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Document submitted by the 1.2. Office to it Rovaning Body subsequently discussed at the 123rd session GB on 27 1453
Document No. 2
APPENDIX V
fi
of the
I.
Fifth Item on the Agenda: The International Labour Organisation and Non-Metropolitan Territories
Director-General of the International Labour Office has received a request from the Workers' group of the Governing Body that the question of closer associa- tion of non-metropolitan territories with the work of the International Labour Organisation should be placed on the agenda of the Governing Body.
2. This request suggests that, in placing the question on the agenda, the Director-General should lay before the Governing Body information on: (a) the de jure and de facto relations between the I.L.O. and the non- metropolitan territories; and (b) legal aspects of amend- ing the I.L.O. Constitution with a view to granting associate membership to non-self-governing territories. Since, however, the information requested relates to aspects of the same subject, the matter is treated in this note as a composite whole.
3. The views of the Workers' group on the question
are set out in the extract from a letter from the Chairman of the group to the Director-General, dated 28 June 1952.1
4. The constitutional provisions directly relating to non-metropolitan territories are contained in articles 3 and 35 of the Constitution of the I.L.O.
5. Article 3 (3) of the Constitution deals with repre- sentation at general conferences of representatives of 1.L.Q. Members and provides that each Member re- sponsible for the international relations of non-metro- politan territories may appoint as additional advisers to each of its delegates: (a) persons nominated by it as representatives of any such territory in regard to matters within the self-governing powers of that territory; and (b) persons nominated by it to advise its delegates in regard to matters concerning non-self-governing terri- tories.
6. It is important to note that: (i) there is no restric- tion as regards the numbers of such additional advisers who may be appointed by any Member; (ii) in regard to matters within the self-governing powers of any territory such additional advisers act as representatives of the territory.
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7. Hitherto the provisions of article 3 (3) (a) have not been formally applied by any of the Members con- cerned. Article 3 (3) (b) has been used, to a limited extent, by certain Members. From 1944 to 1947, in particular, when various aspects of social policy in non- metropolitan territories were under consideration, several Members included in their delegations advisers with special knowledge and experiences of conditions in non- metropolitan territories, including advisers coming from these territories. In certain instances this practice has been repeated in succeeding years.
non-metro-
8. The limited use made of these existing constitu- tional provisions relating to attendance of “ politan" advisers to delegates at general conferences of the I.L.O. is likely to have sprung from considerations and difficulties of an essentially practical nature such as the large number of non-metropolitan territories- there are over roo of them-and the financial burdens involved in representation at conferences on the bases envisaged in article 3 (3). The attitude of certain governments may also have been influenced by the fact
1 See below Annex, p. 106.
that legislative power in regard to matters of general labour policy relating to their non-metropolitan terri- tories is in the hands not of local territorial legislatures but of the metropolitan law-making body and that labour policy is directed largely from the metropolis. In such cases article 3 (3) (a) is clearly not applicable. In other cases, where the views of local territorial admi- nistrations are regularly sought by the member Govern- ments concerned on relevant matters and are taken into account in the attitude adopted by them at the con- ferences on those matters, the need for more than the limited action taken may not have appeared to out- weigh the practical difficulties involved.
9. As regards regional conferences of the ILO., in particular the Asian Regional Conference, the practice is more advanced than in relation to general conferences Delegations from non-metropolitan territories in the area participated in the Asian Regional Conferences of 1947 and 1950 on the invitation of the Governing Body and had full voting powers. They will do so again at the Asian Regional Conference to be held in Japan this year. Rules adopted by the General Conference in 1948 enable this procedure to be adopted, where appro- priate, in connection with all regional conferences. The need for similar arrangements in connection with meetings of subsidiary bodies, such as industrial com- mittees, has not so far arisen.
IO. The letter from the Chairman of the Workers" group, already referred to, indicates the view that the arrangements for representation of non-metropolitan territories provided by the LLO. are more conservative than those existing in the United Nations and in some of the other specialised agencies, and in effect suggests the introduction, in the International Labour Organisa- tion, of a system of associate membership of non-metro- poliran territories, on the lines already adopted by the World Health Organisation and by U.N.E.S.C.O.
II. The letter adds:
If the admission to associate membership of depen- dent territories were made dependent upon application by their metropolitan countries and if, furthermore, as in the case of ordinary membership, a two-thirds majority of the International Labor Conference would be required for admission, it can be safely assumed. that only such dependent territories would be admitted. to associate membership whose: social and economic development calls for their direct participation in the work of the I.L.O.
12. The Governing Body will no doubt agree that there is nothing sacrosanct in the expression “ associate member " itself and that it is the effectiveness in practice of the method chosen to bring non-metropolitan terri- tories into association with the work of the organisation. whether it be the I.L.O. or any other international organisation, which is important. The appropriate method may vary in accordance with the general set-up, operation and purposes of the organisation concerned. 13. Accordingly, it may be pertinent to examine the situation as it exists in other international organisations, so as to enable the Governing Body to assess the suit- ability of the solutions adopted to the circumstances prevailing in the I.L.O.
14. The Constitutions of the International Telecom- munication Union, the Universal Postal Union and the