INTERNATIONAL

LABOUR
ORGANIZATION
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is
devoted to advancing opportunities for women
and men to obtain decent and productive work
in conditions of freedom, equity, security and
human dignity.

Its main aims are to promote rights at work,

encourage decent employment opportunities,
enhance social protection and strengthen
dialogue in handling work-related issues.
The Institution
•The ILO was founded in 1919, in the wake of a destructive
war, to pursue a vision based on the premise that
universal, lasting peace can be established only if it is
based upon decent treatment of working people. The ILO
became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946.

United Nations agency in that it brings together

representatives of governments, employers and workers to
jointly shape policies and programmes.

•Juan Somavia is the Director General, ILO

The Members
The ILO is the global body responsible for drawing up
and overseeing international labor standards.
Working with its Member States, the ILO seeks to
ensure that labor standards are respected in practice
as well as principle.

•Member States : 182 countries Afghanistan,

Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ghana,
Hungary, Uganda, Quwait
The Sessions
The ILO regularly holds meetings at the
international, regional, national and sectoral level to
examine social and labor issues of interest to
governments, employers' and workers' organizations.
97th Session of the International Labor Conference
held from 28 May - 13 June 2008
to address the report on freedom of association, the
strategic challenges to decent work, and the long
term agenda of the ILO.
The member States of the ILO meet at the
International Labour Conference, held every year in
Geneva, Switzerland, in the month of June.

Each member State is represented by a delegation

consisting of two government delegates, an employer
delegate, a worker delegate, and their respective
advisers. (Employer and Worker delegates are
nominated in agreement with the most representative
national organizations of employers and workers.)
Governing Body
The Governing Body is the executive body of the
International Labor Office (the Office is the
secretariat of the Organization). It meets three times
a year, in March, June and November. It takes
decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the
International Labor Conference, adopts the draft
Programme and Budget of the Organization for
submission to the Conference,
and elects the Director-General
The Composition
The Governing Body is composed of 28 government
representatives, 14 workers' group representatives,
and 14 employers' group representatives.

10 of the government seats are held permanently by

Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan,
the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the
United States