Articles

June 2006

1. 

   95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   Occupational safety and health in Kazakhstan: A model for Central Asia

   13 June 2006

   After the collapse of the Soviet Union, working conditions in Kazakhstan deteriorated much the same way as in other former Soviet republics. In the 1990s, more than 3,000 occupational accidents were registered officially each year, causing the death of more than 300 workers.

2. 

   95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   The end of child labour: Together we can do it

   09 June 2006

   This year's International Labour Conference will also focus on global activities against child labour. On 9 June, the Conference Plenary will discuss the ILO's new Global Report on child labour, including a special event highlighting the progress made in eliminating child labour in countries like Brazil, Tanzania and Turkey.

3. 

   95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   "Papa na come": Liberia rises from the ashes, exchanges guns for jobs

   07 June 2006

   Fourteen years of civil war killed 250,000 of the 5 million Liberians, displaced most of the others, quadrupled the number of people living with HIV/AIDS and left the country with a US$3.5 billion external debt.

4. 95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   Breaking out of informality: Amina, the Queen of Oranges

   02 June 2006

   With between a half and two-thirds of the world's working women and men outside the formal economy, breaking out of informality is the single biggest challenge for labour market governance worldwide.

May 2006

1. 

   95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   Singapore: Charting a new roadmap for safer workplaces

   29 May 2006

   The Conference Committee on Safety and Health will consider a promotional framework for occupational safety and health (OSH), including a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation. The proposed instruments would support placing occupational safety and health high at national agendas, and promote safer and healthier working environments worldwide.

2. 

   Giving a fair deal to the world's 86 million migrant workers

   23 May 2006

   Across the world, millions of people are on the move - doing jobs ranging from manual labour such as harvesting to high-skilled computer programming. Combined, their numbers with their dependents would equal the fifth most populous country on the planet. And their numbers are likely to increase, according to the ILO.

3. 

   Child labour in Africa: Plucking the Green Gold of Tooro

   04 May 2006

   The new ILO report "The end of child labour: Within reach" paints a mixed picture of child labour worldwide. While the global total of child labourers is on the decline, there remain some 50 million working children in sub-Saharan Africa. But the unprecedented international movement to end child labour is opening a window of opportunity for Africa's fight against the practice. ILO Online reports from a tea plantation in Uganda.

4. 

   Child labour in Asia: The story of Thao

   04 May 2006

   Asia and the Pacific registered declines both in the child population and in the number of economically active children, but only a very small decrease in activity rates, according to the ILO's new Global Report "The end of child labour: Within reach". The ILO estimates that this region has the largest number of child workers in the 5-14 age group - some 122 million, with 62 million engaged in work that is considered hazardous. ILO Online reports from the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

5. 

   Child labour in Latin America: The accident that changed Braulio's life

   04 May 2006

   According to the new ILO Global Report "The end of child labour: Within reach", Latin America and the Caribbean have seen a rapid decline in child labour over the past four years. The number of children at work in the region has fallen by two-thirds, with just 5 per cent of children now engaged in work. ILO Online reports from Peru where the ILO works towards the progressive elimination of child labour in artisanal mines.

6. 

   Regional Meeting for the Americas 2-5 May: Extending social security in Latin America and the Caribbean

   03 May 2006

   The main problem with social security systems in Latin America and the Caribbean is their limited coverage in terms of the number of workers and family members protected, the range of risks covered and the quality of protection. In some countries, coverage has decreased even further over the past 15 years, according to the report prepared for the ILO Regional Meeting for the Americas. The report sets a global target for governments and the social partners to increase social protection by 20 per cent of the region's total population between 2006 and 2015. ILO Online spoke with Michael Cichon, head of the ILO's Social Security Department.