1. Decent Work and Social Justice in Pacific Small Island Developing States Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Responses

  2. Reporting on ILO Standards:
    Guide for Labour Officers in Pacific Island Member States

  3. ILO Helpdesk for Business on International Labour Standards

ILO Country Office for Pacific Island Countries (CO-Suva)

Welcome to the ILO Country Office for Pacific Island Countries. The Office is located in Suva, Fiji and is responsible for ILO relations and activities in Pacific Island Countries, including nine member States. More>

What's new

  1. Gender equality

    Empowering women in business and management

    Promoting gender equality at the workplace is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do!

    Consequently, today there is a growing recognition that women in senior management positions make good business sense and more women are moving into top management and starting successful enterprises than ever before. But it hasn't been, and still isn't easy. Worldwide, it's estimated just 5% of CEOs are women and male entrepreneurs outnumber women by as many as two to one. Now, companies and employers' organizations are raising awareness of the qualities women bring to leadership positions and that is changing attitudes.

    Across the Pacific Island’s region achieving gender equality is an ongoing challenge due to cultural and institutional barriers that restrict women’s equal access to productive assets and formal jobs. This not only violates the most basic human rights, but also has wider social and economic consequences. Discrimination stifles opportunities, wasting the human talent needed for economic progress, and accentuates social tensions and inequalities.

    Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu have ratified the Equal Remuneration Convention (No. 100) and the Discrimination Convention (No. 111).

  1. International Migrant's Day

    Joint statement by ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

    There are more international migrants today than at any other time in human history. As the Secretary General’s synthesis report on the post-2015 development agenda puts it, ‘we are a mobile world’.

  2. Small Island Developing States

    Decent work and sustainability intertwined for small states battling climate change

    The international community has just concluded its discussion in Samoa about small island developing states, with decent work for all emerging as a key commitment, writes Bob Kyloh, senior ILO economist, who attended the conference.

  3. Quarterly Newsletter

    Special Edition - ILO Pacific News - September 2014

    This special edition of our newsletter focusing on the upcoming SIDS conference. The overarching theme of the SIDS conference is “the sustainable development of Small Island Developing States through genuine and durable partnerships”. The ILO will have an active presence at the conference.

  4. Media Advisory

    ILO to promote decent work in Small Island Developing States at SIDS Conference in Samoa

    The ILO  will call for greater emphasis on decent job creation as a path to sustainable development at the United Nations Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Conference in Apia, Samoa from 1-4 September 2014.

  5. Press Release

    ILO Office for Pacific Island Countries launches report “Decent Work and Social Justice in Pacific Small Island Developing States - Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Responses”

    While economic, social and labour market circumstances differ markedly, important decent work deficits exist in the majority of Pacific Small Island Developing States.

  6. Upcoming event

    United Nations Conference on Small Island Developing States

    The Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States will be held from 1 to 4 September 2014 in Apia, Samoa, to be preceded by activities related to the conference from 28 to 30 August 2014, also in Apia, Samoa.

  7. Labour and Migration Statistics

    Improving data collection of labour statistics (including labour migration statistics)  in Pacific Island Countries

    The ILO in collaboration with partners, UNESCAP and SPC have completed a sub-regional technical workshop on labour and migration statistics for Pacific Island Countries. The technical workshop took place from 28 July to 1 August 2014 in Nadi, Fiji and brought together government officials from the Ministry/Department of Labour and National Statistics Office from 9 Pacific Island Countries, including an employer’s representative.

  8. Red Card to Child Labour

    Campaign to combat child labour launches at the opening of the 2014 Football World Cup

    The ILO’s Red Card to Child Labour campaign sends out a message that children have a right to play, not work.

  9. Seafarers

    Kiribati ratifies ILO's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention

    Kiribati becomes the third member States from the Pacific region, after Marshall Islands and Vanuatu, to ratify the Convention.

  10. Community based entrepreneurs development (C-BED)

    ILO offers training to officers, inmates in Solomon Islands

    The International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Correctional Services Solomon Islands (CSSI) in Auki, Malaita province had successfully completed four days of community based entrepreneurs development (C-BED) training.

  11. 103rd International Labour Conference

    Labour Migration poses major policy challenges

    ILO Director-General Guy Ryder calls for fair migration policies and stronger measures against forced labour at the opening of the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference.

