Press releases

April 2004 

• China Forum to address employment, migration issues: Unprecedented meeting to consider strategy for meeting challenges of globalization
  27 April 2004 - Faced with growing labour market imbalances - including high rural unemployment, underemployment and increasing rural-to-urban migration - China this week is hosting an unprecedented China Employment Forum, jointly implemented with the International Labour Organization (ILO), aimed at promoting decent work amid rapid economic change.
• World of work to mark World Day for Safety and Health
  27 April 2004 - Workers, employers, governments and safety and health departments around the world, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), will observe the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April in an effort to highlight the need for a new "safety culture" to reduce or prevent occupational accidents and disease that take an average of 6,000 lives every day of the year.
• ILO Director-General addresses special meeting of African heads of State A major step towards the Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Reduction in Africa
  23 April 2004 - Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), has welcomed “encouraging signs of political clarity and convergence of views” expressed by African leaders meeting here to examine new anti-poverty strategies ahead of the African Union Extra-Ordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Reduction scheduled for September in Burkina Faso.

March 2004 

• ILO takes major step to ensure security of seafarers
  26 March 2004 - The International Labour Organization (ILO) today 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.
• ILO Governing Body concludes its 289th Session, discusses globalization, forced labour and seafarer security
  26 March 2004 - 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.
• ILO Governing Body welcomes report of World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization
  25 March 2004 - Employer, worker and government representatives at the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) today welcomed the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization as a "balanced" and "coherent" analysis of the social impact of globalization.
• ILO Governing Body's 289th session to discuss "fair globalization", Myanmar and other issues
  11 March 2004 - Worker, employer and government representatives will hold a wide-ranging debate on the social dimension of globalization at the 289th session of the ILO Governing Body, from 11-26 March. The ongoing session is the first to be held under the second mandate of ILO Director-General Juan Somavia who was re-elected for another five-year term in 2003.
• More women are entering the global labour force than ever before, but job equality, poverty reduction remain elusive
  05 March 2004 - Women are entering the global labour force in record numbers, but they still face higher unemployment rates and lower wages and represent 60 per cent of the world's 550 million working poor, says a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO) prepared for International Women's Day.
• International Women's Day events at the ILO Geneva, Monday 8th March 2004
  02 March 2004 - Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi and international war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte will participate in a panel discussion on women and the judiciary at the International Labour Organization (ILO) on International Women's Day.

February 2004 

• World Commission says globalization can and must change, calls for urgent rethink of global governance
  24 February 2004 - Globalization can and must change, says a new, groundbreaking report presented today to the International Labour Organization (ILO) urging that building a fair and inclusive globalization become a worldwide priority.
• India, U.S. and ILO join forces to fight child labour; new project targets directly some 80,000 children in hazardous work
  16 February 2004 - The Government of India, in cooperation with the US Department of Labor and the International Labour Organization (ILO) today launched a US$ 40 million programme aimed at eliminating child labour that targets directly some 80,000 children in ten hazardous industries. This is the largest child labour programme ever undertaken by the ILO at the country level.
• International cooperative alliance, ILO sign partnership agreement
  10 February 2004 - The International Labour Office (ILO) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) today signed an agreement to implement a "Common Cooperative Agenda" aimed at creating decent jobs and reducing poverty.
• New ILO study says economic benefits of eliminating child labour will vastly outweigh costs
  03 February 2004 - A new study by the International Labour Office (ILO) says the benefits of eliminating child labour will be nearly seven times greater than the costs, or an estimated US$ 5.1 trillion in the developing and transitional economies, where most child labourers are found.

January 2004 

• ILO to launch new study on economic costs and benefits of eliminating child labour
  28 January 2004 - What is the projected cost of eliminating child labour worldwide? How will global society benefit - especially developing and transitional economies?
• ILO expresses "shock and sadness" at killing of Cambodian labour leader
  23 January 2004 - The International Labour Organization (ILO) today expressed its "shock and sadness" at the killing by unidentified assailants of Mr. Chea Vichea, President of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, calling his death an "irreplaceable loss".
• Global unemployment remains at record levels in 2003 but annual ILO jobs report sees signs of recovery
  22 January 2004 - Overall global unemployment rose in 2003 to 185.9 million, remaining at record levels for men and women and escalating more sharply among young people despite a pickup in economic growth after a two-year slump, the International Labour Office (ILO) said in its annual jobs report released today.

December 2003 

• ILO Director-General welcomes G8 call for stronger social and employment dimension of globalization
  17 December 2003 - General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Juan Somavia, today welcomed the conclusions of the G8 Labour and Employment Ministers Conference as a "positive step toward a fairer and more inclusive globalization process that ensures opportunities for all."
• Regional meeting concludes with pledge to strengthen ILO role in African development "Decent Work for Africa's Development"
  05 December 2003 - Xth African Regional Meeting concluded today with a broad set of recommendations on putting employment at the centre of Africa's development strategies and strengthening the organization's role in poverty reduction on the continent.
• ILO delegates lay groundwork for African summit on poverty and employment
  03 December 2003 - Xth African Regional Meeting.
• Xth African Regional Meeting Opens with Calls for Changes in International Policies on Poverty Alleviation
  02 December 2003 - centred approach to alleviating the continent's chronic poverty, and international policies must change to recognize this. That was the message heard by delegates to the International Labour Organization's Xth African Regional Meeting at its opening session this morning in the Ethiopian capital.