ILO and Globalisation

The ILO is a tripartite organisation of governments, workers and employers. Denmark has been a member of the ILO since 1919. The International Labour Organisation - ILO - was founded in 1919 and is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

Since 1946 the ILO has been a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN).

The ILO works to promote international labour standards throughout the world.

The ILO adopts conventions and recommendations on various labour issues such as working hours, occupational safety and health, freedom of organisation, the right to collective bargaining, child labour and social security.

Denmark has ratified 69 of ILO's 185 conventions, including the fundamental conventions on the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of compulsory and forced labour, the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, and the abolition of child labour.

The member states regularly report to the ILO on the implementation of the conventions they have ratified.

The ILO's annual International Labour Conference takes place in June. The national delegations at the conference are tripartite consisting of representatives from governments, workers' organisations and employers' organisations.

Every year, the Ministry of Employment reports (in Danish) to the Folketing (Danish Parliament) about the events of the International Labour Conference.

Globalisation
In the spring of 2005, the Danish Government established a Globalisation Council of 26 representatives from trade unions, business organisations, companies and people from the education and research field as well as from the Government. The governmental members were the Prime Minister, the Minister for Economic and Business Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister for Education, and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The Globalisation Council released its strategy for Denmark in the global economy on 20th of April 2006. You can read more about the strategy by following the links on the right.

The Ministry of Employment was not represented on the Globalisation Council but participated in a working group under the Secretariat of the Globalisation Council on the social and environmental dimensions of globalisation.