GENEVA (ILO News) - The Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) concluded its 289th session today following a wide-ranging debate welcoming the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.
In addition, the Governing Body also discussed the situation of forced labour in Myanmar, adopted a new identity verification system for some 1.2 million maritime workers who handle 90 per cent of the world's trade and formalized a new set of guidelines for ship breakers.
Opening the discussion on globalization, President Benjamin William Mkapa of Tanzania, who co-chaired the World Commission with President Tarja Halonen of Finland, presented the Report. A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All ( Note 1), calls for an "urgent rethink" of current policies and institutions of the governance of globalization and was issued in February by the World Commission.
During the two-day discussion, delegates and participants from international organizations agreed the report provided important contributions to policy development in the ILO and elsewhere, as well as specific proposals aimed at ensuring the benefits of globalization are more fairly distributed. Many speakers endorsed the report's recommendation that attainment of decent work be a global goal.
Other issues received favourable comments, including the report's emphasis on social dialogue and the building of consensus which had been the hallmark of the Commission's own work. Many delegates supported the call for fair rules for trade and finance. They also underscored the significance of debt relief and increased Official Development Assistance (ODA) to overcome inequality both within and between countries and to eradicate poverty.
The need to address the impact of increasing migration for work on the migrants themselves and origin and host countries through multilateral dialogue and other initiatives was also highlighted.
Delegates said they looked forward to the proposals ILO Director-General Juan Somavia is to present to the International Labour Conference in June on ILO follow-up action and to the further consultations with the ILO's tripartite constituents ( Note 2).
Myanmar
The Governing Body examined the current situation in Myanmar and the projected joint Plan of Action against the use of forced labour. This plan has been in suspension since the end of May last year. The Governing Body noted that there had been positive developments, and that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, was in favour of implementing the Plan.
However, the Governing Body said recent convictions for high treason of three persons in Myanmar for contacts with the ILO was considered to have cast serious doubt on the credibility of the government's cooperation with the ILO. Representatives of the ILO have met with these persons and consider that they have been condemned on unsound grounds and thus should be released, noting that under no circumstances should anyone be prosecuted for contacts with the ILO.
The Governing Body expected that this matter be settled by the government of Myanmar rapidly. It also wished to clarify how the proposed system of a Facilitator, who would help potential victims of forced labour, could function with the safeguards and confidentiality needed. In the light of such steps and clarifications, the Officers of the Governing Body will consider further steps on the Plan of Action.
The International Labour Conference will receive a report on the developments up to the end of May 2004.
Other issues
The ILO's Governing Body also took a major step toward strengthening security measures on the high seas and in world ports by adopting a new "biometric" identity verification system for some 1.2 million maritime workers who handle 90 per cent of the world's trade. The new measure is essential for the implementation of the revised Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (No. 185) ( Note 3), adopted by the International Labour Conference last June and aimed at providing a more rigorous response to the need for increased security among seafarers in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. (See ILO press release ILO/04/12 at www.ilo.org).
The Governing Body also gave final approval to guidelines on occupational safety and health in ship breaking, affecting mainly work done in Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. The terms of the guidelines - adopted at a meeting of experts in Bangkok last year - are not legally binding and are not intended to replace national laws, regulations or accepted standards but can be implemented immediately to provide assistance to ensure safe working conditions in ship breaking within the framework of the ILO's decent work agenda. The Governing Body also noted the establishment of a joint ILO-International Maritime Organization- Basel Convention working group to look into the question of ship breaking, an industry which is likely to experience a massive upswing in the near future due to the recent ban on single hull vessels. Currently between 700 and 1,000 vessels are scrapped each year, a figure likely to increase.
Freedom of Association
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) examined 31 of the over hundred cases that are currently in front of it regarding infringements of the principle of freedom of association and violations of trade union rights. The Committee cited a number of countries, from both the developed and developing worlds alike. Among other cases, the Committee:
- Noted with deep concern that since the last examination of Colombia, it has received complaints of the murder of an additional 59 trade unionists, bringing the total for 2003 to70 murders. While noting the Government's extensive reply to the allegations, the Committee stressed the extreme gravity of this case requesting the Government to do everything in its power to institute investigations into all the acts of violence, to put an end to the intolerable situation of impunity and punish effectively all those responsible.
- Drew the special attention of the Governing Body to the case of Venezuela marked by repression of trade unions and their members, in particular a detention order against the president of the Venezuelan Workers' Confederation (CTV) and promotion of a parallel trade union confederation by the authorities and the dismissal of more than 19,000 workers due to trade union activities. The Committee deeply deplored the murder of the member of the Federation of Construction Workers just after the end of the celebrations on 1 May 2003 and urged the Government to institute an independent investigation without delay into the alleged instances of detention and torture.
- Reviewed a case concerning the imprisonment of workers' leaders in China, saying that it regretted that the Committee's previous recommendations for their release and a review of the sentences had not been acted upon. The Committee considered this a serious case where a labour conflict had led into lengthy prison sentences under charges of subversion. As on earlier occasions, the government was urged to agree to receive a direct contacts mission
- Noted the total absence of a legal basis for freedom of association in Myanmar and the alleged repression of any worker engaged in any trade union activity or expressing a labour grievance. It called for legislation ensuring freedom of association to all workers, including seafarers, and to all employers and suggested that the government would accept to have technical assistance from the ILO in this respect.
Note 3 - See Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (No. 185) can be found using the directory from de ILO Conventions page at www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm and the ILO's Maritime Labour Standards page www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/sectors/mariti/standards.htm.