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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

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International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS) at the ILO

Discussion Paper 212

 

Bridging the gap between labour rights and human rights: The role of ILO law in regional human rights courts [January 2012]

Franz Christian Ebert

Martin Oelz

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/dp212_2012.pdf

[full-text, 24 pages]

 

Much of the debate on the responses to the global crisis which started in 2008 has focused on the role

of economic and labour market policies. And yet, the global crisis represents a major challenge for

worker rights. Indeed there is concern that, as the crisis continues, countries may be tempted to erode

worker rights on the grounds that this would improve competitiveness and reassure financial markets.

On the other hand, protecting ensuring worker rights is of paramount importance for enhancing social

support for the recovery strategy and mitigating perceptions that the burden of the crisis is shared

unfairly.

 

These tensions reinforce the importance of international labour standards as embedded in ILO

instruments, notably ILO Conventions. The United Nations and regional organizations have also

elaborated a range of instruments which aim at protecting human rights in general, including as

regards social issues. This raises the issue of how the various instruments reinforce each other and

whether there exist tools to address matters of interpretation of the different provisions.

 

This paper points to recent developments in the jurisprudence on human rights in different regional

courts and bodies. It shows that ILO standards are increasingly taken into consideration by these

courts and bodies. The result is a move to greater coherence in the international legal system. The

paper represents a major step in documenting these trends, while also highlighting upcoming

challenges.

 

Preface........................................................................................................................................ 1

I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2

II. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ........................................................................ 4

1. ILO law as a source of legitimacy and factual evidence ................................................ 4

2. Going further: Using ILO law to shape legal obligations ............................................... 6

3. Implications for the coherence between Inter-American human rights law

and ILO law .................................................................................................................... 7

III. The European Court of Human Rights ................................................................................ 8

1. ILO law as a source of legitimacy and interpretative guidance ...................................... 8

2. Going further: ILO law as an argument to reverse earlier case law .............................. 9

3. Implications for the coherence between European human rights law and ILO law ..... 12

IV. Concluding remarks ........................................................................................................... 13

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 15

 

 

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