Press releases

October 2001 

• ILO Global Employment Forum faces up to shrinking job markets
  19 October 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The state of the world labour market, reeling from the economic fallout of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, will be the prime topic at a major Forum on employment, which will take place at the Geneva Headquarters of the International Labour Organization on November 1-3.
• ILO Chief flying to Canada for regional labour talks
  12 October 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO) Juan Somavia flies to Ottawa on 14 October to urge Canada and other countries of the Americas to confront growing human insecurity in the work place, caused by the worldwide economic slowdown.
• The impact of decentralization and privatization on municipal services
  12 October 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Despite years of downsizing and calls for privatization, the public sector remains the major formal employer worldwide providing jobs for 435 million people in the year 2000, according to latest International Labour Office (ILO) estimates. This compares with an estimated 155 million people employed by local government units.
• ILO meeting on the management of disability at the workplace
  02 October 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) and its InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability (IFP/SKILLS) have organized a Tripartite Meeting of Experts, 3-12 October 2001, to finalize and adopt the Code of Practice on the Management of Disability at the Workplace.
• Agreement to end child labour on cocoa farms
  01 October 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO) today welcomed the agreement between two members of the U.S. Congress and representatives of the world chocolate industry to eliminate child slavery on West African cocoa plantations and end the worst forms of child labour in the global cocoa-chocolate sector.

September 2001 

• Milestone in Campaign Against Worst Forms of Child Labour
  26 September 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The world has moved at a record pace in ratifying an international convention that calls for immediate action to outlaw the worst forms of child labour, says the International Labour Organization (ILO).
• ILO symposium to promote social concerns at World Bank and International Monetary Fund
  21 September 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) and its Bureau for workers' activities (ACTRAV) have organized an international symposium, September 24-28, on incorporating social concerns and core labour standards into the policies and operations of international financial institutions. ...
• ILO high level team departs for Myanmar
  17 September 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - An ILO High Level Team, headed by former Governor-General of Australia Sir Ninian Stephen, departed Bangkok today for Myanmar where they will spend three weeks assessing actions by the Government concerning forced labour, the International Labour Office (ILO) announced.
• Forest Industry a "Test Case" in Globalization Debate
  14 September 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Employment in the world's forestry and wood industries - including logging, pulp and furniture and paper products - is expected to decline significantly over the coming years, with the potential loss of millions of jobs worldwide, according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO).

August 2001 

• Ukraine ten years after independence: Worker insecurities, poverty intensifies
  23 August 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Ten years after their country gained independence, millions of workers in the former Soviet republic of the Ukraine continue to be unpaid, either because they are put on so-called "administrative leave" for many months or are uncompensated despite turning up for work, according to a new survey by the International Labour Office (ILO) covering more than 1,800 factories.
• ILO High Level Team to Visit Myanmar
  21 August 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) -The composition of a High Level Team due to visit Myanmar for a three-week period next month to assess Government actions on forced labour was announced today by the International Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia.

June 2001 

• ILO to launch new Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work
  22 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Citing new data showing some 23 million workers worldwide now infected with HIV/AIDS, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Juan Somavia plans to formally launch a pioneering Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work at the U.N General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in New York on 25-27 June.
• Mr. Alain Ludovic Tou, Burkina Faso, elected Chairman of ILO Governing Body for 2001-2002
  22 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Governing Body elected Mr. Alain Ludovic Tou, Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Security, Burkina Faso, as Chairman of its 2001-2002 Session. He replaces Mr. Celso L. Nunes Amorim, Ambassador, representative of the Government of Brazil, who served as Chairman during the 2000-2001 Session.
• Seven ratifications for the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  21 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Her Excellency Mrs. Marie-Ange Lukiana Mufwankolo, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yesterday deposited the instruments of ratification of seven international labour Conventions. A combined ratification of such magnitude is relatively rare in the history of the ILO. ...
• 89 th International Labour Conference To Press Forward on Decent Work Agenda
  21 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - In an effort to forge a new path from "vision to policy" in the world of work, the International Labour Conference concluded its 89 th session here today following a spirited debate by workers, employers and governments on reducing the decent work deficit in a global economy.
• ILO reports on child trafficking in West and Central Africa
  15 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Trafficking of children in West and Central Africa is on the rise and demands a concerted effort from all sectors of society in affected countries to combat it, according to a report released today by the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).
• ILO launches new "time-bound" programmes against worst forms of child labour
  12 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO) is to launch a bold new initiative on Tuesday, 12 June aimed at greatly accelerating the removal of millions of children from the most abusive forms of child labour.
• ILO Director-General targets decent work deficit
  11 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - "We need to make decent work a reality in our countries and embed this goal in the global economy," said the International Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Mr. Juan Somavia in a plenary address to the 89 thInternational Labour Conference, which is meeting in Geneva.
• International Labour Conference opens Secretary of Labour and Employment of the Philippines elected President
  05 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The 89 th Session of the International Labour Conference opened today, electing as its President, Ms. Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, Secretary of Labour and Employment of the Philippines.
• Conference preview: 89th International Labour Conference to debate decent work deficit, forced labour, health and safety in agriculture, cooperatives and social security
  05 June 2001 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The shortage of decent work is "the fault line" in the global economy today, according to the annual report of the ILO Director-General Juan Somavia to the 89 th Session of the International Labour Conference, which meets in Geneva from 5 to 21 June.