"In accordance with the Joint
Declaration of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the
Government of the Republic of Portugal on the Question of Macao signed on 13
April 1987, the Government of the People's Republic of China will resume the
exercise of sovereignty over Macao with effect from 20 December 1999. Macao
will, with effect from that date, become a Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign
and defence affairs which are the responsibilities of the Central People's
Government of the People's Republic of China.
In this connection, I am instructed by the
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China to inform Your
Excellency of the following:
Convention concerning Employment Policy
(No. 122), 1964, (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), to
which the Government of the People's Republic of China deposited the instrument
of ratification on 17 December 1997, will apply to the Macao Special
Administrative Region with effect from 20 December 1999.
The Government of the People's Republic of
China will assume the responsibility for the international rights and
obligations arising from the application of the Convention to the Macao Special
Administrative Region."
(ILO No. 122)
(Adopted at Geneva on 9 July 1964)
The General
Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been
convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its Forty-eighth Session on 17 June 1964, and
Considering that
the Declaration of Philadelphia recognises the solemn obligation of the
International Labour Organisation to further among the nations of the world
programmes which will achieve full employment and the raising of standards of
living, and that the Preamble to the Constitution of the International Labour
Organisation provides for the prevention of unemployment and the provision of
an adequate living wage, and
Considering further
that under the terms of the Declaration of Philadelphia it is the
responsibility of the International Labour Organisation to examine and consider
the bearing of economic and financial policies upon employment policy in the
light of the fundamental objective that "all human beings, irrespective of
race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and
their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic
security and equal opportunity", and
Considering that
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that "everyone has the
right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions
of work and to protection against unemployment", and
Noting the terms of
existing international labour Conventions and Recommendations of direct
relevance to employment policy, and in particular of the Employment Service
Convention and Recommendation, 1948, the Vocational Guidance Recommendation,
1949, the Vocational Training Recommendation, 1962, and the Discrimination
(Employment and Occupation) Convention and Recommendation, 1958, and
Considering that
these instruments should be placed in the wider framework of an international
programme for economic expansion on the basis of full, productive and freely
chosen employment, and
Having decided upon
the adoption of certain proposals with regard to employment policy, which are
included in the eighth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined
that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this ninth
day of July of the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Employment Policy Convention, 1964:
Article 1
1. With a view to
stimulating economic growth and development, raising levels of living, meeting
manpower requirements and overcoming unemployment and underemployment, each
Member shall declare and pursue, as a major goal, an active policy designed to
promote full, productive and freely chosen employment.
2. The said policy
shall aim at ensuring that--
(a) there is work
for all who are available for and seeking work;
(b) such work is as
productive as possible;
(c) there is
freedom of choice of employment and the fullest possible opportunity for each
worker to qualify for, and to use his skills and endowments in, a job for which
he is well suited, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion, political
opinion, national extraction or social origin.
3. The said policy
shall take due account of the stage and level of economic development and the
mutual relationships between employment objectives and other economic and
social objectives, and shall be pursued by methods that are appropriate to
national conditions and practices.
Article 2
Each Member shall,
by such methods and to such extent as may be appropriate under national
conditions--
(a) decide on and
keep under review, within the framework of a co-ordinated economic and social
policy, the measures to be adopted for attaining the objectives specified in
Article 1;
(b) take such steps
as may be needed, including when appropriate the establishment of programmes,
for the application of these measures.
Article 3
In the application
of this Convention, representatives of the persons affected by the measures to
be taken, and in particular representatives of employers and workers, shall be
consulted concerning employment policies, with a view to taking fully into
account their experience and views and securing their full co-operation in
formulating and enlisting support for such policies.
Article 4
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 5
1. This Convention
shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General.
2. It shall come
into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two
Members have been registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this
Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on
which its ratification has been registered.
Article 6
1. A Member which
has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years
from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the
date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member
which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year
following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article,
will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce
this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms
provided for in this Article.
Article 7
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications
and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying
the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification
communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the
Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come
into force.
Article 8
The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with
Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 9
At such times as it
may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this
Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 10
1. Should the
Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part,
then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides--
a) the ratification
by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the
immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of
Article 6 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into
force;
b) as from the date
when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease
to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention
shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 11
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.