The Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work has been adopted by the ILO in 1998 as a
commitment to basic human values vital to our social and economic lives.
These values may be summarized in the four axes of :
- Freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
- Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour.
- Effective abolition of child labour.
- Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Applied to all ILO member States regardless of their levels of economic development, cultural
values and history the Declaration is subject to a Follow-up which provides three ways of
implementation : the Annual Review composed of reports from countries that have not yet ratified
some of the ILO Conventions directly related to these specific principles; the Global Report which
provides each year a dynamic global picture of the current situation of the Declaration's principles;
the technical cooperation designed to respond to the identified needs in relation to the Declaration.
Moreover, each year the ILO will now publish a special Report on the implementation of these issues :
in 2002 on Child Labour, in 2003 on Discrimination, in 2004 on Freedom of Association and Collective
Bargaining and in 2005 on Forced and Compulsory Labour. The ILO has already published such Reports in
2000 on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining and in 2001 on Forced and Compulsory Labour.
Today the Declaration is gaining wider recognition. It has been integrated in several international
instruments such as the UN Secretary General's Global Compact and the European Commission's
Generalised System of Preferences and the Corporate Social Responsibility of the European Comission
which promote these principles as universal.
For more information on the Declaration's promotion,
click here.
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