Table Of ContentLes normes internationales du travail:
un patrimoine pour l’avenir
Mélanges en l’honneur de Nicolas Valticos
Les normes internationales du travail:
un patrimoine pour l’avenir
Mélanges en l’honneur de Nicolas Valticos
Préface de
uan omavia
J S
Sous la direction de
Jean-Claude Javillier et Bernard Gernigon
Coordinateur
Georges P. Politakis
Bureau international du Travail Genève
2004
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v
Table of contents
Preface – Préface – Prefacio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Part 1 | The Supervisory System
Les mécanismes de contrôle de l’OIT:
bilan de leur effi cacité et perspectives d’avenir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Eric Gravel
Shaping a dynamic ILO system of regular supervision:
The Valticos years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Ernest A. Landy
The “Berufsverbot ” problem revisited –
Views from Geneva and Starsbourg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Klaus Samson
Standard-setting and supervision: A system in diffi culty . . . . . . . . . . 47
William R. Simpson
Some remarks concerning the Commissions of Inquiry established
under the ILO Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Budislav Vukas
vi Mélanges Nicolas Valticos
Part 2 | Freedom of Association
Une page d’histoire de l’OIT: la Pologne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Francis Blanchard
Democracy, freedom of association and the ILO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Karen Curtis
La liberté syndicale et les missions sur place de l’OIT . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Bernard Gernigon
Une révolution de velours dans l’ordre juridique international
en matière de droits fondamentaux des travailleurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Tomi Kohiyama et María Marta Travieso
Le Comité de la liberté syndicale (I): origines et genèse . . . . . . . . . . 159
Alberto Odero et María Marta Travieso
Le Comité de la liberté syndicale (II):
composition, procédure et fonctionnement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Alberto Odero et María Marta Travieso
Part 3 | International Labour Standards and Internal Legal Order
En aval des normes internationales du travail: le rôle de l’OIT
dans l’élaboration et la révision de la législation du travail . . . . . . . . . 219
Arturo Bronstein
The use of international labour law in domestic courts:
Theory, recent jurisprudence, and practical implications . . . . . . . . . . 249
Constance Thomas, Martin Oelz, and Xavier Beaudonnet
Efi cacia juridica de los convenios de la OIT en el plano nacional . . . . 287
Geraldo von Potobsky
Souvenirs d’une vie internationale (photos) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Table of contents vii
Part 4 | Constitutional Theory and Current Issues
The Consolidated Maritime Labour Convention:
A marriage of the traditional and the new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry
Normas internacionales del trabajo y trabajo decente:
El impacto de las normas internacionales del trabajo
sobre el desarrollo económico y social sostenible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
J. Ricardo Hernández Pulido
How the ILO’s international labour standards can help in the fi ght
against HIV/AIDS in the world of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Jane Hodges-Aeberhard
Réfl exion sur l’idée d’un droit international coutumier du travail . . . . . 363
Véronique Marleau
The Annual Review and the promotion of the 1998 ILO Declaration
on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: Developments
and initial impact assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Momar N’Diaye
Deconstructing fl exibility in international labour Conventions . . . . . . 463
George P. Politakis
Les recommandations internationales du travail: instruments
mal exploités ou maillon faible du système normatif ? . . . . . . . . . . . 497
George P. Politakis et Kroum Markov
Réserves et conventions internationales du travail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Guido Raimondi
La OIT y los trabajadores migrantes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
Miguel Rodríguez-Piñero Bravo-Ferrer
Normes internationales du travail et responsabilité sociale
des entreprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Jean-Michel Servais
International labour standards and the informal economy . . . . . . . . . 585
Anne Trebilcock
viii Mélanges Nicolas Valticos
International labour standards as a model for the future:
The case of fi nancial regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Katerina Tsotroudi
Part 5 | Future Perspectives on Standards
Globalization, values, and international law in the world of work . . . . 645
Janelle Diller
Libres propos sur la «part» du droit dans l’action
de l’Organisation internationale du Travail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Jean-Claude Javillier
Persuasion et contrainte aux fi ns de la mise en œuvre
des normes et objectifs de l’OIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Francis Maupain
ix
Preface
Juan Somavia
Rarely have offi cials been identifi ed to such an extent with a specifi c fi eld
of ILO action as Nicolas Valticos was with the Organization’s standards-related
activities. So much so that, for over 30 years, it was almost tautological to refer
to standards and the inspired Director of NORMES.
