Page image
Page image

73

2. The International Labour Organization Under the International Labour Organization's new constitution, the position of the Organization as one of the principal specialized agencies associated with the United Nations has been confirmed, and its membership has been strengthened by the entry of the Philippines, Burma, Ceylon, and El Salvador. Within this new framework ILO's manifold activities, devoted to the promotion of social justice in all countries, have been restored to their pre-war level and additional activities have been undertaken. Through its committees and its Secretariat, the International Labour Office, collection of facts about labour and social conditions in many countries and regions, with a view to establishing minimum international standards, has been continued. The total conventions and recommendations adopted by the ILO are now 90 and 83 respectively. The thirty-first session of the Internal Labour Conference met at San Francisco from 17 June to 10 July, 1948. The conference adopted conventions on freedom of association and protection of the right to organize, on night work of women engaged in industry, on night work of young persons employed in industry, and on the employment service and recommendations on the employment service. The New Zealand High Commissioner in Canada, Mr J. Thorn, who was the senior New Zealand Government delegate, was Chairman of the Committee established to draw up the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Eight to Organize. The various stages in the preparation of this convention and related measures were characterized by continuous collaboration between ILO and the competent agencies of the United Nations. In the first instance, the question was put before ECOSOC by the international trade-union'movement and was then referred to the ILO. ECOSOC and the United Nations General Assembly in turn approved the preliminary recommendations made by the ILO, and the 1948 ILO Conference adopted the new convention. The Conference also decided to consult further with the United Nations, particularly with the Commission on Human Rights, concerning the enforcement, through international machinery, of the right of freedom of association. Another ECOSOC recommendation to the ILO dealt with equal pay for work of equal value for men and women. The conference formally invited the governing body to take this principle fully into account in dealing with questions concerning women and girls and decided to place the question on the agenda of an early conference with a view to the adoption of appropriate international regulations. The conference accepted the United Nations Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of Specialized Agencies, as modified by an annex relating to the ILO. A 1949 budget of S(U.S.)S, 215,529 was approved, New Zealand's contribution being $>(U.5.)43,084.

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert