ILO in The Republic of Palau

Located in the Northern Pacific Ocean under the Micronesian group of islands, the Republic of Palau, celebrated its first Independence Day on 1 October 1994, after being a United Nations Trust Territory under U.S. administration for 47 years. In 2012, Palau became a member of the ILO and has since ratified the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 on 29 May 2012.

Whilst there is no formal tripartite set up, the ILO continues to work with the tripartite partners: the Bureau of Labour, the Palau Chamber of Commerce and a few workers’ organizations namely the Nurses Association and the Bangladesh Workers Association. Other partners that the ILO also collaborates with in-country includes the US Embassy, UNDP and the Working Group on Labour Law Reform.

Since joining the ILO, the Government of Palau has sought technical assistance from the ILO Office of Pacific Island Countries to work in the following three areas under the 2014-15 Palau Country Work Plan:
  • Review Palau’s labour legislation benchmarked against the eight Fundamental ILO Conventions.
  • Improving the performance on labour markets in the Pacific whereby Palau is one of the three countries (Fiji and Papua New Guinea) selected under the ILO/ADB collaboration project. The Project includes a preliminary analysis of the labour market in Palau and an employment diagnostic study.
  • Strengthening the employers’ and workers’ organizations.