Labour Rights, a Concern for all International Institutions, Says ILO Official

Geneva, November 8 2001 (ACTRAV Info): "Core labour standards have to be on the agenda of all international institutions whose policies and action have an impact on workers and their living conditions". This is what Bill Brett, Vice-Chairman of the Governing Body of the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO) and chairman of the ILO Workers' group, says in an article published today on the eve of the opening of the Fourth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Doha and of a global day of action called by the international trade union movement.

Brett's article is a contribution to the latest issue of Labour Education, the quarterly magazine published by the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV). He added "governments cannot say one thing in the ILO and speak another language in institutions such as the WTO".

Mr Brett refers to the adoption in 1998 by the ILO of a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work which makes clear that all ILO member States have an obligation, by the sole virtue of their membership of the organization, "to respect, to promote and to realize" workers' fundamental rights defined as freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Devoted to "Fundamental rights at work", the publication reviews the situation of workers' rights worldwide noting an increase on attacks against trade unions, the persistence of discrimination and the need to increase the struggle against the worst forms of child labour.

A report by the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), referred to in the publication, deplores that more than 200 trade union activists were killed last year because of their trade union activities. A study by the World Confederation of Labour reveals that rights abuses are particularly prevalent in export processing zones "which have become illustrations of the side effects of globalization on workers' rights.

A number of contributions from trade unions call for the inclusion of a workers' rights clause into international trade agreements, including the WTO.

While Kari Tapiola, ILO Executive Director, notes that "for both political and technical reasons, no early solution to this social clause debate is in sight, he stressed that the ILO Declaration and its follow up "could serve the need for social governance of the world economy, something that is still missing in the global debate".

Contributing to this issue, James Howard, a senior ICFTU official says that, in Doha, the WTO needs to agree on some forms of working or study group or similar body with the participation of the ILO, that would be asked to undertake analysis and to make recommendations about WTO statutes and procedures in order to achieve consistency with respect for core labour standards".

"The globalization process should be given a human face and workers in developing, transition and industrialized countries should be able to fully and equally benefit from it" stresses Manuel Simón Velasco, Director of the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities. He noted that at the present moment the ILO is the only international institution where the social dimensions of globalization are being debated.

The ILO Governing Body which is presently meeting in Geneva will discuss a proposal by the ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, to set up a world commission of eminent personalities which would provide a forum for all the institutions concerned to launch a debate on this issue.

Copies of Labour Education can be obtained from the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities.
For more details contact: Luc Demaret (ACTRAV), Tel: 41 22 799 7233