Press releases

October 1998 

• Labour market flexibility boosts productivity in machinery/electronics sector, says ILO, but poses challenges for the workforce
  26 October 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Flexible labour practices can boost the competitiveness and employment prospects of firms in the mechanical and electrical machinery industries, according to a new ILO report 1. ...
• ILO Report on Sex Sector Receives Prestigious Publishing Prize at Frankfurt Book Fair
  10 October 1998 - FRANKFURT (ILO News) - A prestigious publishing prize, the 1998 International Nike Award, has been awarded to Ms. Lin Lean Lim of the International Labour Office (ILO) for a recently published study on the sex industry in Southeast Asia. ...
• ILO meeting calls for improved social and labour conditions in Export Processing Zones and End to restrictions on trade union rights
  02 October 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) B Delegates to an international meeting on Export Processing Zones (EPZs) today called for an end to restrictions on trade union rights in a few EPZ-operating countries and said that the absence of workers' organization representation, effective structures for labour-management relations and the shortage of human resource development programmes in a number of countries formed obs ...

September 1998 

• Export processing zones growing steadily
  28 September 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - As global competition for jobs and foreign investment intensifies, Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are proliferating worldwide, growing from just a handful a few decades ago to over 850 today, according to a new report 1 published by the International Labour Office.
• ILO World Employment Report 1998-99
  24 September 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The number of unemployed and underemployed workers around the world has never been higher and will grow by millions more before the end of the year as a result of the financial crisis in Asia and other parts of the world, says the International Labour Office (ILO) in its latest World Employment Report issued today in Geneva.

August 1998 

• Report of ILO Commission of Inquiry reveals widespread and systematic use of forced labour in Myanmar (Burma)
  20 August 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The obligation to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour is violated in Myanmar in national law as well as in actual practice in a widespread and systematic manner, with total disregard for the human dignity, safety and health and basic needs of the people, according to a report issued by a Commission of Inquiry appointed under the Constitution of the International Lab ...
• Sex industry assuming massive proportions in Southeast Asia
  19 August 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Prostitution in Southeast Asia has grown so rapidly in recent decades that the sex business has assumed the dimensions of a commercial sector, one that contributes substantially to employment and national income in the region, according to a new report published by the Geneva-based International Labour Office.

July 1998 

• Violence on the Job - a Global Problem
  20 July 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - France, Argentina, Romania, Canada and England have reported the highest rates of assaults and sexual harassment on the job, says the International Labour Office (ILO) in a new report, the most extensive worldwide survey of violence in the workplace.

June 1998 

• Governing Body Elects New Officers Committee on Freedom of Association Sees Progress in Indonesia Appoints Commission of Inquiry to Nigeria
  19 June 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Meeting in Geneva today, the Governing Body of the ILO elected as chairman of its 1998-99 session, Mr. Nobutoshi Akao, Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Government of Japan in Geneva. He replaces Mr. Ahmed Ahmed el Amawy, Minister of Manpower and Immigration of Egypt, who served as chairman during the 1997-98 session.
• Fundamental Rights Declaration Clears Final Hurdle ILO Conference Seeks End to Child Labour Abuses
  18 June 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - In a decision reaffirming the commitment of the international community to uphold fundamental rights in the workplace, delegates to the 86 th International Labour Conference today adopted by an overwhelming vote a solemn ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, committing the Organization's 174 member States to respect the principles inherent in seven core ...
• Indonesia Pledges to Respect Trade Union Rights Ratifies Key ILO Convention No. 87
  10 June 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the ILO, Michel Hansenne, applauded the decision of the Government of Indonesia to ratify ILO core Conventions, including No. 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, 1948), which was ratified in Jakarta on 5 June, 1998.
• U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Addresses 86 th International Labour Conference
  10 June 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, in an address today to delegates at the 86 th International Labour Conference, said "there is no room for anyone anywhere to be complacent in relation to human rights."
• His Excellency Rafael Caldera, President of Venezuela addresses 86 th International Labour Conference
  09 June 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Addressing a special sitting of the 86 th International Labour Conference today, President Rafael Caldera said that while globalization and market economics are inevitable and potentially positive developments "there are also characteristics of globalization which must be dealt with carefully so that they will not cause harm to humanity."
• Opening of the 86 th International Labour Conference
  02 June 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Amidst calls for the abolition of child labour and the strengthening of fundamental human rights in the workplace, the 86 th annual International Labour Conference (ILC) got underway in Geneva today in the company of hundreds of marchers for whom the ILC was the final destination in a Global March that has crossed over 100 countries this year.

May 1998 

• Final Debate on Fundamental Human Rights Declaration Delegates to 86 th International Labour Conference Target Child Labour
  29 May 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) ­ Delegates to the 86 th session of the International Labour Conference, which gets underway in Geneva on Tuesday, 2 June, are set to debate the text of a groundbreaking declaration on fundamental human rights at work.
• International Labour Conference 2-18 June 1998
  28 May 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) ­ The 86 th Session of the International Labour Conference will open on Tuesday, 2 June at the United Nations Assembly Hall in Geneva and remain in session until Thursday, 18 June.
• Indonesia releases Detained Trade Unionists
  26 May 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the ILO, Mr. Michel Hansenne, has welcomed the decision of the new Indonesian Government to release Mr. Muchtar Pakpahan, President of the Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia, and several of his colleagues, who are members of Indonesia's independent trade union confederation.
• ILO to seek new Convention aimed at abolishing extreme Forms of Child Labour
  25 May 1998 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Backed by growing international support for abolishing extreme forms of child labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is to seek a new Convention and Recommendation aimed at bringing an immediate halt to hazardous, exploitative working practices that confront millions of children with daily, work-related stress, exposure to injury, illness and death, and deprive the ...
• Worker Disability Problems Rising in Industrialized Countries: Solutions Sought in Washington, D.C. Conference
  19 May 1998 - WASHINGTON (ILO News) - Claims for disability benefits are surging in industrialized countries - up to 600 percent in some nations - encouraging governments, private companies and unions to search for ways to get disabled people back to work, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

April 1998 

• Social Crisis in Asia: ILO Meeting identifies areas for priority action
  24 April 1998 - BANGKOK (ILO News) - Expressing grave concern at the deterioration in labour and social conditions in East and South-East Asia, representatives from governments, workers' and employers' organizations from 8 countries - China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam - and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, have outlined the priority steps ...