The International Labour Organization and labour in the colonies: The labour question in the French Cameroons, 1922-1960.

Abstract

Abstract The end of the First World War saw a renewed international mobilization in all directions to end suffering and hardship which to a greater extent, had been produced by the war. This was seen through the organs of the newly formed League of Nations. The International Labour Organization (ILO) which was one of the earliest organizations formed as an organ of the League of Nations has since 1919 when it was created, adapted to different situations in an effort to regulate internationally. Apart from the acute situation which was witnessed in Europe immediately after the First World War, labour in the colonies was an area where the ILO even though faced with the problem of a concerted action within the organization, has worked very hard to ensure order. This study takes the labour question to the local level; more precisely the French Cameroons. It shows the impact of the ILO’s committments to ensuring better standards particularly in the way labour was recruited and organised in the colonies and the French Cameroons in particular. The French Cameroons which happened to be placed under direct French supervision by the League of Nations is treated in detail with special focus on the way the French colonial administration on the one hand tried to unilaterally design her own labour policies specifically for her colonies and on the other hand, how the ILO tried to exert pressure on the French colonial government together with other colonial powers to implement the various labour conventions that were adopted by this organization. The study through the local initiatives and actions of the French colonial administration in the French Cameroons shows how much the French were struggling to impose their own labour standards and laws in their overseas territories against a heavier international pressure coming from the ILO Conventions, regulations and recommendations.