International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization brings governments, employers and workers together on labour standards and decent work. Its health-related responsibilities include occupational safety, healthy working environments, social protection and the rights of workers affected by HIV.
Organization profile
- Organization type
- Global health organization
- Headquarters / base
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Geographic scope
- Global
Medical focus
Activities
Population served
Governments, employers and workers
Created in 1919, the ILO is a United Nations specialized agency with a tripartite structure. Representatives of governments, employers and workers participate in setting labour standards and shaping policies and programmes. Its broader mandate includes social justice, rights at work, employment and social protection.
The organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and works internationally through country, regional and global programmes. Its country programmes are developed with national constituents and their priorities. In a health directory, the ILO’s main relevance is the relationship between working conditions, prevention, social protection and people’s ability to participate in employment.
Safer and healthier working environments
Safety + Health for All is the ILO’s development cooperation programme supporting its global occupational safety and health strategy for 2024–2030. It brings together the experience of governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations to identify workplace risks and develop practical policy responses.
The programme addresses needs in sectors including construction and agriculture, as well as smaller enterprises and supply chains. Its work includes the Vision Zero Fund. These activities connect prevention in individual workplaces with the institutions, skills and policies needed to sustain safer working environments across an economy. They also reflect the ILO’s recognition of a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental right at work.
Sources: [3].
HIV, non-discrimination and the workplace
The ILO’s HIV and AIDS Recommendation, adopted in 2010 as Recommendation No. 200, provides an international labour framework addressing HIV in the world of work. It includes prevention, confidentiality, protection against discrimination and access to treatment, care and support. Its scope extends beyond a single type of formal employment relationship.
The recommendation also addresses occupational protection, particularly for workers whose tasks may expose them to infection, and support that enables people living with HIV to remain in employment. It is an international labour recommendation, with implementation through national policies and other measures; it is not itself a clinical treatment protocol or a substitute for national legislation.
A retained historical UN Global Mobility Programme member list names ILO; it does not establish present membership.
Further health reading
Sources
Institutional relationships