GB.349/LILS/1/Decision
Decision concerning the report of the eighth meeting of the Standards Review Mechanism Tripartite Working Group (Geneva, 11-15 September 2023)
3 November 2023
The Governing Body took note of the report of the Officers concerning the eighth meeting of the Standards Review Mechanism Tripartite Working Group (SRM TWG) and, in approving its recommendations:
(a) welcomed the SRM TWG’s consensual recommendations and noted that it had postponed its decision on the classification of the instruments concerning night work of children and young persons, pending research requested from the Office, until its next review at an appropriate time;
(b) decided that the instruments concerning maternity protection, social security (old age, invalidity and survivors’ benefits) and the protection of children and young persons that were reviewed by the SRM TWG at its eighth meeting should be considered to have the classifications it recommended;
(c) called upon the Organization and its tripartite constituents to take concerted steps to follow up on all its recommendations as organized by the SRM TWG into practical and time-bound packages of follow-up action;
(d) requested the Office to take the necessary action in follow-up to the recommendations of the SRM TWG at this and previous meetings as a matter of institutional priority;
(e) requested the Office to prepare research to be discussed by a tripartite meeting, to be determined by the Governing Body at the earliest date possible, so as to enable the Organization to assess whether there are gaps in respect of paternity and parental protection and, if so, what normative and/or non-normative actions could be appropriate;
(f) underscored the need to ensure that the SRM TWG’s planned programme of work is considered in the ILO’s strategic planning and future resource allocations, to ensure adequate funding is provided to support the work of the SRM TWG, and requested the Office to take the necessary steps in this regard;
(g) noted the SRM TWG’s recommendations concerning the abrogation and withdrawal of certain instruments, in relation to which it will consider:
i. placing an item concerning the abrogation of Conventions Nos 10, 33, 59 and 123 and the withdrawal of Convention No. 5 and Recommendations Nos 41, 52 and 124 on the agenda of the 116th Session of the International Labour Conference (2028);
ii. placing an item concerning the abrogation of Conventions Nos 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40 on the agenda of the 121st Session of the International Labour Conference (2033);
iii. placing an item concerning the abrogation of Conventions Nos 3 and 103 and the withdrawal of Recommendation No. 95 on the agenda of the 121st Session of the International Labour Conference (2033). An evaluation will be held in 2028 to assess whether Member States with effective ratifications of those outdated Conventions have taken any necessary action to ratify Convention No.183. If progress has not been made, the date at which the Conference will consider the item may be reconsidered by the Governing Body; (h) decided to convene the ninth meeting of the SRM TWG from 16 to 20 September 2024, at which it should review fourteen instruments, and examine the follow-up to four outdated instruments, concerning fishers, dockers, indigenous and tribal peoples, and other categories of workers, as included in sets of instruments seventeen and nineteen of the SRM TWG’s initial programme of work; and
(i) noted the SRM TWG’s decision to provisionally set its work plan for the next five years with the aim of possibly completing the review of all instruments in its initial programme of work by 2028, taking into account the need to guarantee the quality of its work reviewing the standards.
(GB.349/LILS/1, paragraph 6)
(a) welcomed the SRM TWG’s consensual recommendations and noted that it had postponed its decision on the classification of the instruments concerning night work of children and young persons, pending research requested from the Office, until its next review at an appropriate time;
(b) decided that the instruments concerning maternity protection, social security (old age, invalidity and survivors’ benefits) and the protection of children and young persons that were reviewed by the SRM TWG at its eighth meeting should be considered to have the classifications it recommended;
(c) called upon the Organization and its tripartite constituents to take concerted steps to follow up on all its recommendations as organized by the SRM TWG into practical and time-bound packages of follow-up action;
(d) requested the Office to take the necessary action in follow-up to the recommendations of the SRM TWG at this and previous meetings as a matter of institutional priority;
(e) requested the Office to prepare research to be discussed by a tripartite meeting, to be determined by the Governing Body at the earliest date possible, so as to enable the Organization to assess whether there are gaps in respect of paternity and parental protection and, if so, what normative and/or non-normative actions could be appropriate;
(f) underscored the need to ensure that the SRM TWG’s planned programme of work is considered in the ILO’s strategic planning and future resource allocations, to ensure adequate funding is provided to support the work of the SRM TWG, and requested the Office to take the necessary steps in this regard;
(g) noted the SRM TWG’s recommendations concerning the abrogation and withdrawal of certain instruments, in relation to which it will consider:
i. placing an item concerning the abrogation of Conventions Nos 10, 33, 59 and 123 and the withdrawal of Convention No. 5 and Recommendations Nos 41, 52 and 124 on the agenda of the 116th Session of the International Labour Conference (2028);
ii. placing an item concerning the abrogation of Conventions Nos 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40 on the agenda of the 121st Session of the International Labour Conference (2033);
iii. placing an item concerning the abrogation of Conventions Nos 3 and 103 and the withdrawal of Recommendation No. 95 on the agenda of the 121st Session of the International Labour Conference (2033). An evaluation will be held in 2028 to assess whether Member States with effective ratifications of those outdated Conventions have taken any necessary action to ratify Convention No.183. If progress has not been made, the date at which the Conference will consider the item may be reconsidered by the Governing Body; (h) decided to convene the ninth meeting of the SRM TWG from 16 to 20 September 2024, at which it should review fourteen instruments, and examine the follow-up to four outdated instruments, concerning fishers, dockers, indigenous and tribal peoples, and other categories of workers, as included in sets of instruments seventeen and nineteen of the SRM TWG’s initial programme of work; and
(i) noted the SRM TWG’s decision to provisionally set its work plan for the next five years with the aim of possibly completing the review of all instruments in its initial programme of work by 2028, taking into account the need to guarantee the quality of its work reviewing the standards.
(GB.349/LILS/1, paragraph 6)