Samoa becomes UN labour agency’s 178th member

The small South Pacific country of Samoa has become the 178th Member State of the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO), which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights.

The accession follows receipt at ILO headquarters in Geneva of a letter from Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi stating his nation’s formal acceptance of the obligations of the agency’s constitution.

The ILO, founded in 1919, is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being. It became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946 and formulates international standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights.

These include freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues.

It provides technical assistance primarily in the fields of vocational training and vocational rehabilitation, employment policy, labour administration, labour law and industrial relations, working conditions, management development, cooperatives, social security, labour statistics, and occupational safety and health.