The publication, 70 Years of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association: A Reliable Compass in Any Weatherreflects the Committee’s support for this fundamental principle of the world of work, which plays a crucial role in progress towards social justice and universal peace.
The CLS was created by the ILO Governing Body in November 1951. Its task is to examine complaints about violations of the right to freedom of association, which is one of the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. All ILO member States are expected to respect these Fundamental Principles, regardless of whether or not they have ratified the corresponding Conventions. Employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as governments, can lodge complaints against a Member State.
In addition to the obligation of all member States to respect these principles, two Fundamental ILO Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining, the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), establish the framework in which these principles are inscribed.
Edited by Karen Curtis, Chief, ILO Freedom of Association Branch, International Labor Standards Department, and Oksana Wolfson, Senior Legal Officer, International Labor Standards Department, the book highlights the various aspects of the broad impact of the CLS in respect of this fundamental right. It also reviews the CLS’s pioneering role in linking freedom of association with respect for basic civil liberties.