Labour Rights in Crisis

Labour Rights in Crisis

Also by W. R. Bohning The migration of workers in the United Kingdom and the European Community. The effects of the employment of foreign workers (jointly with D. Maillat). Black migration to South Africa: A selection of policy-oriented research. Studies in international labour migration. Aid in place of migration? Selected contributions to an ILO-UNHCR meeting (jointly with M. -L. Schloeter-Parades). Employing foreign workers: A manual on policies and procedures of special interest to middle- and low-income countries.

Labour Rights in Crisis Measuring the Achievement of Human Rights in the World of Work W. R. Bohning

W. R. Bohning 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-9075-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Totten ham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-54253-6 ISBN 978-0-230-50843-9 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/978-0-230-50843-9 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bohning, w. R. Labour rights in crisis: measuring the achievement of human rights in the world of work I W. R. Bohning. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Employee rights. 2. Human rights. 3. Labor laws and legislation, International. I. Title. HD6971.8.B643 2005 331'.01'1-dc22 2005049811 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 OS Transferred to digital printing 2006

Contents List of Boxes List of Tables List of Figures List of Abbreviations Preface 1 Basic Labour Rights are Human Rights 1.1 In traduction ix X xi xii xiv 1 1 1.2 Freedom of association 3 1.3 Elimination of all forms of forced of compulsory labour 4 1.4 Effective abolition of child labour 5 1.5 Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation 6 1.6 Basic labour rights matter 8 1. 7 Purposes of measuring human rights achievements 9 2 Can the Achievement of Rights be Measured Quantitatively? 2.1 Credible outcome measurements are lacking 11 11 2.2 Foundations of the new indicator system 16 2.3 Human rights indicators must fulfil certain criteria 21 3 The Architecture and Scope of the Gap System 3.1 Concepts and principles of measurement 3.2 Unit of analysis- countries and years 4 Measuring Adherence 4.1 Core Conventions component 4.1.1 Ratification indicator v 24 24 32 39 39 40

vi Contents 4.1.2 Reporting indicator 4.1.3 Testing indicators 1 and 2 40 42 4.2 Declaration component 42 4.2.1 The Declaration's relationship to Conventions 43 4.2.2 Declaration reporting 44 4.2.3 Declaration progress indicator 45 4.2.4 Testing indicators 3 and 4 47 S Measuring Implementation 5.1 Starting points 5.2 Relevant supervisory and complaints procedures 5.2.1 Committee of Experts component 5.2.2 CFA component 5.3 Scoring 5.3.1 Committee of Experts component 5.3.2 Committee on Freedom of Association 5.3.3 5.3.4 5.3.5 component Combining the two components Testing indicators S and 6 Testing indicator 7 5.4 Shortcut to implementation gaps 6 Time Lags and Finalization of the System's Features 6.1 Time-lag effects and extensive recent ratifiers 6.2 Reweighting adherence 6.3 Normalization 6.4 Long-standing ratifiers 7 Human Rights Achievements- Measuring the Four Freedoms as a Whole 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Global and regional evolution 7.3 Overall ranking of countries 7.4 Focus on implementation 7.4.1 Full measurement 7.4.2 Proxy measurement 48 48 so 51 55 60 60 67 69 70 73 77 79 79 87 87 89 91 91 93 95 102 102 103

Contents vii 7.5 Correlations? 109 7.6 Conclusions regarding overall gaps 118 8 Achievements in the Area of Freedom of Association 121 8.1 Introduction 121 8.2 Global and regional evolution 122 8.3 Ranking of countries 124 8.4 Focus on implementation 127 8.4.1 Full measurement 127 8.4.2 Proxy measurement 130 8.5 Correlations? 133 8.6 Conclusions regarding freedom of association 138 9 Achievements in the Area of Forced Labour 141 9.1 Introduction 141 9.2 Global and regional evolution 142 9.3 Ranking of countries 144 9.4 Focus on implementation 146 9.4.1 Full measurement 146 9.4.2 Proxy measurement 148 9.5 Conclusions regarding forced labour gaps 150 10 Achievements in the Area of Child Labour 152 10.1 Introduction 152 10.2 Global and regional evolution 154 10.3 Ranking of countries 156 10.4 Focus on implementation 157 10.4.1 Full measurement 157 10.4.2 Proxy measurement 159 10.5 Conclusions regarding child labour gaps 160 11 Achievements in the Area of Non-discrimination 162 11.1 Introduction 162 11.2 Global and regional evolution 162

viii Contents 11.3 Ranking of countries 164 11.4 Focus on implementation 167 11.4.1 Full measurement 167 11.4.2 Proxy measurement 168 11.5 Correlations? 170 11.6 Conclusions regarding non-discrimination gaps 173 12 Typical Country Patterns and Conclusions 175 12.1 Illustration of typical country patterns across all areas 175 12.2 Conclusions 177 Appendix Rights Gaps Indicators 182 Table 1 Countries' normalized overall Core Rights Gaps since 1985 182 Table 2 Countries' normalized freedom of association gaps since 1985 187 Table 3 Countries' normalized forced labour gaps since 1985 192 Table 4 Countries' normalized child labour gaps since 1985 197 Table 5 Countries' normalized non-discrimination gaps since 1985 202 Notes Bibliographic References Index 207 218 223

List of Boxes 2.1 Human rights commit governments to their application in the private sector 19 3.1 Levels of conceptualization, measurement, disaggregation and reaggregation of gaps 26 3.2 Raising standards through the addition of Convention No. 182 27 3.3 Logical structure and method of calculating countries' gaps 30 3.4 Changes in membership of the International Labour Organization since 1985 34 4.1 What does it mean 'to respect, to promote and to realize' the Declaration? 43 5.1 Distinctions among the three principal supervisory and complaints bodies 51 5.2 Yes/No distinctions vs. further grading of the severity of implementation problems 62 5.3 Commitment without ratification? The US and freedom of association 72 9.1 Forced labour is everywhere 149 ix

