"ILO Sends Strike Rights Dispute to International Court of Justice", 12 Nov 2023

The Governing Body of the International Labour Organization is to refer a dispute over the right to strike to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

In a special session, held on 10 November, delegates took a decision by vote to urgently refer the matter to the court...

The Governing Body decided that after receiving the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, it would consider appropriate follow-up action.

For many years, the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations... has taken the view that the right to strike is a corollary to the right to freedom of association, and that, as such, it is recognized and protected by the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

However, the Employers' group began increasingly to question the Committee of Experts' interpretation of Convention No. 87. The controversy gradually intensified and in 2012 gave rise to a major institutional crisis...

Under article 37 of the ILO Constitution, any question or dispute relating to the interpretation of Conventions can be referred for decision to the International Court of Justice. The article also provides for the possible appointment of a tribunal for the resolution of such disputes.

The first special session of the Governing Body agreed... to "request the International Court of Justice to render urgently an advisory opinion….. on the following question: 'Is the right to strike of workers and their organizations protected under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)."

It instructs the Director-General to transmit the resolution to the ICJ and to seek the participation in the advisory proceedings of the employers' and workers' organizations that enjoy general consultative status with the ILO...