HOW TO WORK WITH THE ILO • If, after checking these reports, you do not find any comments relating to the country and Convention you are interested in, this indicates that the Committee of Experts has not received any substantive information relating to that country and Convention from the government concerned. Any relevant information that you are able to provide may therefore be particularly uesful. 2.4 Submitting information • Now that you have all this information, you have to decide how to make the information available to the Committee of Experts, and which is the best way to proceed: – Whether through: the regular reporting, the comment procedure or the special constitutional procedures. – In making this assessment you have to carefully weigh the substance of the information you have gathered and what would be the best method to use, given the information and the prevailing circum- stances. – You may wish to liaise with other organizations in order to obtain further information, discuss making joint submissions or to consider making use of alternative aspects of the ILO’s supervisory system, such as the representation or complaint procedures. • As an organization which is not an ILO constituent member you may also wish to contact a trade union or employers’ organization to see if they are willing to submit the information to the ILO on your behalf. 2.5 ILO timetable • After considering these points you will also need to look at the ILO supervisory bodies’ timetable for reviewing submissions, so that you can plan your work effectively. • The action planner below highlights some of the key points in the year when information needs to be reviewed and when reports need to be submitted. Action planner for using the ILO’s supervisory system February ��� The ILO asks governments to send the reports due that year. It also invites governments to respond to any Observations or direct requests from the Committee of Experts or comments from any of the other ILO supervisory bodies. Reports due that year need to be submitted by governments to the ILO between 1 June and 1 September to be examined by the Committee of Experts in November. Governments are supposed to send copies of their reports to representative national employer and trade union organizations. • Action – Contact an employers’ or workers’ organization and ask if it has received a copy of the government’s report. If so, ask if you can review the government’s statement. Based on this, you can then prepare a supplementary report for submission to the ILO either directly, or in order for it to have more standing, through a friendly trade union. March – The Committee of Experts’ report (from the previous year) is published. • Action – Review the report by country and/or Convention. The Committee of Experts’ Conclusions are highly respected and, if appropriate, can be publicized and quoted in support of your organization’s campaign. • Pay particular attention to any Observations made by the Committee as these are the issues they are focusing on and therefore ones that you should take into account. • The list of countries asked to appear before the Applications Committee at the International Labour Conference’s session in June are from those countries receiving Observations in the Committee of Experts’ report. If the country you are working on has received an Observation, it can be on the list of countries up for discussion. You should start lobbying now to have it included, and contact any trade unions, or employers’ organizations you are in touch with to see whether this can be considered. • Many important debates and policy decisions take place during the International Labour Conference, including the discussion of the reports of the ILO’s specialized committees; the presentation of the Global Report under the follow up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; and the adoption of new ILO Conventions and Recommendations. You should see whether there are any issues you wish to focus on during the discussion at the Conference, and start contacting other NGOs and ILO partners in this regard. June – The International Labour Conference takes place. Discussions are held on many issues as outlined above. In addition, the Applications Committee meets cont... THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION: A HANDBOOK FOR MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 43