In 1944, the 26th Session of the International Labour Conference,
meeting in Philadelphia, adopted the
Declaration concerning the aims and purposes of the International Labour Organization, usually referred to as the Philadelphia Declaration. The declaration was
incorporated as an annex to the
ILO Constitution as amended in 1946, replacing Article 41 of the previous
version of the Constitution.
The Philadelphia Declaration, which prefigured and served as a model for
the
United
Nations Charter and the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, remains the charter of ILO’s goals and
principles. The recommendations set out in the Declaration are to be
considered from the broadest possible point of view: they concern not only
the world of labour but also human beings as a whole. The Declaration
directly addresses “all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex”.
