Declaration of Philadelphia | |
Declaration concerning the aims and purposes of the International Labour Organisation, adopted at the 26th session of the ILO, Philadelphia, 10 May 1944 |
The Declaration of Philadelphia (10 May 1944) restated the traditional objectives of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and then branched out in two new directions: the centrality of human rights to social policy, and the need for international economic planning.[1]: 481–2 With the end of the world war in sight, it sought to adapt the guiding principles of the ILO "to the new realities and to the new aspirations aroused by the hopes for a better world."[2]: 287 It was adopted at the 26th Conference of the ILO in Philadelphia, United States of America.[1]: 481 In 1946, when the ILO's constitution was being revised by the General Conference convened in Montreal, the Declaration of Philadelphia was annexed to the constitution and forms an integral part of it by Article 1.[2]: 287
The declaration, in full, the Declaration concerning the aims and purposes of the International Labour Organisation, adopted at the 26th session of the ILO, Philadelphia, 10 May 1944 was drafted by the then acting ILO Director, Edward J. Phelan, and C. Wilfred Jenks.[1]: 481 [3] Most of the demands of the declaration were a result of a partnership of American and Western European labor unions and the ILO secretariat.[1]: 481