News briefs

September 2008 

• 97th International Labour Conference: Delegates highlight new ways to promote the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda
  The 97th International Labour Conference held discussions on a wide range of issues, spanning new ways of responding to the growing challenges of globalization to rural poverty reduction, enhancing skills development, and a number of issues regarding adherence to international labour standards. ...

July 2008 

• Call for a new global partnership to strengthen safety and health in the workplace, and to reinforce efforts to reduce fatalities and illness
  SEOUL - The XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work concluded with calls for a new global partnership to strengthen safety and health in the workplace, and to reinforce efforts to reduce fatalities and illness.
• Unprecedented Declaration on Safety and Health at Work adopted
  The ILO welcomed the Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work adopted in Seoul on 29 June by some 50 high-level decision makers from around the world as a major new blueprint for constructing a global culture of safety and health at work. and improve existing products to promote decent work for tens of millions of low-income people in the developing world.

April 2008 

• Microinsurance: ILO and Gates foundation join forces to develop range of insurance products in developing countries
  A new partnership between the ILO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to develop new kinds of insurance and improve existing products to promote decent work for tens of millions of low-income people in the developing world. ...
• Global employment trends 2008: Global economic turbulence could generate 5 million more unemployed in 2008
  The annual "Global Employment Trends" report issued in January says economic turbulence largely due to credit market turmoil and rising oil prices could spur an increase in global unemployment of some 5 million persons in 2008. The new projection is in sharp contrast to 2007 when global labour markets and unemployment rates stabilized.

December 2007 

• Lisbon Forum on Decent Work for a Fair Globalization: Paving the way for a "Decent Work Movement"
  The ILO Forum on Decent Work for a Fair Globalization held in Lisbon from 31 October to 2 November paved the way for a "decent work movement" to make globalization more fair and offset the impact of global economic turbulence on people's jobs and livelihoods.
• ILO Governing Body concludes 300th Session
  The Governing Body of the International Labour Office concluded its 300th Session following wide-ranging discussions among its government, employer and worker constituents, including basic labour rights worldwide and the impact of climate change on jobs.
• International Day of Disabled Persons 2007: Stresses decent work for persons with disabilities
  Over 650 million people worldwide are living with a disability – most of them in developing countries. ...

August 2007 

• ILO awards Decent Work: Research Prize to Nelson Mandela and Carmelo Mesa-Lago
  On 15 June the ILO awarded its first annual Decent Work Research Prize to Nobel Peace laureate and former South African President Nelson Mandela and to the eminent academic and specialist in social security, Professor Carmelo Mesa-Lago, citing their contributions to improving the lives of people around the world.

June 2007 

• Global Employment Trends for Women 2007: ILO study warns on the feminization of working poverty
  
• International drivers: From delays to disease, a heavy load to haul
  Excessive border delays, inefficient or corrupt border officials and drivers’ vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS put the international road transport sector at risk, according to an ILO report.

April 2007 

• New support for ILO code of practice on HIV/AIDS
  Ministers of Health of the European Union and 16 non-EU countries recently adopted the “Bremen Declaration on Responsibility and Partnership – Together Against HIV/AIDS”
• ASEAN and ILO to cooperate in addressing labour and employment issues
  

September 2006 

• 95th International Labour Conference A new international standard on safety and health, changing patterns in the world of work
  The 95th International Labour Conference devoted much of its session to a spirited debate on the profound changes buffeting the world of work and the need to promote decent work. The 4,000 participants also adopted a new Convention on occupational safety and health, put a new face on "the employment relationship" and discussed standards issues.
• ILO American Regional Meeting sets new "Hemispheric Agenda" for a decade of decent work
  The Sixteenth American Regional Meeting of the ILO, held in Brasilia from 3-8 May, announced the start of a "Decade of promoting decent work in the Americas". The meeting came amidst concerns over the need for millions of new jobs to ease a massive employment deficit facing Latin America.
• 296th Session of the Governing Body
  
• A code on safety and health breaks new ground for the world's miners
  Experts representing workers, employers and governments, meeting at the ILO in May, adopted a new Code of Practice on Safety and Health in Underground Coalmines designed to improve the safety and health of workers in one of the world's most dangerous sectors.

April 2006 

• International Women's Day 2006 ILO activities organized around the world
  For the sixth straight year, the ILO organized activities to mark 8 March, International Women's Day, around the world. This year's theme was "Women in Sports", but ILO offices also marked the day with discussions on women in the workplace, developments in the labour market and moves by member States to improve working conditions and legislation relating to women in the world of work.
• Women entrepreneurs in Africa ILO and AfDB strengthen support
  African women entrepreneurs are playing an ever-increasing role in African economies. The ILO and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have jointly launched a series of reports ( Note 2) providing concrete recommendations for action to support growth-oriented women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda.
• Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) ILO report sees wide gaps in wages, productivity gains
  Global economic growth is increasingly failing to translate into new and better jobs that lead to a reduction in poverty, according to the latest Key Indicators of the Labour Market. The KILM 2005 ( Note 1) illustrates that within this global trend, different regions show mixed results in terms of job creation, productivity results, wage improvements and poverty reduction.