This database contains selected judicial decisions in which domestic and international courts have relied on international labour standards and other international legal instruments to resolve the cases brought before them. The cases included in the database concern not only disputes arising from the world of work but also decisions on human rights outside the sphere of the world of work but still relevant to it. Some of these judgements were made by former participants in the ITC-ILO courses on “International Labour Standards for Judges, Lawyers and Legal Educators”.

The decisions are presented in the form of summaries underlining how international law was used in each specific case. The translations of the extracts of the decisions included in the summaries are unofficial. However, at the end of each summary the full text of the decision is available in the original language.

Decisions can be accessed via three indexes:

1. by country (in the case of decisions of domestic courts)

2. by courts (in the case of decisions of international courts)

3. by subject

and through a full text search

Each decision is classified in accordance with the following four criteria:

1. country or court (for decisions of domestic or international courts, respectively)

2. main subject on which international law was referred to

3. role of international law in the decision (direct resolution of a dispute on the basis of international law; use of international law as a guide for interpreting the applied law; establishment of a jurisprudential principle based on international law; reference to international law to strengthen the decision)

4. type of international instrument used

Whenever the legal systems of the countries included in the compendium stipulate how international law is to be incorporated into national law or the authority to be attributed to it, the decisions of the country in question are preceded by an insert citing the relevant provisions.

We welcome corrections to inaccuracies and any relevant information on national and international court decisions referring to international law, in particular international labour standards.

These can be sent by clicking here