The global economic and financial crisis, which
has predictably turned into a major employment
crisis, forms the background to the third Global
Report on discrimination. The aim of the Report is
to provide a dynamic picture of trends over the last
four years and present some findings, conclusions
and recommendations for future action by the ILO
and its constituents.
This Report contains both good and bad news
about recent worldwide trends regarding discrimination
in employment and occupation. On the positive
side, there is more legislation, there are more
institutional initiatives, and, in general, a growing
awareness of the need to overcome discrimination
at work. However, capacity does not keep pace with
the political will, and a prolonged economic downturn
exposes structural weaknesses and even aggravates
structural discrimination. Furthermore, the
agenda of discrimination at work is continuously diversifying,
and new challenges arise where old ones
remain at best only partially answered.