Previously posted on SSRN.

Abstract

The International Labour Organization (“ILO”) turns 100 years old in 2019, and is accordingly one of the oldest international organizations. Its mandate to promote decent work through standard-setting and norm supervision has been challenged by rapid changes in the world of work brought on by globalization, technological advancements, and an increasingly migratory workforce. These changes require the ILO to maintain a flexible system of norm creation and rulemaking that can adapt just as rapidly.

To ensure a flexible system, the ILO should be able to revise its instruments in a sufficiently responsive time. The ILO’s rule to amend its instruments, however, was not initially defined in its Constitution and Standing Orders. As a consequence, the ILO has developed this rule over time, which has not been an easy feat. In fact, the ILO has taken three different approaches to amending its instruments. Despite those approaches, it has retreated to its initial practice, which it put in place during its very first years, of going through a formal and lengthy procedure of adopting new revising instruments through multiple discussions in the annual International Labour Conference (“ILC”).

As the ILO reaches its 100-year mark, the need to re-examine its rules in light of a rapidly changing world has received increasing attention, both within and outside of the ILO. Acknowledging this need, the ILO’s Director General has promised that “the ILO has embarked upon a major process of change and reform designed to equip it to respond better to the needs and expectations of its constituents.” This article examines the ways in which that promise has been put into action.

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