As early as the transition period, I was personally very keen to meet
this living incarnation of ILO standards and if possible obtain the benefi t of
his wisdom and advice as regards important steps that would have to be taken
later. I will never forget a lunch I was privileged to have with him shortly after
taking offi ce. His erudition, his benevolent wit, his natural empathy for so many
peoples and countries that I also happened to know, the combination of his
healthy sense of realities and fi rm convictions, made for a conversation which
was an enchantment for the mind and for the heart. When leaving the table I
had the feeling not only of a rare – alas unique – moment, but also of leaving
a friend that I had known and respected for ever.
Refl ecting on standard-setting and the supervision of standards as a key
component of ILO action, especially in the current context of the ILO’s focus
on achieving a fair globalization, brings three words to my mind – paradigm,
responsibility and vision – all, of course, within the framework of the ILO’s prin-
cipal characteristic and method, namely tripartism, with its emphasis on dialogue
and partnership.
Standards as paradigms
Standards are the history of the ILO. As the international institution
which has produced the largest number of binding and non-binding instru-
ments in the fi eld of human rights, standards remain at the very centre of the
ILO’s mandate and its day-to-day work. Whether they are viewed as minimum
x Mélanges Nicolas Valticos
living standards, benchmarks or decent work indicators, or more recently as
the building blocks of a socio-economic fl oor for the global economy, whether
they are delivered in the form of hard or soft law, standards epitomize the idea
of openly discussed and agreed principles refl ecting widely held values, which
governments, employers and governments can use to structure labour market
systems.
By offering paradigms, the ILO gives tangible content to the notion of
social justice that it consistently defends and strives to promote. Standards en-
capsulate components of human dignity and security which should be enjoyed
by everyone in the world of work. They offer the necessary yardstick of fairness
to measure progress, but also to reveal backwardness.
As I noted in my 2001 report Reducing the decent work defi cit: A global chal-
lenge, “normative action helps to clarify the meaning of decent work: standards
provide an authoritative answer to the question of what decent work implies in
concrete terms as regards the preconditions (fundamental principles and rights),
its content (work that meets certain criteria of quality and security) and the
process whereby it can be achieved (social dialogue). It also helps to put the
Decent Work Agenda into practice: standards are a stern indicator of progress
towards the achievement of ILO objectives, not through lip-service but in law
and in practice” (p. 59).
Standards as a source of responsibility
Standard-setting has constituted a core activity of the ILO since its in-
ception, and indeed the single most important reason for its creation. As such,
the corpus of international labour standards elaborated over the years stands
today as an impressive heritage, a vital source of pride, but also of responsibility
– responsibility to manage the accumulated normative wealth effectively, protect
the impact of standards, keep a watchful eye on their continued application,
promote and strengthen their relevance. This is a mission that the Offi ce must
continue to carry out with conviction and realism. The ongoing discussion on
the direction and modalities of normative action requires responsible refl ection
on, among others, ways of achieving a stronger focus on dialogue, intensifying
technical cooperation, deepening legislative and policy analysis, multiplying ad-
visory activities, and adding muscle to the supervisory machinery.
Responsibility also means that the ILO has to be fully responsive to the
aspirations, needs and concerns of all its constituents. Tripartism is a key asset
which must be carefully nurtured and further developed. The partnership of
workers, employers and governments remains the foundation of the ILO’s rel-
evance in the changing world of work. While confl icting views and interests may
