Feature articles

September 2007 

• When decent work takes flight: Safe work in airports as an example of making decent work a local reality
  21 September 2007 - Frankfurt Airport is one of the largest in the world. To manage growing international competition and increasing record traffic, it has begun an 8 billion Euro expansion of its take off and landing capacities, which will take place over the next 10 years. The project is expected to create some 25,000 new jobs, but also raises environmental and social issues. ...
• ILO, IFC join to promote "better work" in global supply chains: An interview with Ros Harvey, ILO and IFC Better Work Global Programme Manager
  17 September 2007 - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and the ILO have joined to improve labour practices and competitiveness in global supply chains. An international buyers’ consultative forum, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), will support the efforts made by the newly created Better Work programme. ...
• Out of sight – girls in mining
  13 September 2007 - A new ILO study shows that not only are children still being forced to work in mines, but many of them are girls. It is child labour in its worst form: young girls risk permanent injury from carrying heavy loads of rock and contamination from nerve-damaging mercury. Without a chance to go to school, they are locked into a life of poverty. ILO Online reports.

August 2007 

• Asian Employment Forum: Youth employment: “We are not the problem, we are the solution”
  09 August 2007 - According to the latest figures Asia’s 378 million-strong youth labour force accounts for more than one in five of the region’s total labour force and 58 per cent of the global youth labour force. ...
• Asian Employment Forum: Promoting productivity to benefit all
  09 August 2007 - Increasing labour productivity is crucial for a country’s economic growth and overall competitiveness. It is also a vital tool for creating quality jobs and reducing poverty, since productivity gains can lead to higher wages, better working conditions and investment in human resources. These are the messages of a new ILO report prepared for the Asian Employment Forum in Beijing (13 to 15 August). ...
• In Asia, informal work shifts but remains massive
  09 August 2007 - Despite a GDP growth rate twice the world average, more than 1 billion Asians still work in the informal economy. Most lack basic social protection and hold unproductive jobs with low earnings. ...
• International Day of the World’s Indigenous People 2007 - The “Khoriya” farming system in Nepal: Promoting socially and environmentally sustainable development
  07 August 2007 - A significant number of indigenous communities in Nepal practice shifting cultivation, as it is often the only viable way to farm the steep slopes they inhabit. Nevertheless, as in many other countries across Asia, indigenous peoples in Nepal face a hostile policy environment that either discourages such traditional farming systems or ignores its existence all together. ...

July 2007 

• Preventing occupational accidents and diseases: Japan becomes first country to ratify ILO Convention No.187
  24 July 2007 - On 24 July, Japan became the first country to ratify ILO Convention No. 187 committing itself to reinforce its OSH system. The Convention which establishes a promotional framework for occupational safety and health (OSH) was adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2006. ...
• Timor-Leste: Setting the STAGE for a brighter future
  13 July 2007 - Despite a significant boost in national income last year from oil revenues, Timor-Leste is amongst the world’s poorest nations. While unemployment in rural areas is at least 20 per cent, it reaches 43 per cent among urban youth. ...
• When global leaders discuss business and labour principles - Global Compact Leaders Summit 2007
  09 July 2007 - What are the benefits and challenges of implementing labour principles in supply chains? What support from the ILO or the Global Compact would be useful for implementing such principles? These and other questions were the gist of the discussion on labour during the Global Compact Leaders’ Summit here. ILO on-line reports.