GENEVA (ILO News) - The Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO) opens its 285 ^th session here today with a focus on forced labour in Myanmar, a fund for workers in the occupied Arab territories and a host of measures aimed at employment creation and social policy.

The 56-member Governing Body will also follow up on a resolution adopted by the International Labour Conference in June designed to strengthen the tripartite structure of the 83-year-old Organization and the role of its employer and worker representatives - the so-called "social partners" - in its functioning. Under the resolution on tripartism, delegates will consider proposals for concrete action, including "social dialogue audits" enabling the Governing Body to assess the depth of knowledge on and commitment to tripartism and tripartite consultations in the ILO's operations.

The Governing Body's Working Party on the Social Dimension of Globalization will discuss the work of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, which held its third meeting in mid-October. The Governing Body will also consider follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg earlier this year.

The Governing Body will also consider action to be taken regarding the appointment of the Director-General at its March 2003 session. The current Director-General Juan Somavia of Chile was elected to his position in March of 1999, and his first term will be completed by March 2004.

Country developments

Delegates will examine reports on developments since June of this year concerning the observance by the Government of Myanmar of the ILO's Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). One report covers the activities of the ILO regarding Myanmar since this date, including the activities of an interim Liaison Officer in Myanmar, Mr. Léon de Riedmatten. The Governing Body will also consider a report on the activities of the current ILO Liaison Officer, Ms. Hông-Trang Perret-Nguyen, who was appointed in August and arrived in Yangon to take up her appointment on 7 October.

The Governing Body will also consider developments in Colombia, where reports indicate some 100 trade unionists have been killed this year. Delegates will discuss the work and consider extended funding for a special technical cooperation programme called "Project Colombia", which has been established to secure the rights of Colombian trade unionists, promote freedom of association and the right to organize in the country, and further social dialogue as a means of stopping violence.

Regarding the situation of Palestinian workers in the occupied Arab territories, the Governing Body will review activities since its last meeting in June which called for technical cooperation programmes to boost employment and social protection and tje promotion of social dialogue. Delegates will discuss progress on plans to establish a Palestinian Fund for Employment and Social Protection as well as requests for funding for the project by donors. A donors' meeting to be held in December 2002 will bring together both multilateral and Arab development funds. The Director-General had submitted the idea of the Fund to the "quartet" of international bodies engaged in the Middle East peace process (United Nations, European Union, Russian Federation and United States), and a number of donors have expressed interest in principle.

Also, during the Governing Body's session, the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association will discuss some 30 cases involving alleged infringements of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

Global economy and other issues

The Committee on Employment and Social Policy will follow-up on its discussion of the Global Employment Agenda, which places productive employment at the centre of pro-poor development policies. The Agenda stresses the economic foundations of decent work as a productive factor, particularly how respect for basic rights stimulates increased productivity and thus jobs, growth and development. The Agenda responds to the United Nations' request to the ILO made at the 24 ^th Special Session of its General Assembly in 2000, to draft a comprehensive employment framework that supports the Millennium Declaration Goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.

The Committee on Employment and Social Policy will also explore the feasibility of a Global Social Trust with the objective of reaching 80-100 million people in the least developed and low-income countries, who are today excluded from effective social protection, within the next two decades. The basic idea is to request people in the richer countries to contribute on a voluntary basis a rather modest monthly amount (about 0.2 per cent of their income) to a Global Social Trust, which will be organized in the form of a global network of National Social Trusts supported by the ILO. The Trust would invest these resources to build up basic social protection schemes in developing countries and sponsor concrete benefits for a defined initial period until the schemes become self-supporting.

As an important feature of globalization, export processing zones (EPZs) have been monitored by the ILO over 20 years. The Committee will also look at employment and social policy in EPZs, including free trade zones, special economic zones, bonded warehouses, free ports and maquiladoras. A committee report shows that both the number of EPZs (79 EPZs in 1975; 3000 EPZs in 2002) and the number of countries hosting them (25 countries with EPZs in 1975; 116 countries in 2002) have expanded rapidly. In 2002, EPZs employ some 37 million people worldwide, while China alone had 30 million employed in more than 2,000 of these and assimilated zones. Total employment in other countries' zones was calculated at 4.5 million in 1997, a figure which has risen to at least 7 million this year. The Committee will also discuss the respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, social protection and conditions of work in EPZs.

Other items

The Working Party on the Social Dimension of Globalization will meet on 18 November and discuss a report on investment in the global economy and decent work that outlines ways of attracting foreign investment and maximizing potential benefits.

Delegates will also consider reports evaluating ILO programmes on Promoting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights and Safety and Health at Work (Safework).

The Governing Body is the executive body of the International Labour Office (the Office is the secretariat of the Organization). It meets three times a year, in March, June and November. It takes decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference, adopts the draft Programme and Budget of the Organization for submission to the Conference, and elects the Director-General.

It is composed of 56 titular members (28 Governments, 14 Employers and 14 Workers) and 66 deputy members (28 Governments, 19 Employers and 19 Workers). Ten of the titular government seats are permanently held by States of chief industrial importance (Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States). The other Government members are elected by the Conference every three years.