Press releases

March 2000 

• ILO symposium on gender to focus on decent work for women. Discussion to highlight progress since 1995 Women’s Conference and examine "glaring gender gaps"
  23 March 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) is to host a high-level discussion here to examine concerns over the impact of globalization on women in the world of work and how they can close what Director-General Juan Somavia has called "the glaring gender gaps in today’s world."
• ILO unveils assistance plan for East Timor
  21 March 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) ­ The International Labour Office (ILO) unveiled today a comprehensive plan for reconstruction, employment and skills training in East Timor.
• Declaration follow-up, Gender symposium and Myanmar on agenda of 277 th Governing Body session
  15 March 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Gender discrimination, forced labour in Myanmar and the follow-up to the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work are among the major agenda items on the 277 th session of the Governing Body, which gets underway at ILO headquarters in Geneva tomorrow. ...
• First annual reports on Core Labour Standards released
  08 March 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The first set of annual reports on core labour standards by States which have not yet ratified one or more of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) seven fundamental Conventions was made public today in anticipation of its examination by the International Labour Office's Governing Body, later this month.
• Migrants face "significant discrimination" in job markets
  08 March 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Immigrant workers and their families face major hurdles in obtaining jobs according to research published by the International Labour Office (ILO), which finds "significant and disturbing levels of discrimination in access to employment" in Western Europe and other parts of the industrialized world.
• World migration tops 120 million, says ILO
  02 March 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Far from reducing international migration flows - by moving products instead of people - globalization will give rise to increased migration pressures in the years ahead, says a new book published by the International Labour Office (ILO).

February 2000 

• Technology changes the media/entertainment workforce
  28 February 2000 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The on-line revolution in the media and entertainment industries is changing the way journalists work and overhauling the employment patterns and gender distribution of the world's media and entertainment workforce, according to an ILO report * prepared for a symposium on information technologies which gets underway in Geneva today.

December 1999 

• Fishing among the most dangerous of all professions, says ILO
  13 December 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - As many as 24,000 fishermen and persons engaged in fish farming and processing are killed every year putting fishing and related occupations among the most dangerous of all professions, according to a new report released by the International Labour Office (ILO).
• Ninth African Regional Meeting of ILO completes its work
  11 December 1999 - ABIDJAN (ILO News) - Based on the idea that in Africa "the need to pursue simultaneously the objectives of economic and social efficiency have never appeared as obvious as today", and relying on the report Decent work and protection for all in Africa by Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), the 198 representatives of governments and employers' and workers' organi ...
• New ILO report terms AIDS impact on African labour force "very severe"
  10 December 1999 - ABIDJAN (ILO News) - The AIDS epidemic is killing the most productive members of the workforce in Africa, and threatens to lower productivity, decrease overall demand for goods and services and spawn a new wave of child labourers and AIDS orphans, according to a new ILO report on HIV/AIDS in Africa issued here today.
• Opening of the Ninth African Regional Meeting of ILO. Put social dialogue at the heart of all Africa's economic and social policies, ILO Director-General urges
  08 December 1999 - ABIDJAN (ILO News) - While insisting on the need for public awareness of the main challenges facing Africa in this end-of-century period - challenges which include "a rate of growth insufficient to attenuate extreme poverty, the persistence of ethnic conflicts and civil wars and the crushing burden of debt servicing" - Mr. ...
• ILO Conference to Promote "Decent Work" in Africa
  06 December 1999 - ABIDJAN (ILO News) - Despite a return to economic growth in many African countries, the condition of the vast majority of the continent's workforce at the close of the century is characterized by declining living standards, rising unemployment and increasing poverty, according to an ILO report prepared for the Ninth Africa Regional Meeting which opens in Abidjan on 8 December 1999.
• U.S. ratifies ILO Convention against the worst forms of child labour
  02 December 1999 - SEATTLE (ILO News) - "U.S. President Clinton's signing today in Seattle of the instruments of ratification of the new international Convention against the worst forms of child labour is an important boost to the campaign for universal adoption of this landmark agreement," said Mr. Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO)
• ILO calls for new multilateral initiative to address social implications of globalization
  01 December 1999 - SEATTLE (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) has called for a new multilateral initiative to address the social implications of globalization involving all the organizations dealing with the international aspects of economic and social policy. ...

November 1999 

• More than 140 million denied access to health care in Latin America and the Caribbean
  29 November 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - In Latin America and the Caribbean, "more than 140 million people, that is a third of the total population, do not have access to health services", ILO Executive Director Mary Chinery-Hesse told delegates assembled today in Mexico at the opening of an international conference on health care in Latin America and the Caribbean. ...
• Globalization boosts economic growth But risks widening social inequality
  19 November 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Concluding its 276 th session, the Governing Body of the ILO agreed to review and expand arrangements for the continuation of its Working Party on the Social Dimensions of the Liberalization of International Trade, which was established in June 1994, with a view to examining all aspects of the relationship between trade liberalization and social progress relevant to the ILO's m ...
• ILO Director-General to attend WTO Conference in Seattle
  18 November 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, issued a statement today formally indicating his intention to lead the ILO delegation to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle.
• Poland reaps "impressive" gains on economic, social front. But growth is "Unbalanced"
  15 November 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Defying what had looked to be almost insurmountable economic problems at the outset of the decade, Poland's economy has enjoyed "an impressive economic performance" registering average annual growth rates of 5. ...
• ILO Governing Body convenes 276 th Session
  08 November 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The 276 th Session of the ILO Governing Body, which gets underway in Committee sessions on Monday, will review ILO activities during the last six months and examine policy options in a number of areas, including implementation of ILO's strategic budget and proposed revisions to personnel policies as the Organization charts its course into the new millennium.
• ILO Director-General urges business to become "part of the solution" to challenge of globalization
  05 November 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Mr. Juan Somavia, today urged business leaders to become "part of the solution" to the problems of globalization by addressing the issues of social equity, human dignity and labour rights through corporate responsibility.