What are international labour standards?

The Mandate

The ILO was created in 1919 primarily for the purpose of adopting international standards to cope with the problem of labour conditions involving "injustice, hardship and privation". With the incorporation of the Declaration of Philadelphia into its Constitution in 1944, the Organization's standard setting mandate was broadened to include more general, but related, social policy, human and civil rights matters. International labour standards are essentially expressions of international tripartite agreement on these matters.

Full text of the ILO Mandate

The Forms

The ILO's standards take the form of international labour Conventions and Recommendations. The ILO's Conventions are international treaties, subject to ratification by ILO member States. Its Recommendations are non-binding instruments -- typically dealing with the same subjects as Conventions -- which set out guidelines which can orient national policy and action. Both forms are intended to have a concrete impact on working conditions and practices in every country of the world.

Other Forms

The annual International Labour Conference, as well as other ILO bodies, often agree upon documents less formal than Conventions and Recommendations. These take such forms as codes of conduct, resolutions and declarations. These documents are often intended to have a normative effect but are not referred to as part of the ILO's system of international labour standards. There are a number of important examples of these.

	More information about these "less formal" standards
	More information about the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up

Their Arrangement

The organization has adopted more than 180 Conventions and 185 Recommendations covering a broad range of subjects.

The Governing Body of the office has decided that eight Conventions should be considered fundamental to the rights of human beings at work, implemented and ratified by all member States of the organization. These are called Fundamental ILO Conventions.

Another four Conventions concerning matters of essential importance to labour institutions and policy have been considered as Priority Conventions. The remaining instruments, spanning a broad range of subjects, have been classified into some 12 categories of Conventions and Recommendations.

Their Characteristics

The ILO's Constitution requires that international labour standards be set with "due regard to those countries in which climatic conditions, the imperfect development of industrial organisation, or other special circumstance make the industrial conditions substantially different." Its mandate to nevertheless set universally applicable standards has resulted in a number of characteristics unique to the ILO's system of international norms.

Further explanation of these characteristics