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International Labour Standards International Labour Standards take the form of ILO Conventions and Recommendations. ILO Conventions are of particular interest, because they are legally binding international instruments once they are ratified by a member state. The International Labour Conference in Geneva, the legislative body of the ILO, adopts ILO Conventions. The International Labour Conference is a tripartite body: every member state is represented by two government delegates, one workers’ and one employers’ representative. In June 2001 the International Labour Conference adopted Convention No. 184 on Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture The role of the SAMAT specialist in the field of International Labour Standards and Labour Law (ILS) is to work towards the ratification and implementation of the ILO Conventions in the nine SAMAT countries. The ILS
Specialist promotes the ratification of certain Conventions in accordance with
the policy of the ILO. At the moment, in line with the 1998 ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up,
the eight fundamental Conventions in particular are promoted. The eight
Conventions are:
By May 2002 five of the nine countries covered by SAMAT; Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa and Zambia had already ratified all the eight fundamental conventions. In order to ratify a Convention, a
Member state needs to have passed a legislative act by the legislative body of
the State, which in Southern Africa in general is the parliament. Sometimes the
ratification process can be a lengthy procedure, and the ILS Specialist assists
and advises the government and the parliamentarians during this process. To ratify a Convention, the national
labour laws quite often need to be revised. This could be in the form of
harmonisation of various existing texts and drafts, modernising of laws
inherited from the past, or updating of texts to take account of modern policy
choices or new technologies. Some SAMAT countries prefer that their labour laws
are fully in line with an ILO Convention before ratifying it. Other countries
ratify Conventions before their national labour standards are completely in
accordance with them, because it puts more pressure on the legislature to act. Once ILO Conventions are ratified,
the State member is legally obliged to implement the content of the Convention
in or through national law, and to enforce it. The enforcement of the
international labour standards is the most crucial part of a State members'
obligation. The ILO has general and special supervision bodies to make sure that
the ILO standards are enforced. One of the most important regular supervision
procedures is the reporting obligation under Article
22 of the ILO Constitution. Member States are
obliged to periodically (every two years on the eight fundamental and four
priority Conventions, and every five years on all other Conventions) send a
report on the measures, which it has taken to give effect to the provisions of
the Conventions to which it is a party. These reports are then supervised by the
Committee of Experts, composed of legal experts, whose task it is to put forward
their observations on an entirely independent basis. The SAMAT ILS Specialist
also assists Member States in their reporting obligations. As international labour standards are related to many
aspects of men's and women's working lives, the ILS Specialist within SAMAT
relates closely with all other Specialists in their respective fields.
For further information, please contact Ms. Cecile Balima-Vittin
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