Effective dialogue implies the right freely to form and join groups for the promotion and defence of their occupational interests.
Freedom of association and collective bargaining are among the founding principles of the ILO. Soon after the adoption of
Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, the ILO came to the conclusion that the principle
of freedom of association needed a further supervisory procedure to ensure compliance with it in countries that had not ratified
the relevant conventions. As a result, in 1951 the ILO set up the Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) for the purpose
of examining complaints about violations of freedom of association, whether or not the country concerned had ratified the
relevant conventions.
