3.How are ILO mechanisms used?

3. How are ILO mechanisms used?

As identified above, the ILO has a wide range of policy and legal tools that trade unions can use to defend and promote workers' rights. These tools have special features that trade unions should take into account once they participate in the ILO and use them at the national level.

Here are some elements to consider:

Political legitimacy of the ILO’s international instruments

The ILO relies on tripartite bodies, with a high level of institutional and political representation, and independent and technical bodies, with a high level of specialization in a number of world-of-work topics. The ILO is a space for social dialogue and a mechanism for building consensus.

By using the international instruments of the ILO, trade unions can benefit from the unique political and legal support that this organization affords to their legitimacy and validity.

Protective nature of the international instruments of the ILO

International labor standards are minimum protective floors, not ceilings.

National legislation may go beyond what is established by international labor standards, as long as it is in favor of the rights of individuals and groups protected by its provisions. This is an important feature that trade unions can highlight in contexts where the protection provided by international labor standards is being reduced.

Relationship between ILO bodies, mechanisms and procedures

ILO bodies, mechanisms and procedures are connected and closely related. By participating in the bodies of the ILO structure (the Governing

Body and the International Labour Conference), trade unions have the potential to strengthen the ILO's standard setting and supervisory system.

When using the ILO supervisory system, it is important to remember that the different procedures of regular and special control have a relationship with each other and can be used complementarily.

Coordinated use with other national and international protection tools

Trade unions can use all the political and legal tools of the ILO in coordination and in parallel with the use of national protection systems (labor administrations, judicial courts) and other systems of international human rights protection (the universal system of the United Nations and the regional systems – Inter-American, European and African).

The coordinated use of national and international protection systems reinforces the systems and provides the greatest possible effectiveness to the protection and promotion of human rights for the benefit of the protected persons or groups.

The international instruments of the ILO are part of international law

International Labour Conventions are international treaties adopted within the framework of an international organization and are, therefore, subject to the provisions of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Article 5). The Vienna Convention establishes rules for the observance and interpretation of international treaties in accordance with the principle of the hierarchy of international law. A summary of these rules is included in Unit 6.

The international instruments of the ILO are part of international human rights law

As will be seen in Unit 6, ILO standards regulate rights recognized by the most important international human rights treaties. The decisions and jurisprudence of international bodies for the protection of human rights that have clarified the scope of the obligation to respect, protect and guarantee, without any discrimination, the exercise of human rights and have established special rules of interpretation are important to keep in mind when using the ILO instruments.