The Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) is a key international labour standard adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It calls on member states to eliminate all forms of discrimination in employment and occupation based on race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction, or social origin. The Convention promotes equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace, ensuring that hiring, promotion, training, and conditions of work are free from bias. It is a fundamental instrument for protecting workers’ rights and advancing inclusive, fair labour practices globally.
Refer below to the Convention
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-second Session on 4 June 1958, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to discrimination in the field of employment and occupation, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention, and Considering that the Declaration of Philadelphia affirms 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 further that discrimination constitutes a violation of rights enunciated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopts this twenty-fifth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight the following Convention, which may be cited as the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958:
Article 1
1. For the purpose of this Convention the term discrimination includes–
(a) any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity
or treatment in employment or occupation;(b) such other distinction, exclusion or preference which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation as may be determined by the Member concerned after consultation with representative employers’ and workers’ organisations, where such exist, and with other appropriate bodies.
2. Any distinction, exclusion or preference in respect of a particular job based on the inherent
requirements thereof shall not be deemed to be discrimination.
3. For the purpose of this Convention the terms employment and occupation include access to
vocational training, access to employment and to particular occupations, and terms and
conditions of employment.
Article 2
Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to declare and pursue a
national policy designed to promote, by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice,
equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation, with a view to
eliminating any discrimination in respect thereof.
Article 3
Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes, by methods appropriate to
national conditions and practice–
(a) to seek the co-operation of employers’ and workers’ organisations and other appropriate
bodies in promoting the acceptance and observance of this policy;
(b) to enact such legislation and to promote such educational programmes as may be calculated
to secure the acceptance and observance of the policy;
(c) to repeal any statutory provisions and modify any administrative instructions or practices
which are inconsistent with the policy;
(d) to pursue the policy in respect of employment under the direct control of a nationa 1400 l
authority;
(e) to ensure observance of the policy in the activities of vocational guidance, vocational training
and placement services under the direction of a national authority;
(f) to indicate in its annual reports on the application of the Convention the action taken in
pursuance of the policy and the results secured by such action.
Article 4
Any measures affecting an individual who is justifiably suspected of, or engaged in, activities
prejudicial to the security of the State shall not be deemed to be discrimination, provided that the
individual concerned shall have the right to appeal to a competent body established in
accordance with national practice.
Article 5
1. Special measures of protection or assistance provided for in other Conventions or
Recommendations adopted by the International Labour Conference shall not be deemed to be
discrimination.
2. Any Member may, after consultation with representative employers’ and workers’
organisations, where such exist, determine that other special measures designed to meet the
particular requirements of persons who, for reasons such as sex, age, disablement, family
responsibilities or social or cultural status, are generally recognised to require special protection
or assistance, shall not be deemed to be discrimination.
Article 6
Each Member which ratifies this Convention undertakes to apply it to non-metropolitan
territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the International Labour
Organisation.
Article 7
The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the
International Labour Office for registration.
Article 8
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 ratifications has been registered.
Article 9
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
should 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 10
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 11
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 12
At such times as 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 13
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 9 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 600 revising Convention.
Article 14
The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.
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