On June 1, 1998, at its 86th session in Geneva, the International Labour Conference adopted a "Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work". Article 2 of this document declares, "...that all members, even if they have not ratified the Convention in question, have an obligation arising from the very factr of membership in the Organisation, to respect, to promote and to realise, in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the Principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of the Conventions, namely: a) Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; b) The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; c) The effective abolition of Child labour; and d) The elimiation of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation".
The Universal Declaration identifies and codifies from ILO's fundamental Conventions.
The ILO Declaration is in response to the grave concern expressed in various quarters regarding the negative social and economic implications of globalisation and liberalistion of the world economyon workers. It has been pointed out that the growth in trade and investment achieved though the global movement of transnational corporations, engendered by multilateral agencies like World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has only resulted in widening the hiatus between the rich and the poor in the world in terms of resources and power. While it has increased poverty, employmentand inequality in developing countries, it has also generated a feeling of insecurity and threat of employment in devleoped countries. A predominant response to this parodox was in seeking a solution by linking trade and labour rights within the instruments of WTO.
It may be recalled here that trade unions and other labour organisations in India resisted this move by saying that WTO, a body that nurtures and monitors unequal global trade, cannot be the body that addressed the question of labour rights violations. They also pointed out that trade-labour standards linkage could be used as a protectionist measure by the importing developed countries. It was held that this move would undermine the role of the ILO which has the mandate to set and monitor labour standards globally. In response to such increasing pressure from mainly the developing countries, the WTO's Ministerial Conference at Singapore, in December 1996, suggested that ILO be the competent body to set the standards and deal with them. The Final Declaration at this conference states, " We renew our commitment to the observance of internationally recognised core labour standards. The International Labour Organisation is the competent body to set and deal with these standards, and we affirm our support for its work in promoting them."
The initial proposal of a solemn declaration of fundamental rights put forward by the Director-General of ILO in the 85th Session of the International Labour Conference(1997) contained provisions for `social labelling', in consonance with the argument for linking is absent in the final declaration.
Article 5 of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Geneva, June 18, 1998, reads, "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 Declaration is accompanied by
a follow-up statement, which outlines a two-tier reporting system, first,reports
from member states every year on each of the fundamental Conventions which
they have not ratified and second, a global report each year by the Director-General
on each category of fundamental principles noted during the preceding four-year
period.
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The ILO's Committee of Experts
on the Application of Conventions and Recommemdations stated inthe report
of its 1997 session:
`The Universal Declaration is
generally accepted as point of reference for human rights throughout the
world, and as the basis for the most of the standard setting thathas been
carried out in the United Nations and in many other organisations since
then. The ILO's standards and human rights along with the instrumsnts adopted
in the UN and in other international organisations give practical application
to the general expressions of human aspirations made in the Universal Declaration,
and have translated into binding terms in the priniciples of that noble
document. The Universal Declaration reflects in turn many of the principles
laid down in the ILO's Declaration of Philadelphia adopted in 1944 and
incorporated into the Constitution of 1946.'