Extending the scope of application of labour laws to the informal economy
    2010 - Digest of comments of the ILO’s supervisory bodies related to the informal economy

Seafarers

  1. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: A Legal Primer to an Emerging International Regime
    2011 - M. L. McConnell, D. Devlin, C. Doumbia-Henry - Discusses the MLC, 2006 within the contexts of labour and maritime law, and provides an annotated version of the text.
  1. Guidelines for port State control officers carrying out inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
    2009 - The guidelines contained in this book are an important international resource for implementing port State responsibilities under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC). They were adopted by the ILO in September 2008 together with Guidelines for flag State inspections under the MLC, 2006.
  1. Guidelines for flag State inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
    2009 - The Guidelines for flag State inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), contained in this book are an important resource for implementing flag State responsibilities under the MLC, 2006. They were adopted by the ILO in September 2008 together with Guidelines for port State control officers carrying out inspections under the MLC, 2006.
  1. Compendium of Maritime Labour Instruments
    2008 - Maritime Labour Convention, 2006; Seafarers' Identity Documents (Revised) Convention, 2003; Work in Fishing Convention and Recommendation, 2007. This essential new reference source presents the full text of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, along with a collection of related standards, including the Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. ...
  1. Building the momentum for the ILO's Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
    2009 - INTLREG Magazine, 2nd edition 2009 (International Register of Shipping) - Article by Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the International Labour Standards Departement.
  1. Current Maritime Labour Law Issues - An Internationally Uniform Identity Document for Seafarers
    2003 - This article reviews the achievements of the recently adopted Convention on Seafarers’ Identity Documents (Revised) 2003, (No.185) adopted by the International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization. (First published in the World Maritime University Journal of Maritime Affairs, 2003, Vol. 2, No. 2. Reproduced with permission).
  1. How biometrics helps the seafarer and world trade
    2006 - This article first appeared in the February 2006 issue of ISO Focus - the Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006 and is reproduced here with the permission of the ISO Central Secretariat.
  1. Safety and health in ports. ILO code of practice
    2005 - This essential code of practice, intended to replace both the second edition of the ILO Code of Practice on Safety and Health in Dock Work (1977) and the ILO Guide to Safety and Health in Dock Work (1976), provides valuable advice and assistance to all those charged with the management, operation, maintenance and development of ports and their safety.

Technical cooperation

  1. Improving the impact of international labour standards through technical cooperation : a practice guide
    2008 - Provides practical guidance to the International Labour Standards Department, including staff at headquarters and field specialists, on strategic entry points and opportunities for promoting and implementing international labour standards through technical cooperation.

Social Security

  1. Standards for the XXIst Century: Social Security
    2002 - Describes the characteristics of the ILO’s social security standards, highlighting their universality and flexibility and their common principles. Examines the protection afforded in each of the nine branches of social security and considers the treatment of migrant workers.

Trade and labour rights

  1. The comments of the ILO's Supervisory bodies: Usefulness in the context of the sanction-based dimension of labour provisions in US free trade agreements
    2013 - ILO Research Paper No. 4
  1. Free trade agreements and labour rights: Recent developments
    2006 - International Labour Review, Vol. 145 (2006), No. 3
  1. Trade and employment: Challenges for policy research
    2007 - On the basis of an overview of the existing academic literature, the study provides an impartial view of what can be said, and with what degree of confidence, on the relationship between trade and employment, an often contentious issue of public debate. ...

Gender issues

  1. Equal Pay - An introductory guide
     2013- Ensuring that the work done by women and men is valued fairly and ending pay discrimination is essential to achieving gender equality. However, pay inequality continues to persist and gender pay gaps in some instances have stagnated or even increased.
  2. Gender Equality and Decent Work - Selected ILO Conventions and Recommendations Promoting Gender Equality
     2006 - Lack of awareness of women workers’ rights has increasingly been recognized as a constraint in the effective use of standards. Dissemination of information about these rights is, therefore, a vital instrument for improving the status of women in society. While ILO instruments are applicable to both women and men, there are a number which are of specific interest for women workers and they are included in this useful reference.

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples

  1. Understanding the Indigenous and Tribal People Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - Handbook for ILO Tripartite Constituents
    2013 - This handbook aims to answer some of the essential questions regarding Convention No. 169 and is addressed to governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as for indigenous and tribal peoples.
  1. Including indigenous peoples in poverty reduction strategies
    2008 - A Practice Guide based on experiences from Cambodia, Cameroon and Nepal
  1. Eliminating discrimination against indigenous and tribal peoples in employment and occupation
    2008 - A Guide to ILO Convention No. 111
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