Welcome to the International Labour Standards website!
ILO Conventions and Recommendations cover a broad range of subjects concerning work, employment, social security, social policy and related human rights.

The ILO's supervisory bodies -- the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards -- regularly examine the application of ILS in ILO member States. Representation and complaint procedures can also be initiated against states that fail to comply with conventions they have ratified. A special procedure -- the Committee on Freedom of Association -- reviews complaints concerning violations of freedom of association, whether or not a member State has ratified the relevant conventions.

Supervisory bodies and procedures

What's new

Proposal for Guidelines for flag State inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 - [pdf 398 KB]
17 July 2008 - Tripartite expert meeting to adopt Guidelines on Flag State Inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
Proposal for Guidelines for port State control officers carrying out inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 - [pdf 441 KB]
17 July 2008 - Tripartite expert meeting to develop Guidelines for port State control officers carrying out inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
PR No. 19 Part Two - Report of the Committee on the Application of Standards - [pdf 4015 KB]
13 June 2008
PR No. 19, Part III: Observations and information concerning particular countries - [pdf 6971 KB]
13 June 2008
350th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association - [GB.302/5 - pdf 2555 KB]
13 June 2008
PR no. 19 - Part One - Report of the Committee on the Application of Standards - [pdf 438 KB]
11 June 2008
Ratifications of the 1997 Instrument of Amendment to the Constitution of the ILO and of International Labour Standards
09 June 2008 - The Director of the International Labour Standards Department and the Legal Adviser received ratifications of the 1997 Instrument of Amendment to the Constitution of the ILO and of International Labour Conventions.
Including indigenous peoples in poverty reduction strategies - [pdf 348 KB]
30 April 2008 - A Practice Guide based on experiences from Cambodia, Cameroon and Nepal
29 April 2008 – New publication: Governance, International Law & Corporate Social Responsibility (International Institute for Labour Studies and International Labour Organization)
Luxembourg ratifies 20 ILO Instruments including 15 in the field of occupational safety and health
08 April 2008 - The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has ratified 20 Instruments of the International Labour Organization – 18 conventions and 2 protocols, most of which are related to occupational safety and health. A combined ratification of such magnitude is relatively rare in the history of the ILO. As a result, Luxembourg has now ratified a hundred ILO Instruments.
Report III(1B): General Survey concerning the Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) and Recommendation (No. 84) - [pdf 987 KB]
12 March 2008
ILO Convention No. 187 on occupational safety and health to come into force following ratification by the Republic of Korea
13 March 2008 - The Republic of Korea has recently ratified a new ILO Convention, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health, Convention No. 187. This ratification will bring this important international labour standard designed to promote a “preventive safety and health culture” into force in the next 12 months.
- C187 Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006
Eliminating discrimination against indigenous and tribal peoples in employment and occupation - [pdf 394 KB]
29 February 2008 - A Guide to ILO Convention No. 111
Report III(1A): Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations - [pdf 10956 KB]
28 February 2008
- Committee of Experts
Bahamas ratifies major new ILO Maritime Labour Convention
12 February 2008 - The Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas today handed over its instrument of ratification of the historic Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
- Maritime Labour Convention
Strengthening security on the high seas and in world ports: ILO Convention on seafarers’ ID card gains new momentum
25 January 2008 - A growing number of countries have already ratified the ILO's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention No.185 adopted in 2003 or will do so in the near future. The international Convention came into force in February 2005 and creates the first globally applicable system of biometric identification for secure identity documents for the estimated 1.2 million seafarers in the world.
- C185 - Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003
NATLEX Country Profiles database
This database brings together information on national labour law and the application of international labour standards in one portal