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ILO Governing Body
concludes 277th Session
GENEVA - The Governing Body 1 of the ILO, in its 277th Session, adopted conclusions on a wide range of subjects, including a decision to broaden the Organization's examination of the social dimension of globalization, a decision to expand efforts to end forced labour in Myanmar, and the first review of the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which was adopted in 1998. The 277th Session of the Governing Body was chaired by Mr. Jean-Jacques Elmiger (Switzerland).
In other matters:
A special Symposium on Decent Work for Women highlighted the challenge of eliminating gender-based discrimination in the workplace and paved the way for the ILO's participation in the upcoming United Nations' Conference "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century".
The Governing Body voiced unanimous support for a reinforcement of ILO technical cooperation in favour of workers in the occupied Arab territories. It also endorsed the report of an ILO multidisciplinary mission to the West Bank and Gaza, which outlined 19 projects with a goal of strengthening the job and income-generating capacity of small and micro-enterprises.
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association reached interim conclusions on complaints involving Australia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, the Republic of Korea and Zimbabwe. It also heard a statement by the Nobel Peace laureate Ramos Horta.
Here is a wrapup of the Governing body's work:
Working Party on globalization
The broadening of the Working Party mandate also resulted in a change of name; the new group's deliberations will proceed under the title: Working Party on the Social Dimensions of Globalization. The Working Party, which is composed of all members of the ILO Governing Body, also pledged to increase contacts and cooperation with other multilateral agencies. The Governing Body endorsed proposals for the Office to beef up its research capacity on these issues, particularly via its newly established International Policy Group.
Launch of annual reporting review under the ILO Declaration
This Governing Body session marked the first-ever examination of annual reports submitted by Governments which have not yet ratified all the ILO fundamental rights Conventions. Meeting as a committee of the whole to permit countries which are not Governing Body members to speak about their own situations, speakers reaffirmed their commitment to the Declaration and its follow-up. Many stressed the importance of encouraging more replies from governments and the constructive role that employers' and workers' organizations can play in relation to reporting. In summing up this discussion, the Chairperson of the Governing Body pointed out the clear need for technical assistance and technical cooperation to assist governments to meet their obligations under the Declaration, and in creating conditions for the ratification and implementation of the fundamental rights Conventions.
Myanmar
In an action unprecedented in the ILO's 80-year history, the Governing Body set in motion a discussion in its June 2000 Conference, which could result in an appeal to its other 174 member States to review their relationship with the Government of Myanmar (Burma), and to take appropriate measures to ensure that Myanmar "cannot take advantage of such relations to perpetuate or extend the system of forced or compulsory labour" practised against the country's citizens.
Invoking for the first time Article 33 of the ILO Constitution 2, the Governing Body recommended that the International Labour Conference, meeting in Geneva in June this year, "take such action as it may deem wise and expedient to secure compliance" by Myanmar with the recommendations of a 1998 Commission of Inquiry.
The 1998 Commission concluded that "the obligation to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour is violated in Myanmar in national law as well as in actual practice in a widespread and systematic manner, with total disregard for the human dignity, safety, health and basic needs of the people". An updated report by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia examined new evidence of the situation and concluded that an order issued by the Government of Myanmar on 14 May 1999, does not exclude the imposition of forced labour, in violation of the Convention, and "in actual practice, forced or compulsory labour continues to be imposed in a widespread manner".
- Source: Press release ILO/00/10.
1 The Governing Body, composed of 28 government members, 14 employer members and 14 worker members, convenes three times annually. It is the executive arm of the ILO and takes decisions on the implementation of ILO policies and programmes. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by States of chief industrial importance. The remaining members are elected for three years by governments, workers and employers respectively, taking account of regional distribution.
2 Article 33 is designed for use only in the event of a country failing to carry out the recommendations of an ILO Commission of Inquiry, which is itself a procedure reserved for grave and persistent violations of international labour standards.
ILO examines progress,
looks ahead to Beijing+5
In preparation for ILO participation in the upcoming United Nations Conference, "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century", a special Symposium on Decent Work for Women during the Governing Body meeting highlighted the challenge of eliminating gender-based discrimination in the workplace.
Representatives of governments, workers' and employers' organizations as well as NGOs also participated in the Symposium. Among topics discussed were rights-based and development-based approaches; progress and gaps in decent work for men and women; promoting women workers' rights; a gender perspective on poverty, employment and social protection; management development and entrepreneurship for women; and gender in crisis response and reconstruction.
Here, key speakers identify existing obstacles to gender equality, and propose initiatives and actions for the future. One of them, Prof. Bina Agarwal talks to World of Work on what remains to be done.
Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General:
"We take another step towards globalizing social progress when we champion gender equality as a matter of rights and social justice, as well as efficiency and good business sense", the Director-General said. "In putting forward our decent work agenda, we have put gender equality and development issues at the heart of the ILO agenda." He noted that to chart future actions, it would be necessary to make breakthroughs in several areas. Poverty and rising inequality need to be attacked. Males still have a disproportionate share of wealth and females a disproportionate share of poverty. Also, women's increasing participation in the labour force is perhaps the most important factor in determining the social policy agenda in the new century. It will be a challenge to come up with new systems that can offer protection to women and men in precarious activities. "Our decent work strategy is a way out of poverty for women because it is based on principles of equality and equity at work and at home", Mr. Somavia stressed.
