ILO - BRUSSELS
NEWSLETTER N°. 7-8/2006
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ILO reiterates its opposition to all use of asbestos
Asbestos causes around 100,000 deaths a year around the world, equivalent to one death every 5 minutes. ILO Convention 162 on Safety in the Use
of Asbestos, which was adopted in 1986 and can be consulted by
clicking here, calls for a ban but stops short of imposing one, though some asbestos
producers have been maintaining that the standard authorises "the controlled use" of asbestos.
Meeting in Geneva, the 95th ILO Annual Conference adopted a resolution to clarify the situation, explaining that the convention in question,
which has already been ratified by 28 countries, must on no account serve to justify or accept the continued use of asbestos. According to the
resolution, the most efficient ways of preventing future asbestos-related illnesses or deaths entail abolishing the future use of asbestos in
all its forms and working out or seeking adequate procedures for managing existing asbestos.
The UN makes decent work the centrepiece of the fight against poverty
The latest meeting of the UN Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) ended with an important message of support for ILO's activities, and more
particularly its Decent Work Agenda. The ECOSOC is coordinating the actions of 14 specialised agencies, 10 functional committees and five regional
committees of the UN. At its meeting held in Geneva from 3 to 5 July, it adopted a ministerial declaration underscoring the priority of managing
to attain productive, full-time employment and decent work for all. During this period of UN reform, the participating ministers launched an
appeal to the UN to unite and to promote high-quality jobs. This is an urgent matter, for unemployment worldwide has risen by more than 20% over
the past 10 years, and 430 million new jobs will have to be created over the coming decade to keep pace with the growing global workforce.
The meeting was the first international summit to take on board the recommendations made by the UN Summit of Heads of State and Government
organised in September 2005, which included the strategy of decent work in the efforts to be made to attain the UN Millennium Development Goals.
"This move presents the extraordinary opportunity to mainstream the goal of full and productive employment and decent work for all into the
regular activities of all relevant UN organisations", said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.
"This can set in motion a process of policy dialogue within the multilateral system - including the Bretton Woods Institutions - to stimulate
the necessary policy convergence behind this global goal agreed to at the 2005 UN Summit".
For press releases providing more details of this Declaration and the ECOSOC,
click here and
here. The text of the Declaration has been published
here.
How should decent work be defined?
The ILO has placed the fight for decent work at the heart of all its activities. But how should decent work be defined? What is the 'decent work
deficit'? How can we attain the objective of decent work? The ILO has just published some FAQs on this topic, which can be read by
clicking here. The ILO has also produced a report on Ghana
specifically to illustrate one of its pilot programmes for decent work. That report is available by
clicking here. Finally, you may wish to consult the ILO
information file on decent work and the Millennium Development Goals, published
here.
Jobs instead of arms in Liberia
Fourteen years of civil war have claimed the lives of 250,000 Liberians (out of a population of three million), displaced most others,
quadrupled the number of people with HIV/AIDS, and left the country saddled with a foreign debt of $3.5 billion.
Based on ILO's successes in countries emerging from armed conflicts (Cambodia, Mozambique, and so on), the ILO's Programme on Crisis
Response and Reconstruction will support the Liberian government's attempts to reconstruct the country. Together with other UN agencies
and donors, funds will be mobilised for a technical cooperation programme that will step up the creation of jobs in SMEs in Liberia, and
develop skills and job administration. Funding provided by the Dutch government will also enable the immediate establishment of an
experimental project aimed at rebuilding a key road and thereby stimulating the launch of activities designed to get the local economy
up and running in the neighbouring areas. To read the report on this ILO activity in Liberia,
click here.
ILO research into the legal aspects of trafficking migrant workers
A new ILO study covers the legal aspects of trafficking for forced labour purposes in Europe. This research, which was partly funded by the
European Union, examines the latest legal trends in Europe aimed at preventing and punishing traffickers and protecting and compensating victims.
It highlights several problems, such as differing interpretations throughout Europe as to what constitutes 'forced labour' and 'abuse of
vulnerability', inflexibility regarding exchanges of information on traffickers between European countries, the lack of development of penal
codes in the countries from which migrant workers originate and that have become destination or transit countries, and so on. The study can be
consulted by
clicking here.
The situation regarding labour inspections
A fair number of the 6,000 deaths caused every day as a result of accidents at work or occupational diseases could be prevented by efficient labour
inspections. However, this key aspect of occupational health and safety faces a great many challenges, including insufficient resources, a lack of
training and even violence. An interview of labour inspection experts published on the ILO website covers the situation in this domain, the application
of the relevant ILO conventions and the general survey that was discussed at this year's International Labour Conference. To read the interview
click here, and to read the general survey
click here.
The ILO has also published a report on health and safety at work in Kazakhstan, which is considered a model in this domain in Central Asia,
amongst other things thanks to the ILO cooperation. Kazakhstan was the first country in the region to call on the ILO to send international
monitors to verify its labour inspection system. To read that report,
click here. Finally, an entire edition of Labour
Education devoted to labour inspection can be downloaded by
clicking here.
Did you know?
Public interest in avian influenza focuses mainly on the threat of a general pandemic, but bird flu can also be an occupational disease.
The International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS) has selected several Internet sources providing information on
protecting workers against this illness. The documents in question cover the risks to which poultry sector workers, lab workers and health workers,
air crews and so on are exposed. The means of defence against the disease include precautionary measures and suitable protection, as well as
appropriate training for workers to prevent an epidemic from breaking out amongst the human population. Please
click here to access this information database.
New publications
Of all the latest ILO publications, the following may be of special interest to our readers:
Decent Working Time. New trends, new issues
Jean-Yves Boulin, Michel Lallement, Jon C. Messenger, François Michon
2006, xxii+464 pp., ISBN 978-92-2-117950-4 ; 35 euros
The concept of working time has greatly evolved in industrialised countries. Whereas executives are increasingly seeing their pay linked
to the performances of their company, the general workforce has to adapt to a global economy operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This
study, which consists of contributions by eminent specialists on this issue, examines how these trends are prompting more and more
diversification, decentralisation and individualisation of working time. It also looks at the tensions arising between the demands made
by companies and workers' aspirations, especially with respect to their impact on the latter's social and family life. The book also provides
some interesting tips on how to work together to arrive at decent working time for all. You can order the book by
clicking here.
Scheduled meetings
Please
click here for a list of ILO meetings scheduled for 2006 and 2007.
Contact us
For more information on the ILO's activities, please contact the :
ILO Brussels
Rue Aimé Smekens 40
B -1030 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: + 32 02 736 59 42
Fax: +32.02 735 48 25
E-mail: brussels@ilo.org
Website : www.ilo.org/brussels
