International Labour Organization (ILO)
Photograph by Eskinder Debebe
Maria Arteta, Coordinator for Child
Labour Programmes in Latin America of the International Labour Organization
(ILO), briefing correspondents on the ILO report, entitled "The End of
Child Labour: Within Reach". 04 May
2006 United Nations, New York
. Working for social justice is our assessment of the past and our
mandate for the future."
Juan
Somavia, ILODirector-General
The ILO, an agency of the United
Nations, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969 in the year of is fiftieth
anniversary. The organization strives to
construct international programs and policies that advocate human rights,
enhance working and living conditions and increase opportunities for future
employment. The ILO also works to create
and fortify international labor standards, and to research and educate others
about advancing these standards.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,
the ILO was established in 1919 as an agency of the League of Nations after the
Treaty of Versailles put an end to World War I.
The purpose of the ILO’s establishment was to illustrate the belief that
long-term and worldwide peace is possible and achievable if it is based on
social justice. The ILO is a Specialized
Agency of the UN, with 183 member states.
Unlike most other UN specialized agencies, the ILO’s governing structure
is tripartite, meaning that governments,
employers and workers are individually represented.. Funding for the ILO comes from three
main sources: the Regular Budget, the Regular Budget Supplementary Account, and
Extra-Budgetary Resources for Technical Cooperation.
Every June, the ILO organizes and
hosts the International Labour Conference.
At this conference, members brainstorm and adopt new ideas and
conventions. In 2004, the ILO began the
INDUS Child Labour Project, which strives to eradicate child labor in many
areas of India. Similarly, the UN held
the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families. Signed in
1990 and put into action in 2003, this Convention aims to promote respect for
migrant workers and their families. In
1998, at the International Labour Conference, the ILO adopted the Declaration on Fundamental Principals and
Rights at Work, which asserts that all member states of the ILO have the
responsibility to ensure equal and fair rights to migrant workers in their
country. Overall, the ILO has taken
significant action in the past dealing with worker’s rights globally.
Currently, the ILO deals with many
worldwide issues. In the Middle East, 23.4% of youth were unemployed in 2010,
which led to their eventual participation in the 2011 ‘Arab Spring.’ The ILO’s Governing Body recently held a
session in which they discussed guaranteeing increased employment in the Arab
world. On a different note, the ILO
recognizes that since the worldwide social and economic crisis, Asian countries
now have the opportunity to improve gender equality for all types of employment.
The ILO worked with the Asian Development Bank to prepare a report saying that Asia should try to help their labor market recover from
the recent economic crisis. The ILO continuously
works hard to establish fair and equal treatment in employment.
Overall, the ILO serves as a significant specialized agency
of the United Nations. One of the larger
committees of the UN, the ILO works to better the treatment of workers around
the world and encourages others to take part in their mission to alleviate cruel
treatment of migrant workers, child and forced labor, and discrimination in the
work force.
Works Cited
“ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair
Globalization.” Adopted by the
International Labour
Conference at its Ninety-seventh Session, Geneva,
10 June 2008
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@cabinet/documents/publication/wcms_099766.pd
“Who We Are.” International Labour Organization.
http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/who-we-are/lang--en/index.htm
“Origins and History.”
International Laabour Organization.
http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/history/lang--en/index.htm