Areas of work

  1. Employment

    Encouraging decent employment opportunities is one of the main ILO aims, and the promotion of greater employment and income opportunities for women and men is the ILO Strategic Objective. The key ILO instruments underlying this objective are the Employment Policy Convention (ILO Convention 122, 1964) and its accompanying Recommendation.

  2. Enterprises development

    Enterprises are crucial in the creation of jobs. They are the main sources of income and wealth worldwide. A well functioning private sector leads to economic growth and prosperity, reducing poverty and income inequalities. ILO recognizes that productive, responsible, profitable and sustainable enterprises are imperative to sustainable economic development and to create more and better jobs. The creation of an institutional and economic environment is an integral component of the Decent Work Agenda and ILO’s constitutional mandate.

  3. Gender equality

    Just as the countries of the region are at different stages of economic development, they also have different contexts and challenges concerning equality between women and men. However, there are some common trends reflecting the status of men and women on the labour market and their expected roles, based on values and traditions in society and within the family.

  4. International Labour Standards

    Development of international standards governing conditions of work and employment was the reason for the creation of the ILO and remains its main means of action. International labour standards derive their authority from their adoption by the International Labour Conference, a body in which governments, employers and workers from virtually all countries of the world are represented.

  5. Occupational safety and health (OSH)

    Safe working conditions are a basic human right and a fundamental part of Decent Work.The ILO estimates that over 2.3 million workers in the world die each year from work–related accidents and diseases, and four per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product are lost due to accidents and poor working conditions. For the CIS countries, about 12 million men and women become victims of occupational accidents every year.

  6. Social protection

    Social security is a powerful tool to ensure minimum living standards, combat causes and effects of poverty, and facilitate smooth income redistribution from working years to retirement.

  7. Workers' and Employers' organizations

    Trade unions are one of the most numerous and influential public organizations in the region. Only under responsibility area of the ILO Moscow Office there are more than 50 million members of trade unions.