ICFTU

ETI Resources: Country Information

On this page:

• Overview
• About ICFTU
• How information is collected
• Key strengths
• Less strong on…
• Countries covered
• How to access

 

 

Overview

The ICFTU prepares a series of reports for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on law and practice in relation to the core labour standards in different countries. The reports mainly draw on publicly available information sources and information provided by ICFTU affiliates in the country involved.

 

 

About ICFTU

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) is a confederation of national trade union centres each of which links together the trade unions of that particular country. Membership is open to bona fide trade union organisations that are independent of outside influence and have a democratic structure. It currently has some 234 affiliated organisations in 152 countries and territories. The ICFTU organises and directs campaigns on labour and human rights issues, organises education programmes for trade unionists all over the world, and investigates and reports on the trade union situation in many countries.

For further information see www.icftu.org.

 

 

How information is collected

The featured reports are prepared for the WTO General Council reviews of trade policies in different countries. Country reports are updated according to the WTO’s timetable for the trade policy review of the country in question.

The reports are prepared by ICFTU staff, and mainly draw on the ICFTU’s Annual survey of trade union rights violations (www.icftu.org/survey), other publicly available information sources, and information provided by ICFTU affiliates in the country involved.

 

 

Key strengths

• Succinct coverage of law and practice in relation to the core labour standards. The reports provide a succinct overview of labour law and implementation status with respect to child labour, forced labour, freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination and equal remuneration. They also provide an overview of the country’s political and economic context.
• Reports are easy to navigate. Although some of the information included many not be directly relevant to companies implementing codes of conduct (see below), it is easy to pick out the relevant parts of the document.
• It includes contact details for the ICFTU affiliates in the country in question.

 

 

Less strong on…

• The reports do not systematically cover other aspects of the Base Code (ie, health and safety, wages, working hours, regular employment and harsh and inhumane treatment).
• They are not specifically written with corporate code implementation in mind, so for example they often refer to law and conditions with respect to the public sector and/or domestic industries, rather than in relation to key export industries.
• Between countries, the reports vary significantly in the level of detail provided.

 

 

Countries covered

The countries covered by the ICFTU reports series is shown on our generic table of availability by country/provider. If you have already consulted this, please proceed to the next section (below)...

Note: the list only includes those countries whose reports have been updated since 2002. Older reports may be available for other countries.Note: the list only includes those countries whose reports have been updated since 2002. Older reports may be available for other countries.

 

 

How to access

The reports can be accessed for free from the ICFTU Website: www.icftu.org. From the home page, choose “Site Map”, then select “Country Reports: WTO and Labour Standards”.

Note: there is a button on the right hand side of the screen that allows you to list the reports by country rather than date.