Consolidating peace through Trade Unions in Guinea

The ILO enhances the capacities of Guinean Trade Unions to strengthen their role in preventing conflict and consolidating peace.

Press release | 26 January 2015
ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) – Since 2011, the ILO has been enhancing the capacities of Guinean Trade Unions to strengthen their role in preventing conflict and consolidating peace.

Applying ILO’s ‘UN Employment Policy for Post-Conflict Employment Creation, Income Generation and Reintegration’ and its manual on ‘Prevention and Resolution of violent and armed conflicts’, the ILO supported the Union movement to run a national training followed by several initiatives such as local workshops, campaigns in the poorest neighbourhoods of Conakry, a football tournament and university debates to promote Decent Work as a means to build peace and prevent conflict in Guinea.

In fragile settings it is often the experience of employment – rather than unemployment – that drives people to participate in political violence. Poor and exploitative working conditions, extremely low pay and a lack of formal mechanisms through which to express dissatisfaction create the conditions for violence.

The ILO therefore recognizes that the dynamics of labour markets are complex and – depending on the quality of labour governance - can do both, facilitate peace as well as produce conflict.

The ILO seeks to expand its work in fragile States through enhancing its technical capacities, developing partnerships to tackle the root causes of conflict and fragility at the local, national and regional level across borders and States and to foster peace through the creation of employment opportunities within the regions and beyond.

For more detailed information, please contact the ILO Communication team in Addis Ababa: guebray@ilo.org; rahel@ilo.org - : +251 911218113/5