INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION

(ILO), specialized agency of the United Nations whose aim is to facilitate the improvement of conditions of labour and living standards throughout the world. The ILO was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1969 in recognition of its activities. The ILO was created after World War I in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League of Nations. After the United Nations was established during World War II, the ILO became the first specialized agency to be affiliated with it, in 1946. The functions of the ILO include the development and promotion of standards for national legislation to protect and improve conditions of work and standards of living. It provides technical assistance in social policy and administration and in workforce training and fosters cooperative organizations and rural industries. It compiles labour statistics and conducts research on the social problems of international competition, unemployment and underemployment, labour and industrial relations, and technological change (including automation). It is concerned with the protection of international migrants and the safeguarding of trade-union rights. In its first decade, the ILO was concerned primarily with legislative and research efforts, with the definition and promotion of proper minimum standards of labour legislation for adoption by member states, and with arranging for collaboration among workers, employers, government delegates, and ILO professional staff. During the 1930s the ILO sought ways to combat worldwide unemployment and economic depression. After World War II the breakup of European colonial empires and the claims of the developing nations brought forth new tasks for the ILO; its membership was no longer predominantly that of European, economically developed states but increasingly that of the underdeveloped states of the third world. Among intergovernmental organizations the ILO is unique in that member states are represented not only by delegates of their governments but also by delegates of those states' employers and workers, especially trade unions. In the late 20th century about 150 nations were members of the ILO. National representatives to the ILO meet at the annual International Labour Conference. The executive authority of the organization is vested in the Governing Body, which is elected by the Conference. The International Labour Office in Geneva, composed of the permanent Secretariat and professional staff, handles the day-to-day operations of the ILO. It is under the supervision of an appointed director general and has international civil servants and technical-assistance experts working in countries throughout the world. Among the ILO's most widely used publications are the International Labour Review and the Year Book of Labour Statistics.