Wilfred Jenks Lecture Series

It also seeks to strengthen the ILO’s long-standing ties with legal scholars and practitioners. This initiative has its origins in the ILO100 Law for Social Justice academic conference, which took place in 2019 during the celebrations of the ILO’s centenary and which resulted in the ILO100 Law for Social Justice publication.

The series consists of lectures by eminent jurists on the ILO’s contribution to international law and, more broadly, social justice at the international level. The ILO was founded on the assumption that universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based on social justice. Since its founding in 1919, the ILO, through its normative activities and tripartite structure, has been instrumental in advancing the fundamental values of the international community and, as such, in contributing to a gradual transformation of international law. As C. Wilfred Jenks wrote in 1958 in his seminal work The Common Law of Mankind, “contemporary international law can no longer be reasonably presented [...] as the law governing the relations between States but must be regarded as the common law of mankind in an early stage of its development”. Jenks was referring, among other things, to a transformation resulting from a shift towards progressively placing human beings and social concerns at the centre of international law.

Today, more than a century on from the establishment of the ILO, the pursuit of social justice remains central not only to the ILO’s work but also to international law as a whole, as evidenced by recent developments in areas such as human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development. Yet, the multilateral system and its foundations, institutions, norms and fundamental values are increasingly being called into question, while simultaneously facing growing challenges and acute crises.

Against this backdrop, social justice has recently been receiving increased attention in legal scholarship. One example is the work of the Institut de Droit international, which is currently addressing the topics of “The Place of Social Justice in International Law” and “Distributive Justice”. The Wilfred Jenks Lecture Series seeks to make a modest contribution to this area of academia, which has become more vital than ever.

By reflecting on social justice and the ILO, each lecture will touch upon broader contemporary thematic areas of international law, such as human rights law, public international law and the law of international organizations. The invaluable academic reflections the lectures provide will be made available to a broad audience, including students, academics, practitioners and all others who are interested in the ILO’s mandate and work, as they will be published on a dedicated page on the ILO website.

The Lecture Series will form the basis for an end-of-the-year seminar that will be organized every year by the Office of the Legal Adviser.

Disclaimer

The Wilfred Jenks Lecture Series is an academic initiative organized by the Office of the Legal Adviser. The views expressed in the lectures and any accompanying material are those of the lecturers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Labour Office, the International Labour Organization, or its tripartite constituents.