The ILO in the occupied Palestinian territory

  • © ILO

    Fisherman supported by the ILO Local Economic Recovery Project in the Gaza Strip repair a fishing boat motor by the seaside. 

    With the signature of the Oslo Declaration of Principles in 1993, the ILO launched a comprehensive technical cooperation programme in the West Bank and Gaza, which was further consolidated with the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the ILO in 1994. The MOU endorsed a programme of action focused on capacity building for social development; and in 1995 the ILO established a Representation Office in Jerusalem with support from the Regional Office for Arab States in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2013, the ILO and tripartite constituents in the OPT developed an overarching Palestinian Decent Work Programme (DWP) which aims to promote labour rights, enhance employment and extend social protection to all persons in the OPT. More on the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Publications

  1. Towards a social pension for all older people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

    This policy brief sets out to discuss options for strengthening the Palestinian pension system by presenting alternatives for the implementation of a social pension that would effectively ensure basic income security for all older women and men.

  2. Labour market transitions of young women and men in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

    This report presents the highlights of the 2015 School-to-work Transition Survey (SWTS) run together with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics within the framework of the ILO Work4Youth Project.

With ILO Support the occupied Palestinian territory:

  1. Social Security

    • Passed the territory's first Social Security Law for Palestinian private sector workers and their families.
    • Established the Palestinian Social Security Corporation to implement the social security system for private sector workers and their families.

  2. Employment Promotion

    • Launched the Cooperative Sector Strategy which promotes decent employment with an emphasis on women and youth.
    • Adopted the Cooperative Law which will provide better opportunities for coop development in OPT.

  3. Domestic Workers

    • Conducted the first study on the protection of domestic workers in the OPT.

  4. Employer’s Organizations

    • Defined the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce Industry and Agriculture private sector’s priorities.

  5. Gender Equality & Non-discrimination 

    • Acquired ministerial approval for the first workers’ complaint and dispute settlement mechanism.
    • Established the National Committee for Women’s Employment (NCWE) to promote gender equality in the workplace. 

  6. International Labour Standards

    • Established the Tripartite National Committee for Labour Law Reform.