  12. Labour migration

    Seasonal work brings year-round benefits

    A new harvest is ready, and Celestine Aisa Maino, a seasonal worker from Papua New Guinea, has just embarked on her latest overseas journey. Working on a large Australian fruit farm gives her more income, and an ILO project helps her to use it to build a brighter future for her and her family.

  13. Cash for work

    Rural Community Rehabilitation through Emergency Public Works in the Solomon Islands

    Following the devastating flooding caused by tropical cyclone Ita, the ILO along with the provincial government implemented an initiative to demonstrate the effectiveness of Cash for Work programmes. The programme provided wages, safety equipment and tools to support communities to clean-up and repair of public areas and infrastructure (common gardens, halls and churches, schools, wells, drains and paths). The programme was implemented in the Roroni and Papangu communities. The ILO is currently working with local organizations to expand the programme.

     

  14. Quarterly Newsletter

    ILO Pacific News - Quarterly Newsletter - April 2014

    Our latest quarterly newsletter on the ILO's work in support of promoting Decent Work and Social Justice in the Pacific Island countries.

  15. Safety and health in the use of chemicals at work

    World Day for Safety and Health at Work
    Why are chemicals important in the workplace and beyond?

    An ILO report shows that while chemicals can be useful, necessary steps should be taken to prevent and control potential risks for workers, workplaces, communities and the environment.

  16. Labour migration

    'Timeless Tuvalu' and the role of migration

    Find out why migration is an important method of adapting to climate change in a Pacific Climate Change and Mobility article in the Lowy Institute's blog, the Interpreter (April 28, 2014)

  17. UN International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) 2014

    Achieving sustainable development in small island states is an issue to be tackled in the upcoming third International Conference on Small Island Developing States will be held from 1 to 4 September 2014 in Apia, Samoa, to be preceded by activities related to the conference from 28 to 30 August 2014, also in Apia, Samoa. The Conference will focus the world’s attention on a group of countries that remain a special case for sustainable development in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities.

  18. Tuvalu – a small island State tackles labour law reform

    Tuvalu is one of the ILO’s smallest Member States with a population of little more the 10,000 people spread across eight islands. Tuvalu, like a number of other countries in the Pacific region has labour legislation that has been in place for many decades with elements originating from early colonial times.

  19. The ILO Office for Pacific Island Countries Calls on Governments, Employers and Unions to Focus on Eliminating Gender Discrimination and Harassment in the workplace

    The occasion of International Women’s Day provides an important opportunity to reflect on progress towards gender equality in the labour markets of Pacific Island Countries.

  20. ILO body adopts new minimum monthly wage for seafarers

    This announcement is particularly relevant to the Pacific Islands as the international maritime sector is an important source of jobs and income in small economies such as the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu, all of whom have ratified the Convention.

  21. ILO: youth employment is a major challenge for young people in the Pacific

    ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Mr Yoshiteru Uramoto highlighted that youth employment is a major challenge, faced by young people in the Pacific, when he addressed the 3rd Meeting of the Pacific Youth & Sports Ministers, in Noumea, New Caledonia on 7 December 2013.

  22. Helping Pacific Islands to Manage Impacts of Climate Change on Migration

    Building on its mission to improve the capacity of constituents to protect migrant workers and enhance the management of migration, the ILO, in partnership with ESCAP and UNDP, is working on a project to develop the ability of Pacific Island Countries to address the impacts of climate change on migration through well-managed, rights-based migration schemes and policy frameworks, supported by comprehensive research and knowledge building.

  23. Pacific Island Countries benefit from ILO Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006)

    The maritime sector plays a significant role in the Pacific region and is a particularly important source of jobs and income in small economies such as the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu, all of whom have ratified the Convention. While remittances from seafarers employed on foreign ships constitute an important source of income, such employment can also present significant risks for seafarers. The MLC,2006 provides important protections for these workers.

  24. Post-2015 Development Agenda

    The ILO calls for job creation and social protection to be included in the list of Development Goals which will be drawn up by the United Nations after the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals passes in 2015.

    ►Consult the e-discussions on growth and employment and the post-2015 development agenda
    ►Join the global survey on the world you want!

  25. Disabilities and Decent Work in the Pacific: The case for disability inclusive employment

    This publication aims to highlight some of the challenges faced by persons with disability in accessing decent jobs and to identify relevant labour standards and other policy interventions that could advance disability in the workplace and assist Pacific Island countries address these challenges.