Description
This paper examines institutional mechanisms available to workers and their representatives to enforce internationally recognized labour rights, both against state and corporate actors. It compares enforcement mechanisms within international labour law, international human rights law, international economic law, and business and human rights law. It examines how the ILO system of supervision, human rights treaty bodies, and arbitration panels in trade and investment law (as in the EU-Korea and US-Guatemala cases) are used to enforce workers’ rights against state actors. The chapter also considers the role of OECD national contact points and domestic courts implementing human rights due diligence legislation (as in the French case of Sud Ltd v La Poste) as mechanisms through which to enforce workers’ rights against corporate actors. For each enforcement mechanism, the chapter provides insight into the extent to which it is used in practice and by whom, and its strengths and limitations.