2. ORIGIN OF ILO:
From the beginning, ILO/Cinterfor was conceived as a
knowledge management centre; at that time (1963) the exchange of
experiences was incorporated in its mission, based on research,
documentation and dissemination of vocational training activities
and that will act as a core system constituted by vocational training
institutions and organizations of ILO Member States in America and
Spain.
In the early sixties, most American countries faced the need to
increase the general level of their manpower training in order to
improve the quantity and quality of the enterprises' performance and
the workers' living conditions. Given this situation, many countries
(Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and Venezuela, among
others) began, with technical assistance from the ILO, actions aimed
at the creation of new national vocational training services, based on
a tight collaboration with workers and employers, and dedicated to
the training of apprentices and adult workers.
3. In December 2006 the Director General of the ILO initiated a
process leading to the formulation of a new middle term strategic
plan to guide the work of ILO/Cinterfor in the years ahead. This
strategic plan, adopted in 2007, consulted the new vocational training
trends, advances and prospects in the region and around the world.
As a result, a work strategy was generated strengthening the
member institutions' network under a horizontal cooperation concept
using intensively the knowledge generated in the network.
Additionally, its name was changed to "Inter-American Centre for
Knowledge Development in Vocational Training" in order to reflect
with major precision the range of services and activities offered by
the Centre.
Nowadays ILO/Cinterfor coordinates the largest network of
Vocational Training Institutions -VTI- of the world. More than sixty
institutions of twenty seven countries in Latin America, the
Caribbean and Europe, share the accumulated knowledge and
permanently carry out south-south cooperation actions to strengthen
each other and respond to the need to develop human resources skills
to meet the needs of the productive sector.
4. POLICIES OF ILO:
Better promotion and application of the existing corpus
of up-to-date ILO standards.
Strengthening of the supervisory system.
Importance of achieving greater visibility of ILO
standards.
Technical assistance, technical cooperation and capacity
building.
5. MEMBERSHIP OF ILO:
The ILO has 187 state members. 186 of the 193 member states
of the United Nations plus the Cook Islands are members of the
ILO. The UN member states which are not members of the ILO
are Andorra, Bhutan, Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru,
and North Korea.
The ILO constitution permits any member of the UN to
become a member of the ILO. To gain membership, a nation must
inform the director general that it accepts all the obligations of the
ILO constitution. Other states can be admitted by a two-thirds vote
of all delegates, including a two-thirds vote of government delegates,
at any ILO General Conference. The Cook Islands, a non-UN state,
joined in June 2015.
Members of the ILO under the League of Nations
automatically became members when the organization's new
constitution came into effect after World War II.
6. STRUCTURE OF ILO:
ILO Tripartite Constituency
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the
only tripartite UN agency with government, employer and
worker representatives. This tripartite structure makes the
ILO a unique forum in which the governments and the
social partners of the economy of its 187 member
States can freely and openly debate and elaborate labour
standards and policies.
International Labour Office
The International Labour Office is the permanent
secretariat of the International Labour Organization - its
operational headquarters. Administration and
management are decentralized in regional, area and branch
offices in more than 40 countries under the leadership of a
Director-General.
7. ILO Director-General
A Director-General is elected every five years by the
Governing Body. Subject to the instructions of the Governing Body,
the Director-General is responsible for the efficient conduct of the
International Labour Office and other duties as may be assigned.
ILO Administrative Tribunal
The Administrative Tribunal examines employment-related
complaints by officials of the International Labour Office and of the
other international organizations that have recognized its jurisdiction.
It is currently open to approximately 46,000 international civil servants
who are serving or former officials of some 60 organizations.
ILO Centres and Institutes
The ILO is universally regarded as an authoritative source of
knowledge on the world of work. The Organization has established
institutes and centres that provide specialized research, training and
support for the ILO’s offices and constituents.
8. ACTIVITIES OF ILO:
Employment and unemployment: employment services, national development
programs, and provisions for unemployment;
Various aspects of conditions of work: wages, hours, weekly rest periods, annual
holidays with pay, and allied topics;
Employment of children and young persons: minimum age of admission to
employment, medical examination for fitness for employment, vocational training
and apprenticeship, and night work;
Employment of women: maternity protection, night work, and employment in
unhealthy work;
Industrial health, safety, and welfare;
Social security;
Industrial (i.e., management-labor) relations
Labor inspection social policy in non metropolitan areas and concerning indigenous
and tribal populations;
Protection of migrants;
Trade unionism and collective bargaining.
