© 1999 by Oxford University Press
The settlement of disputes within the International Labour Office
International Labour Office, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland
Since its creation in 1919, the ILO has had two constitutional procedures for the settlement of disputes relating to the implementation of Conventions by states which have ratified them: an informal and 'political' representation procedure (ILO Constitution Article 24) and a more formal, judicial complaint procedure (Article 26). These constitutional procedures have been complemented by the ILO's establishment, at an early stage (1926), of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. That Committee whose reports are discussed in the International Labour Conference, plays a key role in practice. More recently (1950), the ILO established a Committee on Freedom of Association with jurisdiction to consider complaints in the area of freedom of association, even in cases where the state complained against has not ratified the relevant conventions. With their diversity and their complementarity, these procedures have a unique feature in common: the role and responsibilities that they give to non-governmental actors (employers' and workers' organizations). Disputes relating to the interpretation of conventions and of the ILO Constitution itself are subject to different procedures which, though refinements have been introduced in the interim, have not been used since World War II.