Enhancing labour inspection capacity in Colombia

Context

The Directorate of Labour Inspection, Surveillance, Control and Territorial Management (IVC) of Colombia’s Ministry of Labour is responsible for developing policies, programmes and projects aimed at defending workers’ fundamental rights and promoting decent work and the solidarity economy.

In alignment with the National Development Plan 2022–2026 and the ILO Conventions ratified by Colombia, the ILO and the Ministry of Labour have identified the need to enhance the administrative and technological capacities of the IVC.

Objective

To strengthen the operational, technological and competency capacities of labour inspection in Colombia by improving the Ministry of Labour’s technological tools and providing comprehensive training to its officials.

This initiative aims to uphold labour rights by ensuring legality, impartiality, participation, equity, efficiency, transparency and promptness, thereby facilitating access to justice in the workplace.

After eight years, comprehensive in-person training for labour inspectors has resumed. In the photo: Santander Regional Office and Special Office of Barrancabermeja.

Key components for strengthening labour inspection:

Strengthening the operational and technological capacities of labour inspection through the upgrading of existing systems used by the IVC in Colombia, such as SISINFO and SIAS, and the development of a new tool: RUTRAPORT.

• The creation of two new modules in SISINFO is proposed—this is the digital tool that manages preliminary investigations and administrative sanctioning procedures—to record inspection visits and monitor the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance with labour regulations. In addition, new functionalities will be developed to improve the Ministry of Labour’s union archive (SIAS).
• On the other hand, the development of a new tool—RUTRAPORT—is planned, which will enable the operationalisation of the Single Registry of Port Workers in Colombia.

Strengthening the competencies of labour inspection through a comprehensive training programme for Colombia’s 1,300 labour inspectors.

• Virtual, in-person and self-directed training sessions are delivered across eight thematic modules: labour administrative procedures and sanctioning processes; labour formalisation, with a focus on intermediation and outsourcing; workplace and sexual harassment; negotiation; assertive communication; statistics and indicators for effective labour inspection; written examinations by the National Civil Service Commission; and personal finance. A total of 74 certified training hours are provided.
• As part of the training programme “Labour Inspection for Social Justice: Change Agents to Empower Lives,” 10 in-person meetings are held in different regions of the country, bringing together the 1,300 labour inspectors in their respective regions. This marks the first time in 8 years that training sessions with an in-person component are being conducted.

At the end of the training process, the educational materials used are compiled into a toolkit to facilitate the consultation of relevant information for the development of labour inspection.

Expected outcomes

By enhancing the technological and knowledge capacities of Ministry of Labour officials, it is anticipated that inspections, sanctions and recommendations issued by labour inspectors will more effectively promote compliance with labour laws in Colombia and protect workers’ rights.