GENEVA (ILO News) - Delegates to the International Labour Conference, which gets underway in Geneva on Monday, 3 June, are to consider a wide range of issues, from decent work in the informal economy to safety and health, child labour and the situation of workers in the occupied Arab territories.
This year's Guest of Honour, The Rt. Hon. Dato' Seri Dr. Mahatir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, will address the Conference on 11 June at 10 a.m. Another distinguished guest, The Rt. Hon. Owen S. Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, will address the Conference on 13 June at 10 a.m.
The Conference gets underway at 5:30 p.m., Monday 3 June and runs until Thursday 20 June. The opening plenary session in the Assembly Hall of the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva will elect the Conference President.
The Committee on the Informal Economy will hold a general discussion on a report 1 entitled "Decent Work and the Informal Economy" which accounts for about half of the workers in the world and in some countries like Bangladesh, Mali, Nepal and Pakistan represents 70 per cent of total employment.
According to the ILO report, the informal economy has expanded with unexpected rapidity throughout the world. In developing countries structural adjustment programmes, economic reform and demographic growth lie behind this expansion. Over the past decade, informal work is estimated to have created over 90 per cent of new jobs in Africa, says the report.
According to the report, the lack of legal and social protection, representation and rights at work which characterize informal employment are prevalent in many countries and an inherent part of the current path of globalization. The report stresses that unless the root causes of informality are addressed, there can be no sustainable move towards recognized, protected, decent work and it sets out an integrated strategy to deal with these causes.
On 12 June, in a special sitting of the Conference, delegates will discuss a global report 2 on the effective abolition of child labour. The report portrays worldwide trends and was prepared as part of the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 86 th session in 1998.
The report found that 246 million children - one in every six children aged 5 to 17 - are involved in child labour. Among its startling new findings, the report also says that one in every eight children in the world - some 179 million children aged 5 to 17 - is still exposed to the worst forms of child labour which endanger the child's physical, mental or moral well-being.
The ILO will also formally launch the World Day Against Child Labour with a special event to be held on 11 June, the eve of the World Day, at its main office here. The purpose of this initiative is to strengthen the international momentum created in recent years to stop child labour, especially its worst forms, to reflect on the progress made so far and to pursue fresh efforts to achieve a future without child labour.
In order to harmonize existing recording and notification systems, the Conference Committee on Occupational Accidents and Diseases will discuss the adoption of a proposed Protocol to the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 and a proposed Recommendation concerning the list of occupational diseases and the recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases.
Latest ILO estimates for the year 2000 show that annually there are two million work-related deaths of which about 80 per cent could be prevented if all ILO member States would use the best available accident prevention strategies and practices. The absence of reliable notification and recording mechanisms is a major obstacle to reducing work-related deaths and injuries worldwide, and to taking preventive action at enterprise and national level.
The Conference Committee on Cooperatives will undertake its second discussion on the adoption of a possible Recommendation on the Promotion of Cooperatives. This is expected to replace ILO Recommendation 127 on the "Role of Cooperatives in the Economic and Social Development of Developing Countries" which was adopted in 1966.
Cooperatives are playing an increasingly important role worldwide in facilitating job creation, economic growth and social development. Ranging from small-scale to multimillion dollar businesses across the globe, cooperatives are estimated to employ more than 100 million women and men, and have more than 800 million individual members.
The new Recommendation would ask members to adopt measures to promote cooperatives in all countries to create employment, develop their business potential, increase savings and investment and improve social well-being. Members will be asked to consider the promotion of cooperatives as one of the objectives of national and social development, and to reflect on measures to create an enabling environment to promote the growth of economically viable and democratically managed cooperatives.
Delegates will also examine the ILO Director-General's report on the condition of workers in the Occupied Arab Territories. (See ILO Press Release ILO/02/24 of 30 May.) The report examines the situation in the occupied territories and Israel and urges the international donor community to support emergency measures aimed at creating jobs and promoting social dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Conference will consider information and reports on the application of Conventions and Recommendations supplied by governments together with the report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. The Conference delegates will also debate the withdrawal of 20 Recommendations that are considered outdated and no longer pertinent. A general survey of reports will deal with the ILO Dock Work Convention (No. 137) and Recommendation (No. 145), 1973.
The Committee on the Application of Standards will hold a special sitting on the application of the Forced Labour Convention by Myanmar. The committee will discuss this item on the basis of observations made by the Committee of Experts on the Application on Conventions and Recommendations. It will also consider recent developments, which notably include the installment of an ILO Liaison Office in Yangon.
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The role of the International Labour Conference is to adopt and oversee compliance with international labour standards, establish the budget of the Organization and elect members of the Governing Body. Since 1919, the Conference has served as a major international forum for debate on social and labour questions of worldwide importance.
The Conference is expected to draw more than 3,000 delegates including labour ministers and leaders of workers' and employers' organizations from most of the ILO's 175 member States. Each member country has the right to send four delegates to the Conference: two from government and one each representing workers and employers, each of whom may speak and vote independently.
1 Report VI: Decent work and the informal economy, International Labour Conference, 90 th Session, June 2002. International Labour Office, Geneva. ISBN 92-2-112429-0. Price: 17.50 Swiss francs.
2 "A Future Without Child Labour, Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work", International Labour Conference, 90 th Session, 2002, Report I (B). International Labour Office, Geneva. ISBN 92-2-112416-9. Price: 20 Swiss Francs. (The report may also be consulted on the ILO Internet Site www.ilo.org/declaration).