The status of Palestine in the ILO and its participation rights in ILO meetings – ILO Governing Body – Draft decision

02 October 2024

Purpose of the document

At the request of the Governing Body at its 351st Session (June 2024) further to the adoption of resolution ES-10/23 by the United Nations General Assembly, the Office has prepared an analysis of the status of Palestine in the ILO and the participation rights of Palestine in ILO meetings.

The Governing Body is invited to take decisions on two interrelated yet distinct matters:

(i) Palestine’s current status as a liberation movement and its possible elevation to that of a non-member State entity;

(ii) the scope of the participation rights of Palestine in ILO meetings in light of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (see the draft decision in paragraph 68).

Conclusions

65. As already noted, the comprehensive review requested by the Governing Body consists of two separate but closely interlinked matters: first, the status of Palestine in the ILO, which in practical terms means deciding whether it should be transformed into that of “non-member observer State”, bearing in mind the evolution of the status of Palestine in the United Nations and other organizations of the UN system; and second, the question of whether to grant Palestine additional participation rights in ILO meetings in order to align them with the modalities set out in the annex to resolution ES-10/23.

66. While the Governing Body’s decision on one matter is not necessarily linked to its decision on the other, a favourable decision on both matters would be necessary if the Governing Body wishes to align the status of Palestine at the ILO and its participation rights with its status and participation rights at the United Nations.

67. In this context, the Office has prepared a draft decision below and a draft Conference resolution (contained in Appendix III) which reflect a favourable decision on both admitting Palestine as a non-member observer State and granting it on an exceptional basis participation right in accordance with the recent institutional evolutions at the United Nations and in other UN specialized agencies. If the Governing Body adopts a favourable decision, the Conference would then be called upon to decide, at its 113th Session (2025), on the status of Palestine and its participation rights at the Conference and at regional meetings. The Office would notify the UN Secretariat of any action taken by the ILO to give effect to resolution ES-10/23, as provided for in article IV of the 1946 Agreement between the UN and the ILO.

Draft decision

68. The Governing Body, having duly considered resolution ES-10/23 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 May 2024 and the request contained therein to specialized agencies to apply the modalities set out in the annex to the resolution:

(a) recommended that the Conference consider at its 113th Session (2025) the adoption of the draft resolution on the status of Palestine in the ILO and participation rights of Palestine in ILO meetings contained in Appendix III to document GB.352/INS/9;

(b) decided, subject to the adoption by the Conference of the resolution referred to in subparagraph (a), to authorize the Director-General to extend invitations to Palestine to participate as a non member observer State in the Governing Body, the Asia and the Pacific regional meetings and, as appropriate, ILO technical meetings;

(c) decided, subject to the adoption by the Conference of the resolution referred to in subparagraph (a), and on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, to confer upon Palestine at future sessions of the Governing Body the rights contained in article 1.8.3 of the Standing Orders of the Governing Body and, for technical meetings, to grant it mutatis mutandis the rights and privileges set out in the resolution adopted by the Conference;

(d) decided that the relevant provisions of the Standing Orders of the Governing Body and the Standing Orders for technical meetings shall be suspended to the extent that they are incompatible with the present decision;

(e) requested the Director-General to report the United Nations Secretary-General on the decisions taken to give effect to resolution ES-10/23.