Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work : The ILO Declaration, adopted in June 1998, recalls: (1) that in freely joining the ILO, all Members have endorsed the principles and rights set out in its Constitution and in the Declaration of Philadelphia, and have undertaken to work towards attaining the overall objectives of the International Labour Organization to the best of their resources and fully in line with their specific circumstances; (2) that these principles and rights have been expressed and developed in the form of specific rights and obligations in Conventions recognized as fundamental both inside and outside the Organization. All Members, even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question, have an obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization to respect, to promote and to realize, in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conventions, namely: (1) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; (2) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; (3) the effective abolition of child labour; and (4) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. In this regard the Declaration recognizes the obligation of the ILO to assist its Members, in response to their established and expressed needs, in order to attain these objectives by making full use of its constitutional, operational and budgetary resources, including the mobilization of external resources and support, as well as by encouraging other international organizations with which the ILO has established relations, pursuant to Article 12 of its Constitution, to support these efforts: by offering technical cooperation and advisory services to promote the ratification and implementation of the fundamental Conventions; by assisting those Members not yet in a position to ratify some or all of these Conventions in their efforts to respect, to promote and to realize the principles concerning fundamental rights which are the subject of these Conventions; and by helping the Members in their efforts to create a climate for economic and social development. The Declaration emphasizes that labour standards should not be used for protectionist trade purposes, and that nothing in this Declaration and its Follow- up shall be invoked or otherwise used for such purposes; in addition, the comparative advantage of any country should in no way be called into question by this Declaration and its Follow-up. The International Labour Conference established a follow-up to the Declaration, contained in an Annex to the Declaration itself. The first part is an annual review of countries that have not ratified one or more of the Conventions relating to the four categories of fundamental rights, to be carried out once a year. The second part provides for a global report to be produced annually on one of the four categories of fundamental rights. Each area is examined in turn and covers the situation in both those countries which have ratified the relevant Conventions and those which have not. Global reports from 2000 have focused on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, the limination of forced labour, the effective abolition of child labour, and the elimination ofdiscrimination in employment. The Follow-up to the Declaration is promotional in nature and will provide a new avenue for the flow of information on economic and social development needs relating to these rights and principles, thereby assisting in the design, implementation and evaluation of targeted technical cooperation programmes. See: Abolition of forced labour; Child labour; Decent Work Agenda; Discrimination (employment and occupation); Freedom of association and protection of the right to organize
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