Feature articles

July 2006 

• From stitching to playing: Sialkot ten years after
  07 July 2006 - As the final match of the FIFA World Cup 2006 captures worldwide attention, the final match against child labour is still to be played - even though the ILO's recent global report on child labour sees its end "within reach". ...
• Decent work: How country programmes help forge a path out of poverty
  06 July 2006 - New pilot programmes are the leading edge of the ILO's efforts to implement its decent work agenda at the country level. Decent Work Pilot Programmes are founded on the ILO's four strategic objectives--employment promotion, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue - integrating economic and social objectives. ...
• Decent Work FAQ: Making decent work a global goal
  06 July 2006 - The ILO's Decent Work Agenda calls for a development strategy that acknowledges the central role of work in people's live. The theme of this year's High-Level Segment of the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) reflects an international consensus that productive employment and decent work are key elements to reducing poverty. Here are some FAQs on decent work by ILO Online.
• Tackling the "decent work deficit"
  06 July 2006 - Government leaders, heads of international agencies and senior experts in economic and employment issues meet here on 3-5 July to highlight proposals for cutting poverty and providing new hope to the world's working poor. The meeting of the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will focus on promoting decent work as the sustainable route out of poverty.

June 2006 

• International Day of Cooperatives (1 July 2006) Standing on their own: Cooperative reform in Tanzania
  29 June 2006 - Tanzania's cooperative reform programme reflects a wider process of reform internationally as cooperatives recreate themselves through member empowerment and increased commercial viability. The ILO's Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation No. 193, agreed in 2002, provides the global framework for this reform. ...
• 95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
  Combining labour market flexibility and security in the West Balkans
  16 June 2006 - With Montenegro's recent decision to separate from Serbia, the break-up of the former Yugoslavia has probably come to an end. After years of steep economic decline, political turmoil and armed conflict in the West Balkan countries, growth rates picked up in the second half of the 1990s although this economic dynamism did not translate into lower unemployment levels.
• Final whistle to human trafficking and sexual exploitation
  15 June 2006 - As the football World Cup 2006 gets underway, a German NGO has launched a campaign against human trafficking for labour and sexual exploitation. According to German police sources, fears that the number of women trafficked for sex work during the games might go into the tens of thousands have failed to materialize.
• 95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
  Start your business, tailor your life
  14 June 2006 - According to the ILO Director-General Juan Somavia's report to the Conference, global unemployment increased by 21.9 per cent between 1995 and 2005. Among the main factors contributing to this rise, the report cites, is the deterioration of the employment situation in Eastern European and Central Asian transition countries.
• 95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
  Unsafe workplaces: Labour inspectors face daunting challenges
  14 June 2006 - Many of the 6,000 deaths that occur daily due to work-related accidents or diseases could be prevented by effective labour inspection. Yet this vital aspect of workplace safety and health is facing a number of challenges, including a lack of training, inappropriate resources and even violence.
• 95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
  Occupational safety and health in Kazakhstan: A model for Central Asia
  13 June 2006 - After the collapse of the Soviet Union, working conditions in Kazakhstan deteriorated much the same way as in other former Soviet republics. In the 1990s, more than 3,000 occupational accidents were registered officially each year, causing the death of more than 300 workers.