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	International Court of Justice rules the right to strike is protected by key ILO labor treaty by UN News, agencies   21 May 2026   The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that the right to strike is protected under a core International Labour Organization (ILO) convention, in a landmark advisory opinion settling a long-running dispute between workers and employers worldwide.   The 14-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, said the right to strike is protected under the ​International Labour Organization's 1948 Freedom of Association treaty signed ⁠by 158 countries.   "Freedom of association is instrumental in facilitating workers’ organizations to take collective action to further and defend the interests of their members, including through the exercise of the right to strike. Therefore, the Court considers that the protection of the right to strike is in line with the object and purpose of ILO Convention No. 87".   The case was referred to the Court by the ILO’s Governing Body in November 2023, after years of disagreement among the agency’s core constituents – governments, employers and workers – over whether Convention No. 87 protects the right to strike, even though the treaty does not explicitly mention strikes.   At the heart of the dispute was whether the right to organize under Convention No. 87 includes the right of workers and their organizations to take strike action. Workers’ representatives argued that the right to strike is inherent in freedom of association and has long been recognized by ILO supervisory bodies. Employers’ groups claimed that the convention contained no provision to include strike action.   The Court acknowledged that Convention No. 87 “does not contain an explicit reference to the right to strike,” but said the absence of such a provision “does not necessarily mean that the issue is excluded” from the treaty.   The judges found that strike action could fall within the ordinary meaning of workers’ organizations’ “activities” under the Convention, alongside provisions protecting the right of workers and employers to form organizations and defend their interests.   The judges noted that in some cases, the right to strike may be restricted. The opinion “does not entail any determination on the precise content, scope or conditions for the exercise of that right,” court president Yuji Iwasawa said.   The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) representing 191 million workers across 169 countries welcomed the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, confirming that the right to strike is protected under International Labour Organization Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise.   "The International Court of Justice has an important constitutional role to play in the institutional governance of the ILO, and the Court has effectively discharged this role making an invaluable contribution to the ILO and multilateralism more broadly.   The Court’s opinion reaffirms decades of consistent international labour jurisprudence and restores legal certainty and credibility within the international labour standards system.   The right to strike is an essential component of freedom of association and a fundamental means through which workers defend their interests, secure decent work and contribute to democratic societies.   The ITUC stresses that today’s opinion is important not only for workers and trade unions, but also for governments and responsible businesses. Legal clarity and predictability on such a critical aspect of international labour law and the ILO standards supervisory system are indispensable for stable industrial relations and effective social dialogue..".   “As any trade unionist will tell you, there is no right to organize without the right to strike!” Christy Hoffman, general-secretary of UNI Global Union, said. “The two are inseparable foundations of any functional and fair industrial relations system.”   Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO—the largest US labor federation—said that “this decision affirms decades of judicial precedent and what workers around the world know: There is no right to organize and bargain collectively without the right to strike.”   “When workers are barred from taking collective action on the job, they cannot defend their rights and demand the workplace conditions and contracts they are owed.. At a moment when workers’ organizations face sustained attacks around the world, this opinion reaffirms that the freedom to withhold one’s labor is not a privilege granted by the powerful, but a fundamental human right grounded in international law”.   During hearings in October 2025, the court heard from 18 countries and five international organizations, including the ILO, with a number of other countries submitting writing arguments. The majority of participants favored the right to strike, a protection which is already granted in most European countries.   Presenting on behalf of the ITUC at the October ICJ hearings Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh from Yale University said: “Simply put, the choice before you is asymmetric. Should this Court answer the advisory question ‘yes,’ you would simply reconfirm what was the settled legal understanding until 2012, when the Employers abruptly abandoned it. … You would strengthen industrial democracy and order by reaffirming a social compact based on peaceful bargaining between employers and workers. But should you rule the other way, Employers will claim that the legality of the right to strike must be decided from country to country, offering multiple positions on interpretive issues regarding other ILO treaties.”   Koh challenged the Employers’ claim that legal recognition of the right to strike would threaten social order. “In real life,” he observed, “the right to strike is a safety valve, a nonviolent bulwark of social peace. Every day, we are served meals and drinks, ride in cars and buses, and work in offices on equipment that is built, prepared, and maintained by committed and conscientious workers. They don’t want to strike; they want to work; to do their jobs for a fair and honest wage. But behind their toil is constant awareness that if their rights are abused, they hold the fundamental right to withhold that work in fellowship with their co-workers.”   In closing, he argued: “your decision here will affect every worker in the world. However you rule, workers will still strike. Will you be the judges who tell them that, under Convention No. 87, they no longer have that right?”   The ILO said its Governing Body is expected to consider the matter at its November session, including any follow-up. The case is only the second time in ILO history that a question concerning interpretation of an international labour convention had been referred, and the first such request to the ICJ since its creation in 1945.   ICJ advisory opinions are not binding judgments, but they carry significant legal and political weight, shaping debates and national and international law. Based in The Hague, the ICJ is the United Nations’ principal judicial organ and is composed of 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.   http://www.icj-cij.org/case/191 http://www.icj-cij.org/multimedia/205741 http://www.ituc-csi.org/ITUC-welcomes-ICJ-confirmation-of-the-right-to-strike http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/10/1166044 http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/freedom-association-and-protection-right-organize-convention
	Rights experts call on Iran to immediately halt protest-related executions by UN Office for Human Rights   July 2026   The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran urged Iranian authorities to immediately halt the executions of 10 young men sentenced to death after taking part in a protest in Isfahan earlier this year. The Mission strongly condemned the execution on 19 July of two other men in the same case.   All 12 men were arrested in connection with protests on 8 January in Isfahan’s Alikhani Square that led to the killing of four members of the security forces, according to State media. On 19 July, the Iranian Judiciary announced that Erfan Esfandiari, reportedly 18-years-old, and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, a 23-year-old Afghan national, had been executed.   According to credible information, the families of at least two of the remaining 10 men have been summoned for final visits, suggesting that more executions are imminent.   Alarmingly, these executions continue a pattern linked to the nationwide protests that started on 28 December 2025. Iranian authorities have carried out multiple executions in the past months. In March 2026, three young men were executed in Qom after being convicted in connection with the killing of members of security forces. In late April 2026, four young men were executed after being convicted in relation to an alleged attack on a Basij base in Tehran.   The Mission previously reported, including in March 2026, on the increased use of the death penalty during periods of political and social unrest and upheaval. Credible reports indicate that more than 60 individuals, including at least three women and two boys, have been sentenced to death since December last year. According to the Judiciary, 23 men have already been executed in relation to these protests since March.   The Mission is gravely concerned by Iranian authorities fast-tracking capital punishment cases that are related to the protests and national security issues.   These concerns deepened on 15 July, when, following a directive of the Head of the Judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to expedite proceedings, Tehran Prosecutor General Ali Salehi announced that all cases related to the hostilities in June 2025 and those that began on 28 February 2026, as well as the protests that started on 28 December 2025, had been finalized and referred to the courts. This announcement raises serious fears of further death sentences and executions.   The Mission reiterates its call on Iran to immediately halt all executions, including those of individuals convicted in connection with the protests, and establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to its abolition for all crimes.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/07/iran-un-fact-finding-mission-urgently-calls-iran-immediately-halt-protest http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/10/iran-ongoing-unlawful-execution-campaign-against-protesters
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