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As early as 1919, the ILO’s founders decided to create a system of international labour standards (ILS) because the global economy needed clear rules in order to ensure that economic progress would go hand in hand with social justice, prosperity and peace for all. The ILS which have been adopted by the ILO Conference since 1919, cover a broad range of subjects related to all aspects of the world of work: freedom of association, non-discrimination, forced labour, child labour, labour inspection and administration, employment promotion, tripartite consultations, conditions of work (wages, working time), occupational safety and health, social security, migrant workers, indigenous peoples, social policy and special categories of workers including seafarers and fishers.
The international community’s continuing agreement that some basic “rules of the game” for the global economy are needed has been illustrated more recently in the adoption of the 1998 ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the broad ratification of the fundamental ILO Conventions following a ratification campaign. At the 2005 World Summit of the United Nations, the goals of full and productive employment and Decent Work for all were defined as central objectives of national and international policies. The importance of ILS has been further strengthened by the adoption of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization in 2008 (2008 Declaration).
The 2008 Declaration commits the ILO to assist member States in giving effect to their commitment to implement the four strategic pillars (objectives) of the Decent Work Agenda:
Objective 1: The promotion and realization of universally applicable standards and fundamental principles and rights at work.
Objective 2: The creation of greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment.
Objective 3: Enhancing the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all.
Objective 4: Strengthening of Tripartism and social dialogue.
Situation Analysis
Since the ILO campaign regarding the ratification of the fundamental ILO Conventions which was lunched after the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development in 1995 the Arab Countries of Western Asia made progress in this area. The adoption of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at work and its follow-up in 1998 has reinforced this progress. More core conventions are ratified in addition to the ratification in the same time of some other conventions. Labour legislations were reviewed in some Arab countries and are under review in others.
However, the situation needs to be more improved particularly on the ground. One set of constraints on getting the national legislation more closely to the ratified conventions relates, sometimes, to a lack of understanding of these conventions. The implementation in practice of the International labour standards and the related provisions of the labour legislations still raises some problems. Strengthening the Employers’ and workers’ understanding of their respective rights and obligations in this regard would contribute to overcome this situation.
Human rights and democracy needs to be more promoted. The ILO conventions in particular the fundamental ones need to be widely well-known, more ratified and effectively applied. This includes strengthened information and advocacy and improved capacity of national machinery for consideration of standards, especially tripartite machinery as well as improvements in industrial relations systems, more effective labour administration and inspection and modernized labour legislation.
Strategy of the ILO Regional Office
The strategy of the ILO Regional Office in the ILS area is part of the strategy elaborated by NORMES Department at the Headquarter for more effective implementation of ILS through technical cooperation, which was approved by the ILO Governing Body in November 2007. The strategy is based on the identification of the following opportunities and comparative advantages, which indicate that the ILO has a historical opportunity to enhance the impact of standards:
- International Labour Standards and tripartism constitute the main comparative advantages of the ILO in the context of UN reform and aid effectiveness as expressed in the Rome and Paris Declarations.
- Enhanced global focus on the human rights-based approach means that International Labour Standards have an important role to play which has not yet been explored to its full potential.
- Existing technical cooperation initiatives by NORMES have confirmed the enormous potential of promoting and mainstreaming ILS in technical cooperation strategies and programmes within and beyond the ILO.
- The comments of the supervisory bodies serve as a key resource and provide the main guidance in the process of improving the impact of standards at country level.
In this perspective, the Regional Office strategy aims at mainstreaming ILS throughout the technical cooperation activities of the ILO and beyond (through the CCA/UNDAFs, PRSPs etc).This strategy has been integrated in the Strategic Policy Framework (SPF) 2010-2015 and the draft Programme and Budget 2010-2011 (P&B) adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2009. Both of these documents are based on the principles of results-based management and emphasize the need to enhance synergies between ILO technical cooperation, ILS, and the comments of the ILO supervisory bodies so as to ensure the effective application of ILS on the ground.
Basing on the example of the Global Jobs Pact (GJP), the Arab Employment Forum which was the follow-up to the GJP at regional level included, among principles for promoting recovery and development, the promotion of core labour standards and other international labour standards that support the economic and jobs recovery and reduce gender inequality. It mentioned the Strengthening respect for international labour standards as a specific policy option in the context of the Decent Work Responses to crisis. The Regional Office integrate these orientations in its programme and action plan.
The mission of the Regional Office for Arab States in this regard is to effectively assist the Arab States in their efforts to make progress on a tripartite basis towards this strategic objective, through country programmes for decent work, where appropriate, and within the framework of the United Nations system and to help their institutional capacity, as well as representative organizations of employers and workers, to enabling their Governments to fulfill their ILO Constitutional obligations with respect to the international labour standards.
Vision and Objectives
As indicated in relation to the Strategic Policy Framework and the P&B (section 1.1), the ILO, including NORMES, has undertaken a firm commitment to strengthen the impact of the supervisory mechanism and effectively address gaps in the implementation of conventions and recommendations in a large number of member States.
The Regional Office for Arab States conceives and implements strategy and programmes to strengthening the implementation of International Labour Standards at country and regional levels, using the unique information resources and guidance provided by the ILO supervisory bodies to target implementation gaps through technical cooperation. Its Objective is to make the international Labour Standards effectively implemented in the Arab region and through global strategies towards a human rights-based approach to development. In this regard the Regional Office aims at strengthening the tripartite partners’ awareness and capacity to effectively implement their commitment to ILS in general and to address implementation gaps at the country-level in particular. It also aims at systematically including the ILS in national and regional programming processes, including in the HRBA and CCA/UNDAFs.
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