The Assembly has noted with great interest the Memorandum on the activities of the I. L. 0 . in relation to Europe, for which it desires to thank that Organisation. The Memorandum, a sequel to the Report published last year, is of great value in enabling the Assembly to be fully informed of the work of the I. L. 0. Collaboration in this way will avoid wasted effort and duplication of work as between the two Organisations.
The Assembly is fully alive to the importance and value of the work accomplished by the I. L. 0., which appears to extend to almost the entire field of social matters. The measures taken in the sphere of technical assistance, for the benefit of both European and non-European countries, are particularly appreciated. Practical measures of this kind should be constantly extended and improved.
The Assembly is gratified at the number of international labour Conventions which have been ratified this year. It has, in common with the I. L. 0., always maintained that the ratification of international labour Conventions represents an appropriate means of harmonizing national activities in social matters.
The international labour Conventions listed in the I. L. 0. Memorandum formed the subject of a Recommendation adopted by the Assembly at the Third Part of the present Session. The Assembly recommended that the Committee of Ministers should invite Governments of Member States concerned to set in motion, as rapidly as possible, a procedure for the ratification of these Conventions.
As far as the two Agreements of the Council of Europe on Social Security are concerned, the Assembly endorses the suggestion of the I. L. 0. that they should be amended in such a way as to afford greater protection to migrants after the two Agreements have been in operation for some time. Study of this question should not, however, in any way be delayed. Revision was suggested to the Committee of Ministers by the Assembly as long ago as 1952, since the Assembly has always regarded these Agreements as being of an interim nature, and has urged that they be replaced by a general multilateral Convention.
The Assembly has noted with particular satisfaction those passages in the Memorandum concerning the co-operation which has developed between the I. L. 0. and the E. C. S. C. The Assembly intends to seek the progressive strengthening of the links which it has itself established with the Community, with a view to maintaining, particularly in the social sphere, unity of action between the Member States of the E. C. S. C. and the other Members of the Council of Europe.