Angela King, Special Advisor to the United Nations
on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women:
"...It is clear that there is still much too much gender inequality in women's access to economic opportunities and to actual economic empowerment", Ms. King noted in her statement at the Symposium. "In most parts of the world, women still have no control of, or participation in, decision-making concerning capital, credit, property, technology, education and information. Yet they are working in growing numbers, and feminization of labour is a recognized process." She said statistics had confirmed the fact that women bear the brunt of the burden of poverty. In rural areas, where most of the world's poor live, women are responsible for 70-80% of the on-farm labour in some countries. Women all over the world are working long and hard for survival wages. "The challenge for us", she noted, "is how to help them make these extraordinary efforts remunerative. This means that, using the ILO's definition, we have to provide women with productive work in which their rights are protected."
Bina Agarwal, Professor of Economics at the University of Delhi:
"Command over property implies not only rights in law, but also effective rights in practice," says Ms. Agarwal, who has had a long-standing formal association with the ILO, publishing her earliest piece on women and technological change in 1981. She focused on two aspects of gender inequality which centrally affect millions of women as workers, but she said had failed to receive the attention they deserve: the gender gap in command over property and productive assets, and gender-biased social perceptions and social norms. According to Ms. Agarwal, inequality in command over property is the single most important form of persistent economic inequality between women and men. This impinges centrally on their status both as workers, and as social and political actors. Although difficult to quantify, she said, social perceptions and social norms enter almost every sphere of activity. They can affect economic outcomes for women in virtually every area, be it property rights, employment, or household allocations. In the labour market, gender, like race, often defines perceptions about abilities, and can lead to discriminatory hiring and pay practices. Women's contributions are often undervalued because many do home-based unpaid work which is less visible in physical and monetary terms than wage work outside the home. Men are seen as the primary breadwinners, and women at best as helpers.
ILO crisis strategy for East Timor
GENEVA - When they went to the polls in the UN supervised referendum on the future status of East Timor, nearly 80 per cent of the area's eligible voters voted for independence. Today, over 80 per cent of its working-age population is unemployed.
In the wave of violence which followed the announcement of the results of the referendum on 4 September 1999, more than 75 per cent of the entire population was displaced and more than 70 per cent of all private dwellings, public buildings and utilities were destroyed.
Unemployment is contributing to growing social unrest. Personal savings, where these might have existed, are quickly disappearing. Compounding the problem, the exodus of Indonesian professionals and technical staff dramatically cut into the capacity to manage administrative services such as schools, training facilities and employment centres.
"The impoverished population may well need to consume their remaining assets," says a project document, referring, among other scarce goods, to the seeds required for the next planting season.
In light of this devastation, the International Labour Office (ILO) has prepared a comprehensive plan for reconstruction, employment and skills training in East Timor. The proposed plan of assistance was presented to the Governing Body, meeting in the presence of Mr. José Ramos Horta, East-Timorese political leader and co-laureate of the Nobel Peace prize in 1996.
Mr. Ramos Horta came to the Governing Body meeting to share his first hand experience with the GB Committee on Employment and Social Policy. In his remarks, he said conditions on the ground in East Timor were currently favourable because peace and security had been consolidated. But he warned that peace and stability might not be sustainable without creating jobs. He urged donor countries to "honour their commitments and fulfill peoples' expectations," emphasizing that the projects outlined by the ILO were "extremely important" and should start immediately, with links to other humanitarian programmes.
Assistance package
Assistance foreseen includes emergency employment in labour-intensive reconstruction schemes, the rehabilitation of public utilities, the promotion of small and microenterprises and microcredit, the rehabilitation and development of vocational education and training, and the establishment of employment registration and services. Complementary initiatives relating to labour administration, labour law and industrial relations are also outlined in the plan.
The cost of the total package of assistance programmes, to be implemented over a period of 3 years, is estimated at some US$22.7 million. The ILO proposal integrates social concerns with the economic assistance programmes being developed by international financial institutions.
In a first, quick-impact phase, 2,000 unemployed unskilled workers would be provided with short-term employment and on-the-job training in community-identified priority reconstruction projects throughout the heavily damaged territory.
The ILO programme, which is to be carried out through the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in full cooperation with the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET), would, among other measures, provide for:
• Assistance in the rehabilitation of public utilities and essential public services
• Training and microenterprise development (8,000 beneficiaries)
• Establishment of Local Economic Development Agencies at the District level to channel credit to small and microenterprises
• Establishment of Employment Registration and Services Centres in Dili and other designated towns
• Rehabilitation of the Becora Technical School in Dili and development of vocational education and training facilities throughout the territory.
Donor support urgently needed
The project proposals were prepared by the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, set up by the Office in October 1999, as a means of building up its crisis preparedness and response capacity. The Programme is designed to address employment and other socio-economic challenges in post-crisis situations and, in so doing, to promote reintegration and reconciliation in the affected communities.
"Because the ILO is not a donor agency, the rapidity and effectiveness of the Programme's response depends on donor support based on the recognition of the fundamental relationship between humanitarian objectives and social and economic recovery and development," says the Programme Director, Eugenia Date-Bah.
Over the past year, the ILO has also participated in international efforts to provide urgent assistance in the wake of natural disasters or in post-conflict situations in Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Turkey and India (Orissa).