Occupational Safety and Health as a New Fundamental Labour Right: Opportunities and Challenges
Korea Labor Institute, International Labor Brief, Vol. 20, No. 9 (2022)
5 Pages Posted: 2 Aug 2022 Last revised: 4 Nov 2022
Date Written: July 12, 2022
Abstract
Acknowledging the vulnerability of occupational health and safety, the ILO’s members have decided to elevate the status of the ILO’s OSH instruments, including by amending the ILO’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (“FPRW Declaration). Simultaneously, those members decided not to give the OSH instruments parity with the ILO’s other fundamental rights. Instead, the United States and the European Union suggested that they insert a savings clause to ensure that those new fundamental rights would not automatically be transposed in extra-ILO instruments, namely trade agreements and preference programs. That clause bifurcates the enforcement of the ILO’s fundamental labour rights in international economic law. It relegates the enforcement of OSH to the ILO’s enforcement mechanisms, which are limited to reputational damage, while subjecting commitments to the ILO’s other fundamental rights to trade enforcement, including potential trade sanctions. The result is a new, fragmented regime of fundamental labour rights. This article explores these developments through a global North lens, focusing on their implications for rights under international economic law.
Keywords: international labor rights, trade, occupational safety and health, international labor organization, international economic law
JEL Classification: F13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation