ILO activities

Recent activity

• Meeting Information
• Report for discussion at the Meeting (pdf, 473k)
• Chairperson's Summary (pdf, 36k)

Most of the previously mentioned labour and social issues have been considered by the Sectoral Activities Department in its tripartite sectoral meetings relating to textiles, clothing and leather and footwear. The last meeting of this type, which took place in October 2000, was the Tripartite Meeting on Labour Practices in the Footwear, Leather, Textiles and Clothing Industries.

These ILO meetings provide a forum for tripartite constituents to discuss sectoral issues and to adopt, usually by consensus, conclusions and resolutions. The texts adopted constitute internationally recognized guidelines for employers' and workers' organizations, national governments and the ILO itself.

The Sectoral Activities Department contributes to the implementation of the decent work agenda of the ILO through sectoral-oriented products and programmes. These products and programmes relate to the four strategic objectives of the ILO and include activities such as the promotion of the social dialogue and human rights at work, the strengthening of social protection and social security and the promotion of decent and productive employment.

The ILO's overriding goal is to promote opportunities for all women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity, The Sectoral Activities Department provides a sectoral dimension to this goal.

The ILO also participates actively in international efforts to combat child labour. Its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) aims at the progressive elimination of child labour by strengthening national capacities to combat it. In a number of countries, especially in South Asia, it has dealt specifically with the TCF industries.