The 112th International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization concludes, with Spain ratifying two new ILO conventions
In the first two weeks of June, the 112th International Labour Conference (ILC) was held in Geneva, as it is held every year, this year under the presidency of the Republic of Moldova and attended by representatives of the most representative trade unions, employers' organizations and the governments of the 187 countries that are members of the ILO.
30 July 2024
MADRID (ILO News) - The Spanish delegation was made up of trade union representatives from the General Union of Workers (UGT), Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and the Galician Inter-Union Confederation (CIG), Basque Workers' Solidarity (ELA), and from the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE) and small and medium-sized enterprises (Cepyme). Also, the Spanish Minister of Labour and Social Economy, Ms. Yolanda Díaz, attended the conference for the first time in representation of the government, participating in the plenary.
Coinciding with the conference, Ms. Yolanda Díaz held a bilateral meeting with the ILO Director General, Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, and deposited the international instruments of ILO Convention 167 on Safety and Health in Construction (1988) and ILO Convention 184 on Safety and Health in Agriculture (2001), two of the sectors with the highest accident rates in the world, which will enter into force for the country on June 11, 2025.
At this year's ILC, important discussions have taken place with the participation of the Spanish social partners and the Spanish government. On the one hand, the ILC has taken the first step towards a pioneering international labour standard on biological hazards at work. On the other, in the area of social protection, the ILC focused on the care economy, having concluded the discussion with a resolution presented by the Committee on the General Discussion on Decent Work and the Care Economy, which addresses the need for decent work for care workers and the need to review their working conditions in a context in which women carry out work in the care economy; The Conference also adopted the conclusions of the Recurrent Discussion Committee on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work to promote them in the face of demographic, digital and environmental transitions and the committee also discussed the General Survey entitled “Labour administration in a changing world of work”.
The conference also approved the report of the Committee on the Application of Standards, which examined the application of several ILO Conventions in 24 individual country cases, including Spain this year on the application of Convention No. 144 on tripartite consultation. Where the Committee took note of the written and oral information provided, it recalled that tripartite consultation to promote the application of international labour standards is of paramount importance and requested the Government to continue to ensure effective consultation with the representative organizations of employers and workers on the procedures required under the Convention.
On June 12, coinciding with the ILC, World Child Labour Day was also celebrated, this year on the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999, No. 182), to remind all stakeholders to improve the implementation of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999, No. 182) and the Minimum Age Convention (1973, No. 138).
The ILC also included a Special Session on the situation of workers in the occupied Arab territories where the ILO Director General presented his report highlighting the serious crisis in Palestine and the $20 million Emergency Response Program initiated by the ILO to mitigate the impact of the war on workers and employers.
Finally, during the ILC there was also room for the Global Coalition for Social Justice launched in 2023 where its inaugural Forum was held and which already has more than 280 members and aims to deepen the international commitment to the promotion of social justice, advance the implementation of the ILO's Decent Work Agenda and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, in order to better align economic issues, environmental and social agendas.
Spain was also elected during the ILC for the next triennium 2024-2027 as a full member of the Governing Body, the ILO's executive body that meets twice a year and after the ILC to take decisions on ILO policy.
In summary, this year the ILC has continued to be the largest annual global forum to discuss issues related to the promotion of decent work and social protection in a climate of dialogue between social partners and governments, including Spain, thus reaffirming the validity and relevance of the Declaration of Philadelphia 80 years after its adoption.
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3-14 June 2024
112th Session of the International Labour Conference