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Tim De Meyer, a senior adviser for international labor standards office of the International Labour Organization (ILO), gives a keynote speech on the issue of “ILO core agreements and social unity” in the main conference room of the Korea Federation of SMEs in Seoul on Oct. 15 (provided by the Korea Labor Foundation)
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Tim De Meyer insists that S. Korean ratification could motivate other countries
“Ratifying the ILO’s core agreements amounts to a promise that you won’t set labor rights backwards even if administrations change and labor-management conflicts occur. It’s a kind of safeguard.” These remarks were made by Tim De Meyer, a senior adviser for international labor standards office of the International Labour Organization (ILO), during a keynote speech for a discussion on “ILO core agreements and social unity” held on the afternoon of Oct. 15 in the main conference room of the Korea Federation of SMEs (Kbiz) in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo district. “Ratification of core agreement is not a validation of existing labor rights standards, but the starting point of stating a commitment politically to guaranteeing labor rights,” the 55-year-old Belgian explained. De Meyer devoted much of his lecture to clearing up misunderstandings about core agreement ratification. South Korea has currently ratified just four of the eight core agreements adopted by the ILO. The ones that have not yet been ratified concern freedom of association (Nos. 87 and 98) and the abolition of forced labor (Nos. 29 and 105). “We understand the South Korean government’s fears that they could end up facing different ILO punishments if they ratify the core agreements [without enacting related legislation]. But those punishments do not happen all that easily,” De Meyer said. Indeed, the only example of a related ILO punishment to date is a 2000 recommendation to Myanmar regarding its violation of the agreement banning forced labor. “The sequence between amending the law and ratification is something for each country to decide on its own, not a matter decided by the ILO,” he added in a message seemingly intended to calm Seoul’s fears about ILO punishments, which have led it to insist on legislation first and ratification only afterward. To date, Seoul has maintained that the core agreements can only be ratified once labor-relations laws have been brought in line with international standards. “If South Korea ratifies the core agreements concerning freedom of association and banning forced labor, it will be huge accomplishment politically, economically, and socially for a country that achieved amazing economic growth after experiencing war,” De Meyer said. “We hope South Korea’s ratification will also be a big motivation to other member countries that have not ratified yet,” he added. South Korean labor experts agreed that ratification before legislation is eminently practicable. “Among the advanced economies, there are countries that have made a political promise through ratification of the core agreements and then gone on to bring their domestic practices, laws, and institutions in line with global standards,” said Yoon Ae-rim, a senior fellow with the Seoul National University Center for Labor & Welfare Law who also took part in the discussion that day. “If the government insists on legislation first and ratification second, the ratification itself could end up in jeopardy. We should use ratification of the core agreements to build momentum for amending labor-management relations laws,” she suggested. Yoon also responded to concerns that prior ratification of the agreements would result in their assuming equal validity to domestic law, potentially creating havoc for the legal system. “I don’t expect there to be any major issues, since the core agreements are abstract in terms of their content,” she said. “The same content was also present in the many agreements South Korea ratified when it joined the UN,” she added. The subject of a pledge by President Moon Jae-in, ratification of the core agreements has been a longstanding aim of the South Korean labor community. In July, representatives of labor, management, and the government established an improvement committee for labor-management relations institutions and practices under the Economic, Social and Labor Council to discuss efforts to improve laws and institutions for ratification of the core agreements. By Lee Ji-hae, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
