The ILO in Iraq held workshops for representatives of its tripartite constituents, including government, workers’, and employers’ organizations, to build their capacities on gender responsive labour inspection, and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Supported by the European Union (EU), two separate workshops targeted a total of 36 labour inspectors from Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), including women inspectors, and 20 representatives from workers’ and employers’ organisations from across Iraq including KRI.

Senior ILO specialists on gender, labour inspection and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), advisors to the Kurdish Minister of Labour and Social Affairs along with international and national consultants and experts held sessions, which focused on:

•  International Labour Standards on labour inspection;
•  Challenges facing labour inspection in Iraq;
•  The role of the labour inspectorate to combat trafficking, forced labour and child labour;
•  The role of social partners in promoting and enforcing labour inspection;
•  Labour inspection visits and inspection of working conditions, including wages, maternity and family-related working conditions, and the promotion of a world of work free from violence and harassment;
•  Labour inspection and gender-related issues; and
•  Labour inspection and employment relations.

A total of 20 labour inspectors from the Republic of Iraq and KRI, will be provided with further training through a Training of Trainers (TOT) course, which will enable them to deliver similar trainings to other labour inspectors across the country.

These workshops contribute to the development of a plan to implement the ILO's strategic compliance planning model to ensure that all inspection activities are evidence-based and that the available relevant resources are used in the most efficient and appropriate way. A Strategic Compliance Task Team will be established to lead these implementation efforts aimed at promoting compliance at the workplace.

The focus of these trainings falls strategically under the Iraq Decent Work Country Programme’s third priority to strengthen labour market governance “in order to promote the realisation of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work through improved social dialogue mechanisms.” The Government of Iraq, workers’ and employers’ organizations and the International Labour Organization have pledged, under the Decent Work Country Programme, to further decent work - both in policy and in practise.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Zakia Sayed Salih, and Director General of Labour and Social Insurance Arif Hito, attended the concluding day of the workshop with inspectors on November 25. They spoke of the importance of developing the private sector to create more and better jobs, emphasising the critical role of inspectors in ensuring labour regulations are enforced.

The concluding day coincided with a meeting between the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in KRI, Kwestan Mohamad Adbulla, and ILO representatives, including Regional Senior Specialist, Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination Frida Khan. The meeting focused on the importance of these workshops in mainstreaming gender issues into labour inspection practices, in line with International Labour Standards. The meeting also highlighted the latest progress with regards to the implementation of the EU-supported project “Enhancing Labour Governance, Inspection and Working Conditions In Response to COVID-19” project aimed at enhancing the application of International Labour Standards and national labour legislation and promoting social dialogue, social justice, and decent work.

This includes working closely with tripartite constituents to promote and enforce labour regulations, as well as to strengthen the capacity of inspectors to apply key principles in the preparation, implementation, and follow-up of inspection visits; identify key issues related to the planning and implementation of labour inspection policies; and identify various compliance strategies.