In order to attain this objective, the ILO assists members States as well as employers' and workers' organisations in ratifying ILO Conventions and implementing international labour standards. Since 1994, the ILO is engaged in a process of modernizing and strengthening its labour standards system.

The supervision of these international labour standards is entrusted mainly to the Committee of Experts, the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, and the Committee on Freedom of Association. A representation or complaint may also be lodged against a State that does not observe a Convention it has ratified. The Department is the secretariat for the supervisory bodies and ensures an efficient functioning of the supervisory system as a whole. In the framework of its active partnership policy, the Department also ensures a coordination between its standards activities and ILO activities in the field.