Impact and people
2008
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From Veil to Camera: Empowering women through skills training
13 November 2008
In many countries, women face more barriers than men to acquire the necessary skills to use new technologies and to start innovative economic activities. For the 60 per cent of women employed in agriculture in South Asia, access to quality education, skills training and entrepreneurship development tools not only represents a way out of poverty, but also provides them with opportunities of empowerment in the world of technology, as this ILO Online report from central India shows.
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Proper ship breaking: a test for globalization and decent work
03 November 2008
The last voyage of the ship "Otapan" to a Turkish ship breaking yard last July was a victory for "pre-cleaning" advocates of reducing the human and environmental dangers inherent in ship dismantling and recycling. But does it also lead to decent working practices? Last week, experts from the ILO, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the Basel Convention met to discuss measures to promote guidelines that would make ship breaking not only clean but "green". Questions and answers with a ship breaking expert from the ILO Sectoral Activities Branch.
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Revisiting the Minimum wage in the Enlarged EU: Addressing changes and challenges in the labour markets
29 October 2008
The minimum wage has returned to the core of the EU policy agenda. EU enlargement and increased migration flows for employment and better pay are one factor, but others include the significant rise in non-standard forms of employment, normally associated with lower wages, high proportions of low-paying jobs, rising insecurity and growing numbers of working poor. This week, an ILO–EC Conference in Brussels revisits the question of minimum wages in Europe and their influence on earnings and well-being of low paid workers and their families. ILO Online spoke with Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead from the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment Programme.
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As shipping increases, so does the need for more port State control
09 October 2008
In response to an oil spill that fouled the west coast of France in 1978, European ministers took decisive action to establish a regional system for inspections of foreign ships in 1982. Yet the growing numbers of ship detentions in many ports worldwide show the continuous need for a global system of regular port inspections. From 22-26 September, more than 300 government, ship owner and seafarer representatives met at the ILO to adopt new guidelines on port state control under the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006. In this special report, ILO Online shows how inspections work and why they are needed.
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Working in a ‘man’s world’: women in the Fiji police force
08 October 2008
There are higher proportions of women in public services worldwide, and an increasing number of equal opportunities policies exist globally. Nevertheless the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (No. 111) adopted in 1958 remains as relevant today as it was in the late 1950s – in the Pacific region and elsewhere. An interview with Kasanita Seruvatu, former Director of Training in the Fijian Police and now Training Advisor to the Samoa Police, who was spearheading initiatives in the two countries to create a stronger ethnic and gender balance and empower women to take up challenging roles in the police force over the last 10 years.
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Promotional flyer: Sources and methods: Labour statistics. Employment in the tourism industries (Special edition)
30 September 2008
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Women migrant workers: seizing opportunities, upholding rights
24 September 2008
Nearly half of the world’s migrants are women. Increasingly, migration provides them with opportunities to find better jobs. However, many still accept lower skilled jobs for higher pay and some may even become victims of exploitation and abuse. In partnership with the ILO, UN agencies and NGOs, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women is holding the International Conference on Gender, Migration and Development in Manila on 25-26 September to focus on the issue. ILO migration specialist Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin speaks about the link between migration, gender equality and development.
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Tripartite Expert Meetings on Flag State and Port State inspection guidelines under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
15 September 2008
More than 300 senior representatives of seafarers and shipowners, along with governments, are to meet in Geneva between 15 and 26 September to discuss guidelines on flag-state and port-state inspection on board of ships under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2006. Below are questions and answers on the importance of the meeting, and how it relates to the Maritime Convention.
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Setting sail for a decent future
10 September 2008
When the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 in February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it “making labour history” for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers. Two years on, the MLC has been ratified by three key flag states representing nearly 20 per cent of the world’s gross tonnage with many more ratifications and industry agreements already under way. A five-year ILO action plan designed to achieve entry into force by 2011 is moving forward this month with two key tripartite experts’ meetings to adopt guidelines for flag State inspections and port State control officers. The ILO reports from the “City of London”, where the MLC is already being put to the test.
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(Executive summary - Korean version) Fundamental Principles of Occupational Health and Safety
05 September 2008