All ILO Newsroom content

June 2013

1. 

   Watch

   Malawi is committed to combat child labour, says H.E. Mrs Joyce Banda

   12 June 2013

   H.E. Mrs Joyce Banda, President of Malawi pledged "to continue to champion the zero tolerance to child labour in Malawi, and also to intensify programs to eradicate the poverty which is the root cause of this problem". In her first visit to the ILO's International Labour Conference Mrs. Banda also added that "in these times of widespread economic challenges arising from the global financial and economic crisis, the relevance of the ILO today has become glaringly clear". After addressing the plenary sitting, Mrs Banda met with the African delegates of governments, workers' and employers' organizations.

2. 

   World Day Against Child Labour

   Malawi: Finding solutions for child domestic workers

   12 June 2013

   Millions of children around the world, mainly girls, are working in households other than their own, doing domestic work such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and looking after other children and the elderly. According to a new report on domestic work from the International Labour Organization, it's estimated at least two-thirds of these children are working under the legal minimum wage, or in conditions that are hazardous. Often, the working relationship between the child and their employer is ambiguous at best, exploitative at worst. But solutions are possible, even in a place where using children as domestic workers is a long tradition.

3. 

   Video

   Malawi: From Child Labour to Decent Work

   12 June 2013

   In Malawi, poverty, lack of education, gender inequalities and the HIV pandemic are the engines driving child labour, and make it so hard to defeat. But a new intervention called "convergence" -- which integrates action at the national, district and local levels, is showing promise to create child labour free zones in the areas where it has been implemented. The convergence model is showing results in one of the world's poorest countries, where child labour has long been a part of daily life. In Malawi, the "Integrated Area Based Approach" is showing the way for communities themselves to take the lead in ending child labour.

4. 

   World Day Against Child Labour

   Communites Tackling Child Labour in Malawi

   12 June 2013

   In Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, half the population lives under the poverty line, and it's estimated one and a half million children are in child labour. But according to the International Labour Organization, a new, community based approach to tackling the child labour problem is showing promise to eradicate it in areas where child labour has long been a part of daily life.

5. 

   Special multimedia report

   Going child-labour free in Malawi

   11 June 2013

   Special multimedia report about the ILO’s support for the National Action Plan to combat child labour in Malawi.

May 2013

1. 

   School-to-Work Transition

   Making the move from school to work in Malawi and Zambia

   08 May 2013

   The global jobs crisis is taking a heavy toll on young people in the advanced economies of Europe where 1 in five are out of work, but in the developing world the situation is much more severe. Two out of three young people in developing countries are either unemployed or trying to survive day to day in low paying, irregular jobs. There is an urgent need for training and education programs that prepare young people with the skills employers are looking for.

October 2012

1. 

   Gender equality

   African judges’ labour of law

   26 October 2012

   The ILO helps 25 African judges fight sex discrimination in the courts but cultural challenges remain the biggest obstacle for some.

December 2010

1. 

   News item

   ILO and EU to launch new project on improving safety and health at work

   02 December 2010

   Responding to a pressing need to improve the safety and health of workers, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Union are launching a new project aimed at reducing occupational accidents and diseases in six countries in Eastern Europe (Ukraine and Moldova), Africa (Zambia and Malawi) and Central America (Honduras and Nicaragua).

2. 

   Video News Release

   Malawi: Businesswomen on Board with HIV/AIDS Message

   01 December 2010

   It’s tough to be an entrepreneur; it’s a lot tougher when you’re a woman from a low income background, running a small scale enterprise across international borders. But in Malawi the challenges for pioneering women entrepreneurs also include the risk of HIV infection. That’s why a local business association is welcoming a new initiative to educate entrepreneurs how to protect themselves. And the classroom is an unconventional one; on board the bus to buy goods across the border in Tanzania.