Cases of Progress - International Labour Standards

The clearest and most direct impact of the system of international labour standards can be found in those situations where governments have changed law or practice following comments made by the Committee of Experts on the degree of conformity between the national situation and provisions of a ratified Convention. The Committee of Experts has systematically listed these cases -- "cases of progress" -- in its report since 1964. The following cases were listed in the 2000 report.

State	Conventions Nos.
Algeria	44
Argentina	98
Azerbaijan	111
Belice	87
Brazil	103
Burkina Faso	87
China (Hong Kong)	8
Costa Rica	1
Cyprus	152
Ecuador	149
Egypt	18
Ghana	98
Greece	81, 98, 151, 154
Guatemala	111, 156
Jordan	81
Latvia	87
Republic of Moldova	87
Mozambique	17
Panama	8
Portugal	156
United Republic of Tanzania	135
Tunisia	55
United Arab Emirates	81

But this is not the whole story

In addition, there have been many cases in which the Committee has been able to note various measures that have been taken following its comments with a view to ensuring a fuller application of ratified Conventions. All of these cases provide an indication of the efforts made by governments to ensure that their national law and practice are in conformity with the provisions of the ILO Conventions they have ratified. Nor even do these cases exhaust the instances in which Conventions and Recommendations have a measurable influence on the law and practice of member States. For example, the Committee has noted many cases over the years in which it is clear from the first report on the application of a Convention that new legislative or other measures were adopted shortly before or after ratification.