List of Tables S.l CEACR component: Six grades yielding four distinct implementation scores per Convention 6S S.2 CFA data ranking regions from hypothesized best to worst achiever of freedom of association 74 6.1 Conventions not ratified by countries in the gap system as of]anuary 200S 83 7.1 Achievement of basic labour rights as a whole, by region, 198S-2004 94 7.2 The 20 worst overall implementers in 2000-04 and short-term trends 103 7.3 Correlations of countries' overall gaps with other indicators 111 8.1 Achievement of freedom of association rights, by region, 198S-2004 123 8.2 The 20 worst freedom of association implementers in 2000-04 and short-term trends 129 8.3 Type of problems evoked in the allegations examined by the CFA since the mid-1990s 130 8.4 Correlations of freedom of association gaps with other indicators 134 9.1 Achievement of forced labour rights, by region, 198S-2004 142 9.2 The 20 worst forced labour implementers in 2000-04 and short-term trends 147 10.1 Achievement of child labour rights, by region, 198S-2004 ISS 10.2 The 20 worst child labour implementers in 2000-04 and short-term trends 1S8 11.1 Achievement of non-discrimination rights, by region, 198S-2004 163 11.2 The 20 worst non-discrimination implementers in 2000-04 and short-term trends 168 11.3 Correlations of countries' non-discrimination gaps with other indicators 171 X

List of Figures 7.1 Origin of Guatemala's and Uganda's normalized overall CRGs, 2000-04 99 7.2 Contrasting normalized adherence and implementation gaps: The Czech example 100 7.3 Trends in regional observations, 1985-2004 104 7.4 Trends in observations in the different areas of freedom, 1985-2004 106 7.5 Evolution of cases of progress in the different areas of freedom, 1987-2004 107 8.1 Origin of]apan's and Jordan's normalized freedom of association CRGs, 1985-2004 127 8.2 Trends in regional observations and global satisfaction in the area of freedom of association, 1985-2004 131 9.1 Trends in regional observations and global satisfaction in the area of forced labour, 1985-2004 148 10.1 Trends in regional observations and global satisfaction in the area of child labour, 1985-2004 159 11.1 Trends in regional observations and global satisfaction in the area of non-discrimination, 1985-2004 169 12.1 Illustration of normalized CRGs and implementation averages: Barbados and Guatemala, 2000-04 175 xi

List of Abbreviations CEACR ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, also referred to for short as 'Committee of Experts' CFA ILO Committee on Freedom of Association CIRI Cingranelli and Richards Human Rights Dataset Convention No. 29 International Labour Organization Forced Labour Convention, 1930, in force since 1932 Convention No. 87 International Labour Organization Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948, in force since 1950 Convention No. 98 International Labour Organization Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, in force since 1951 Convention No. 100 International Labour Organization Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951, in force since 1953 Convention No. los International Labour Organization Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957, in force since 1959 Convention No. 111 International Labour Organization Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958, in force since 1960 Convention No. 138 International Labour Organization Minimum Age Convention, 1973, in force since 1976 Convention No. 182 International Labour Organization Abolition of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, in force since 2000 CPI Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International CRG Core Rights Gap Declaration International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, 1998 FDI Foreign Direct Investment ICCPR United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, in force since 1976 xii

List of Abbreviations xiii ICESCR ICFTU ILO OECD Organization NGO UDHR UNDP UNESCO United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, in force since 1976 International Confederation of Free Trade Unions International Labour Office (Secretariat of the International Labour Organization) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development International Labour Organization Non-Governmental Organization Universal Declaration of Human Rights United Nations Development Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Preface Why a book about measuring fundamental rights in the world or work? Because it is high time! Indicator development in the labour field has been the poor cousin of recent advances in other fields of human rights. Even the body in which I served the bulk of my professional life, the ILO, experiences great difficulties in spelling out the extent to which labour rights are realized in law and in practice. The short time-span since the recent consensus on what constitutes fundamental rights in the labour field is but a feeble explanation for the lack of indicator development because most of these rights date back to the beginning or middle of the 19 1 h century. The complexity of measuring human rights is part of the reason why the literature is barren. However, difficulties must be tackled, and novel ideas should be put forward, which is the purpose of this book. Its underlying purpose was well captured by UNDP in the following words: 'Statistical indicators are a powerful tool in the struggle for human rights. They make it possible for people and organizations- from grassroots activists and civil society to governments and the United Nationsto identify important actors and hold them accountable for their actions. That is why developing and using indicators for human rights has become a cutting-edge area of advocacy' (UNDP, 2000, p. 89). While the new indicators, which I call the 'gap' system, are still at the infant and development stage, it is not too early to throw the bones of their structure to the academic and political communities interested in the subject. But it is too early to take all the empirical meat on their bones as ready for consumption, notably when countries are ranked. I expect the empirical results to be fully digestible when the time lags have worked themselves out of the system by the second half of the decade. I should like to thank former ILO colleagues Zafar Shaheed and Peter Peek, who benignly looked upon my extra-curricular activities, and David Kucera, who extensively commented on my initial elaborations. Thanks are also due to Christiane Veltsos, who set up an Excel programme to handle the thousands of data in such a way that I could handle them as well, to Prof. Dieter Senghaas and Dr. Bernhard Zangl, both of the University of Bremen, and to an anonymous reader for helpful suggestions. All remaining errors and shortcomings are mine. Roger Bohning xiv