Conference Committee
Conference Committee : The report of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations is submitted to each annual session of the International Labour Conference, where it is examined and discussed by a tripartite Conference Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. The Conference Committee usually comprises well over 150 members from the three groups of delegates and advisers (governments, employers, workers); usually there is an uneven number of government, employers' and workers' representatives on the Committee, and votes are therefore weighted so as to ensure equality of voting strength for the three groups. However, voting is rarely necessary as the Committee almost always adopts its conclusion by consensus. The Committee traditionally elects a Government member as its chair, as well as two vice-chairs, one of whom is an Employer representative, the other representing the Workers' group. Each year the Committee begins its work with a general discussion, in which it reviews a number of broad issues relating to the ratification and application of ILO standards and the compliance by Member States in general with their obligation under the ILO Constitution with regard to these standards. In this context, the Committee also discusses the Committee of Experts' general survey of national law and practice with regard to instruments that have been the subject of reports under Article 19 of the Constitution, i.e. reports on non-ratified Conventions and on Recommendations. After its general discussion, the Committee turns to an examination of individual cases. Governments that have been mentioned in the Committee of Experts' report as not fully applying a ratified Convention may be invited to make a statement to the Conference Committee. There is no formal obligation to do so, but they rarely decline. Some circulate written statements; in many cases their representative appears personally before the Committee. If the committee is not satisfied with a written reply, it gives governments an opportunity to supply fuller information orally. Government representatives may not always find this an easy task, but they know that the Committee takes a positive attitude. Its object is not to apportion blame, but to obtain results. Government spokespersons making statements usually explain frankly their difficulties in applying a particular standard and indicate the steps they propose to take to overcome them. The discussions on individual cases are summarized in the annexes to the report that the Committee submits to the Conference. Their substance can be reviewed through the ILOLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/ilolex). In addition, in the Committee's General Report the attention of the Conference is drawn to the most serious cases in which governments have failed to comply with their obligation to implement ratified Conventions fully. Where explanations were given on the difficulties encountered by the governments concerned, those explanations are also briefly mentioned in the General Report. The Committee's report is submitted to the Conference Committee, which discusses it in one or more plenary sittings. This discussion provides delegates from all the three groups with an opportunity to draw further attention to particular aspects of the Committee's work. Once adopted by the Conference, the report of the Conference Committee is dispatched to governments, their special attention being drawn to points that should be taken into account in the preparation of their next reports to the ILO. See: Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
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