Role of International Organizations in Driving Rule-Making: The Example of the International Labour Organization

Abstract

Throughout its one hundred years of existence, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has taken a dynamic approach to the implementation of its mandate to achieve social justice through the adoption of international labor standards. This approach is exemplified in three ILO declarations: the Declaration concerning the aims and purposes of the International Labour Organization, 1944 (Declaration of Philadelphia); the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998 (the 1998 Declaration) and the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, 2008 (the 2008 Declaration). These declarations contain expressions of renewed commitment by the ILO's tripartite membership toward the universal relevance of the Organization's constitutional mandate and its means of action (standards, development cooperation, and research), and by the ILO to support its members. These declarations have in addition adapted the vision of the ILO mission to contemporary circumstances for a better impact. As noted by Professors Alvarez and Burci, the ILO is a good example of a long-standing international public organization reinventing itself with very few amendments to its founding charter.