In June
1963, the ILO Governing Body decided to exclude
South Africa from some of the trade
committees because of its policy of apartheid. In 1964, at its 48
th
Session, the International Labour Conference (ILC) unanimously approved the
Declaration
concerning the Policy of Apartheid of the Republic of South Africa and
the ILO programme for the elimination of apartheid in the field of labour.
The Declaration reasserted the principle of equal opportunity, condemned
the South African Government′s racial policy and demanded that South Africa
recognize and fulfil its undertaking to respect the freedom and dignity of
all human beings by renouncing its policy of apartheid.
In order to avoid being officially excluded, the Republic of South
Africa withdrew from ILO of its own accord,
notifying its departure on 11 March 1964. It rejoined the Organization on
26 May 1994, three years after the official abrogation of the apartheid
laws and ten days after the election of Nelson Mandela as President of the
Republic. In 1990, Nelson Mandela, then Vice-President of the African
National Congress (ANC), attended the 77
th Session of the ILC,
where he paid tribute to ILO for its struggle against apartheid. In June
2007, ILO awarded its first annual Decent Work Research Prize jointly to
Nelson Mandela and Professor Carmelo Mesa-Lago, in recognition of their
unique personal contribution to improving the lives of people around the
world.
The
Instrument
of Amendment to the ILO Constitution (No. 2, 1964), which reads
“Inclusion in the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation of
a provision empowering the Conference to suspend from participation in the
International Labour Conference any member which has been found by the
United Nations to be flagrantly and persistently pursuing by its
legislation a declared policy of racial discrimination such as
apartheid", is not currently in force.
