HIV/AIDS and the World of Work - ILO Response

ILO’s primary goal is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives for opportunity, decent income, rights, voice and recognition. HIV/AIDS threatens this decent work.

HIV/AIDS has its primary impact on the world of work with deeper implications on the labour force, its composition, size and quality. Over 90% of people with HIV are adults in their productive prime - workers, employers, managers in all sectors. The ILO estimates that in ten to fifteen years time the labour force of high prevalence countries will be 10 to 34% smaller.

HIV/AIDS is a development problem (especially in Sub Saharan Africa) and a threat to the ILO goal of promotion of decent and productive work for women and men. ILO interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa are therefore undertaken against a background of massive human and material loss.

HIV/AIDS impacts the most vulnerable groups in society, exacerbating existing problems of poverty and inadequate social protection, gender inequalities and fuelling stigma and discrimination. Women and children are particularly vulnerable as they also carry the greatest share of the burden of care, often forcing the children out of school into highly exploitative and extremely hazardous child labour.

Why HIV/AIDS is a workplace issue

HIV/AIDS is a workplace issue not only because it affects labour and productivity, but also because the workplace has a vital role to play in the wider struggles to limit the spread and effects of the epidemic. HIV/AIDS threatens the livelihoods of many workers and those who depend on them - families, communities and enterprises. In doing so, it also weakens national economies. Discrimination and stigmatization against women and men with HIV threaten fundamental principles and rights at work, and undermine efforts for prevention and care. The workplace is where workers come together, where information messages can be shared and policies, regulations, and training adapted to include HIV and AIDS.

The social and labour dimensions of HIV and AIDS have thus challenged the ILO to seek innovative interventions in the global struggle against the devastation of this pandemic.

The ILO scaled up response in the struggle against HIV/AIDS follows the call of the Platform of Action on HIV/AIDS in the Context of the World of Work in Africa, mooted by the Regional Tripartite workshop organized by ILO and UNAIDS in Windhoek, Namibia, in October 1999 and endorsed, in December 1999, by African Ministers of Labour in Abidjan.

The Platform of Action recognizes the gravity of the pandemic and categorizes HIV/AIDS as:

• The most serious social, labour and humanitarian challenge that is currently threatening every African country’s economy;
• A developmental crisis, causing discrimination in employment and the social exclusion of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), and
• A scourge that brings additional distortion to gender inequalities, and increases the numbers of orphans and incidences of child labour and advocates for a social vaccine that promotes social inclusion, solidarity, and income and job security.

The pandemic has also added a significant burden on the already strained economies in most of the sub region particularly adversely affecting the capacity of governments to deliver social services including health and education.

In cooperation with its tripartite partners- governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations- the ILO has several key entry points for interventions to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the world of work including.

• Advocacy for gender sensitive policy development and action at the workplace
• HIV/AIDS prevention through information, education and awareness for behaviour change,
• The protection of workers’ rights and social protection including employment protection, gender equality and upholding the principles of non-discrimination on the basis of one’s or perceived HIV status.

HIV/AIDS and the ILO Decent Work Agenda

The ILO Decent Work Agenda provides an excellent basis for coherent and focused policies in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS. The ILO Decent Work Agenda also provides for an ethical and legal framework to guide workplace policies and programmes and to protect the rights of workers against violation of basic human rights including stigmatisation and discrimination against PLWHA; discrimination in employment and occupation; child labour and gender inequality.

The agenda provides a framework action against HIV/AIDS to lessen the negative impact on both the formal and informal employment sectors and planning for social and economic consequences of HIV/AIDS. It also provides a common framework for ILO tripartite constituents to take action against HIV/AIDS. th

• takes a rights-based approach
• is the result of tripartite consensus
• balances the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers and
• expressed in ten key principles focused on non-discrimination, protection of rights and prevention

Key Principles of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work

Core ILO policy documents

• The ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS
• Implementing the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work: an education and training manual

Focus of the ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work in the Sub Region

The activities of the Sub-Regional Office in Harare are aimed at:

• Improving knowledge and understanding of the consequences of HIV and AIDS on the economy, the labour force, and society;
• Advocacy and raising awareness regarding the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS and its implications for workers’rights;
• Through the ILO Code of practice on HIV and AIDS and the world of work providing setting standards and providing guidelines for instruments and regulations that guide national action against HIV/ AIDS and protect human rights infringement based on HIV and AIDS
• Strengthening the capacity of employers’ and workers’ organizations, and mobilizing resources for education and prevention, counselling and support, and action against discrimination, and
• Applying the expertise of the ILO’s specialists in sectoral and technical co-operation programmes to particular workplace needs, especially in training, social security, safety and health at work, the gender dimension and HIV/AIDS.

The ILO/AIDS website: http://www.ilo.org/aids