Press releases

2013

1. ILO Country Director pays courtesy call on Maldivian President Dr. Mohamed Waheed

   21 May 2013,

   ILO Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Mr. Donglin Li, paid a courtesy call on Maldivian President Dr. Mohamed Waheed on 19th May at the President’s office in the capital Male.

2. 

   © Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP 2013

   ILO statement on the Wing Star shoe factory building collapse

   17 May 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

   The ILO is saddened by the deaths and injuries resulting from the building collapse at the Wing Star shoe factory on Thursday (May 16th) in Cambodia. The ILO would like to express its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, and to wish the injured workers a speedy recovery.

3. 

   The Gender Unit, Department of Labour Punjab, wins prestigious UN Public Service Award

   14 May 2013, Islamabad

   The Gender Unit, Department of Labour, Punjab, established under the ILO, CIDA funded project, Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE), has, from amongst 2000 applicants, won a United Nations Public Service Award in recognition of its work on gender mainstreaming.

4. Launch of the plan for expanding social protection in Thailand

   10 May 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

   A joint UN/Royal Thai Government report that analyses policy options and costing for expanding social protection coverage in Thailand was launched today by the Minister attached to the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Niwatthamrong Busongphaisan. The report argues that comprehensive measures to implement a nationally defined social protection floor (SPF) would cost between 0.5 and 1.2 per cent of current GDP. The goal of a SPF is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable essential health care, and that everyone, including children and the elderly, have a guarantee of income security throughout their lives.

5. 

   Secretary-General's statement on the upcoming national elections in Pakistan

   09 May 2013, New York

   Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the upcoming national elections in Pakistan

6. Better protecting Indonesian migrant workers through bilateral and multilateral agreements

   08 May 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia

   As the second largest sending country, some 700,000 documented Indonesian migrant workers leave the country for work abroad, primarily in East and South East Asia as well as the Middle East. Of these, 78 per cent work as domestic workers.

7. Plan for expanding social protection in Thailand to be launched

   07 May 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

   A report laying out a plan for expanding social protection in Thailand will be launched in the presence of the Thai Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, on Friday 10 May 2013. The report “Social protection assessment based national dialogue: Towards a nationally defined social protection floor in Thailand” gives an assessment of the social protection situation in Thailand, identifies policy and implementation issues, offers policy recommendations as well as cost estimates of proposed social protection benefit packages, for creating a comprehensive social protection floor (SPF) in Thailand. The goal of an SPF is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable essential health care, and that everyone, including children and the elderly, have a guarantee of income security throughout their lives.

8. Providing better financial access to Indonesian micro and small enterprises

   06 May 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia

   Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Indonesia have significant potential to create jobs and reduce poverty by providing access to a range of financial services. The sector is gearing up for exponential growth and expected to reach more people in urban and rural areas with their microfinance products.

9. 

   International Nurses’ Day: EU and ILO Manila promote decent work agenda for Filipino health professionals

   06 May 2013, Manila, Philippines

   Thousands of Filipino health professionals migrate every year for work raising important questions related to the global shortage and inequitable distribution of health professionals in and between many countries.

10. 

    Better Work Viet Nam Safety Fun Run 2013

    05 May 2013,

    More than 3,600 garment workers have participated in Better Work Vietnam’s annual Safety Fun Run at Lucky Square, New City of Binh Duong Province on Sunday morning, 5 May.

11. 

    © Munir Uz Zaman / AFP 2013

    The ILO and the government of Bangladesh to hold a press conference on Rana Plaza disaster

    03 May 2013,

12. ILO Viet Nam launches first Media Award for labour and employment journalists

    29 April 2013,

    The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Viet Nam is inviting journalists to submit entries for its annual US$3,500 Media Award, which sheds light on labour and employment issues in the country.

13. ILO: Better Work Indonesia helps to stamp out fire risks in partner factories

    26 April 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia

    When a fire tore through a footwear factory in Jakarta in 2010, four people died. They became trapped between the flames and a locked emergency exit. In Bangladesh, locked emergency exits were partly to blame for 112 fatalities during a massive garment factory fire in 2012.

14. 

    Police Officers trained to address legal needs of bonded labourers

    24 April 2013, Karachi, Pakistan

    The Sindh Police in collaboration with the International Labour Organization conducted a 3-day master trainer course on Strengthening Actions and Responses against Bonded Labour.

15. Promoting decent work for domestic workers

    22 April 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

    Good practices, new initiatives and innovative ways to promote decent work for domestic workers will be the focus of a regional knowledge-sharing forum, to be held from 24-26 April in Bangkok.

16. 

    Media accreditation information for the 102nd ILO International Labour Conference

    17 April 2013,

17. 

    ILO supported Sindh TEVTA in establishing 147 Institute Management Committees to strengthen ‘Industry-Institute Linkages’

    16 April 2013, Islamabad, Pakistan

    The Empowering Vulnerable Groups through Education, Employment and Training (EET project) has supported Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority in strengthening industry-institute linkages (IIL) and work place learning (WPL) for TEVT institutes. In this regard studies to look at the current IIL and WPL practices were undertaken. The national seminar was held to present the findings and recommendations of the studies and to bring to light enablers and barriers of workplace learning in the context to technical and vocational education; and promote importance of IIL and WPL in workforce skills development.

18. 

    ILO and Fair Work Commission sign MOU on labour dispute resolution

    15 April 2013, Melbourne, Australia

    The ILO and the Australian workplace relations tribunal signed a memorandum of understanding to provide technical assistance in the area of labour dispute resolution.

19. Strengthening business resilience of Indonesian small and medium enterprises in the face of disaster

    15 April 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are vulnerable to various types and forms of threats, dangers or crisis. The recent flood emergency in Jakarta in early 2013, for example, had severely hurt businesses, particularly SMEs. Floods had destroyed SMEs’ business assets and disrupted their business continuity, which in turn would put them at risk of losing their businesses and falling into poverty.

20. Further efforts needed to work towards a sustainable and equitable economy, Says New ILO Report

    04 April 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia

    While the world economy still struggles to recover from the economic crisis, the overall outlook for Indonesia in 2012 was largely positive thanks to the country’s strong focus on the development of economic infrastructure to address constraints to growth as well as robust household consumption and growing investment.