ILO - BRUSSELS
NEWSLETTER N° 5/2008
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Green jobs in the G8
ILO Director General Juan Somavia discussed issues related to sustainable development and strategies to promote green jobs at the G8 Labour
and Employment Ministers Meeting, which took place in Niigata, Japan from 11 to 13 May. He reminded participants what ILO’s Green Jobs initiative
was and also pointed out that green jobs are not necessarily decent jobs, so their quality must always be examined in relation to the Decent Work
Agenda. You can read his speech by
clicking here, and ILO’s background
note, which was handed out to the ministers attending the Niigata meeting, is available
here.
Education at the heart of the World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June
The theme of the World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June will be ‘Education is the right response to child labour’. In the Millennium
Development Goals, the United Nations and the international community
set the target of ensuring that by 2015, all children will complete a full course of primary education. However, this target is far from
being met. The Global Monitoring Report on Education For All highlighted that in 2007, 77 million primary school-age children did not
attend school. Furthermore, in many countries, the schools to which poor families have access lack resources and are not adapted to their
needs. A recent ILO study found that the elimination of child labour and its replacement by universal education would yield major economic
benefits in addition to the social benefits. Globally, benefits exceed costs by a ratio of more than 6 to 1.
Click here to access a website with full details of
the next World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June. You will also find the poster for the event and a range of publications on child labour
(leaflet on education, fact sheet, teaching tool for teachers who want to discuss the topic with their pupils, etc.).
International Labour Conference
The 97th session of the International Labour Conference will begin in Geneva on 28 May. The Conference, which has often been compared to an
international parliament for labour issues, has a variety of functions. One of its most important tasks is adopting internationally recognised
labour standards and looking at how they are applied in the countries that have subscribed to them. This year, delegates will focus on considering
a new authoritative document that will boost ILO’s capacity to support its members’ efforts in implementing the four pillars of its Decent Work
Agenda and its integrated approach. It will also bolster the Organisation’s internal functioning. This initiative should be reviewed in the
context of globalisation and strengthening its social dimension, and has received very strong support from the European Union.
Other issues on the Conference’s agenda are the promotion of rural employment to reduce poverty and the improvement of professional skills to
increase productivity, boost employment and foster development. The Conference will also look at the Global Report on freedom of association
and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining (Global Report drafted as a follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work).
Click here to see the
list of reports submitted to the International Labour Conference this year.
An ILO project helps Cambodia to keep jobs in the clothing industry
Often mentioned as an example, the Project to Improve Working Conditions in Cambodian Factories is a joint initiative by ILO
and the International Finance Corporation (IFC),
the private sector arm of the World Bank. The project has contributed to improving working conditions throughout the Cambodian textile
industry, creating thousands of new jobs and achieving a steady increase in exports to the United States and the European Union. At a
meeting in Cambodia, international investors underlined the existence of the programme and its emphasis on working conditions and productivity
as major reasons behind their decision to work with the country.
The programme is currently being expanded to Lesotho, Jordan and Vietnam.
Click here to visit the programme’s website or
here to read a
report about the programme.
Analysis of international framework agreements
ILO has just published a comprehensive study on the 62 framework agreements concluded between multinational companies and international trade
union federations. The purpose of these agreements is to stimulate global social dialogue between multinational companies and workers’
representatives, both where the firm is headquartered and where it operates. The study focuses on how the agreements work in practice,
the extent to which they can contribute to international industrial relations and their legal aspects. It also investigates why there are
so few international framework agreements in two sectors (the textiles, clothing and footwear sector on the one hand and the maritime sector
on the other hand).
Click here to download the study from the website of the International
Institute for Labour Studies, which coordinated it.
Juan Somavia attends Decent Work seminar in the Netherlands
With a view to raising the profile and emphasising the political relevance of ILO and its Decent Work Agenda, the Dutch Ministry of Social
Affairs and Employment organised a seminar in cooperation with Dutch trade unions and employers’ associations. The seminar, which took place
in The Hague on 14 April, was hosted by the Dutch Minister of Social Affairs, Piet Hein Donner. In his speech, Mr Somavia stressed the Decent
Work Agenda’s relevance for every country, as it allows people to grow out of poverty and move upwards. He also addressed the need for a
social floor and the challenges ILO faces with respect to strengthening and updating its instruments.
Fighting forced labour in Brazil
One hundred and twenty years after the abolition of slavery in Brazil, it is estimated that 25,000 to 40,000 workers are still victims of
conditions analogous to slavery in this South American country. However, an article
available here
shows how the Brazilian government is gradually turning the situation around with the guidance of the ILO and the support of employers. Over
the last 14 years, around 30,000 workers have been rescued from forced labour thanks to the work of a Special Group for Mobile Inspection
made up of labour inspectors, federal police officers and labour law prosecutors.
Another successful initiative has been the Citizen’s Charcoal Institute (ICC), an institution created by 14 companies to monitor charcoal
producers in northern Brazil and eliminate forced labour in the steel industry. With ILO’s support, the ICC has been carrying out a programme
to rehabilitate rescued workers, first giving them vocational training then helping them to find employment. ILO has also assisted the
Brazilian authorities in drawing up a National Pact to Combat Forced Labour. Since its introduction in 2005, almost 200 public and private-sector
companies have signed the Pact, which stipulates that they must remove any products made using forced labour from their supply chains.
Did you know?
ILO’s website is home to a database containing around 500 entries directly or indirectly related to the informal economy and decent work.
The database is searchable by country, keyword, ILO author unit and date. Each entry contains details of the available information and usually
includes a brief summary of the contents. In most cases, resources can be accessed electronically or are available in PDF format.
Click here to consult the database.
Scheduled meetings
Click here for a list of meetings scheduled by the ILO for 2008.
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
