trade negotiations at the WTO, hoping that trade sanctions would provide a stronger “stick” to encourage developing countries to improve labor protections.

Nations around the world responded to these problems and pressures by seeking a more focused approach to labor standards. At the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, nations affirmed that all workers are entitled to four basic rights—freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively; the prohibition of forced labor; prohibition of child labor; and the elimination of discrimination in employment. Later that year, the ILO identified eight conventions that addressed these four basic rights as “fundamental to the rights of human beings at work,” and launched a campaign to increase their ratification (see Table D-1). In 1996, the WTO in Singapore reiterated its long-standing opposition to addressing labor issues. At this WTO meeting, world leaders renewed their commitment to observe “internationally recognized core labour standards” and stated that the ILO was the appropriate body to set and promote these standards.

The 1998 Declaration reflected these developments, focusing and strengthening the ILO’s approach to protecting workers around the world. The Declaration not only calls on the ILO and its member nations to promote the four basic rights identified in Copenhagen, whether or not they have ratified conventions corresponding to those rights, but also creates new promotional mechanisms. These include increased technical assistance from the ILO and increased reporting from member nations to move toward attainment of these rights. Although the Declaration represents a new approach to international labor standards, different from the use of conventions, most observers equate its four rights and principles with the eight “fundamental” ILO conventions. Thus, the term “core international labor standards” has come to mean not only the four broad principles in the Declaration but also the eight corresponding conventions. The text of the Declaration is presented below (ILO, 1998b), followed by a table comparing its rights and principles with the corresponding ILO conventions (Table D-1).

Whereas the ILO was founded in the conviction that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace;

Whereas economic growth is essential but not sufficient to ensure equity,

Front Matter (R1-R8)

1. Introduction (1-7)

2. Challenges in Measuring Labor Market Conditions Across Countries (8-16)

3. Assessing Compliance with Freedom of Association Standards (17-29)

4. Information and Indicators of Forced Labor (30-36)

5. Information and Indicators of Discrimination (37-45)

6. Measuring Child Labor (46-53)

7. Nongovernmental Labor Regulation and Information Disclosure (54-64)

References (65-68)

List of Acronyms (69-70)

Appendix A: Workshop Speaker Biosketches (71-78)

Appendix B: Audience List (79-82)

Appendix C: The Committee on Monitoring International Labor Standards (83-84)

Appendix D: The International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (85-89)