International labour standards are legal instruments drawn up by the ILO’s tripartite constituents (governments, employers and workers) that lay down principles, rights and minimum standards related to work and workplaces. These standards can be either conventions, which are binding international treaties, or recommendations, which are non-binding.


Once a country has ratified an ILO Convention it is obliged to report regularly on what it has done to implement the related standards. Procedures can also be initiated against member States that fail to comply with conventions they have ratified. As well as supervising the application of conventions the ILO also provides technical assistance to help member States ratify and observe conventions.

There are more than 180 conventions in all, and of these eight are regarded as fundamental. These cover core aspects of work-related rights including freedom of association, collective bargaining, child labour, forced labour and discrimination.

Supporting core labour standards, and the ratification of the ILO conventions that support them, is one of the aims of the Asian Decent Work Decade.