Ten leading representatives of the Russian business community together with the representatives of UN agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour and Social Development attended a breakfast meeting organized by the ILO on the important issue of Discrimination.
The ILO Convention #111 on Discrimination, ratified by the Russian Federation in 1961, calls for a national policy to eliminate discrimination in access to employment, training, and working conditions, on grounds of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment.
In her opening remark, Ms Barrett-Reid, Director of the ILO Moscow office said: “leading business men and women in the Russian Federation have an important leadership role to play in ensuring that principles of non-discrimination are implemented on a day to day basis. Much good practice exists in the Russian Federation and it is important that this good practice is disseminated”.
Ms Irina Melekh, specialist on gender issues in the ILO Moscow Office gave a presentation. She explained the nature of discrimination, the different forms it takes and why the business community should be interested in the subject and how it can make a difference.
The Global Compact was officially launched in the Russian Federation during a high-level roundtable meeting organized conjointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the UN agencies in November 2001. For the first time a Steering Committee on the Global Compact initiative in the Russian Federation was convened on April 11, 2002. This event showed the interest from the Russian entrepreneurs in participating in this endeavor undertaken by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in order to closely associate the worldwide business community with the promotion of fundamental rights.
Four of the nine principles promoted in the Global Compact are the ILO principles, reaffirmed in the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at work: Freedom of association and collective bargaining Elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour Effective abolition of child labour Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
The breakfast this morning was the second of four breakfasts that are to be organized each around one of the 4 ILO principles of the Global Compact. The breakfasts are intended to be short in time – 2 hours at a maximum, with a presentation of the principle being addressed and an open discussion with an exchange of views between key business leaders and representatives of UN agencies. Leading business men/women have a major role to play in raising the awareness of other economic actors on this important issue, and they should receive support in this endeavor.
The first breakfast was organized on the issue of child labour and the third will be organized around the issue of collective bargaining. |
