After one hundred years of solitude

The re-encounter of international labor protection and arbitration

Abstract

This article explores the interplay between two important legal regimes: international labor protection and international arbitration. It aims to underscore their potential alignment and ability to supplement each other, despite having followed independent trajectories during most of their institutional history and being generally perceived to be at odds. As this article explains, the institutionalization of international labor protection and international arbitration have a common origin. Both ideas were promoted during the peace building efforts undertaken in the aftermath of the First World War as part of a new form of international governance geared to advance economic development, social justice, and above everything, world peace. This article also shows that the arrival of globalization toward the end of the 20th century, served as a catalyst for international arbitration and international labor to converge, or at least, to get closer to each other. International arbitration has become increasingly relevant to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), global union federations (GUFs), and other civil society actors, and has the potential for helping to deliver justice by ensuring compliance with International Labor Standards and other principles that cannot be enforced through traditional means.