Press Releases

Selected ILO press releases

• ILO Governing Body concludes 297th Session Considers labour situation in Myanmar, Belarus and other countries
  November 2006 - The Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO) concluded its 297th session here following discussions on a range of issues including: follow-up activities to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) ministerial declaration on generating full and productive employment and decent work for all.
• ILO Governing Body opens 297th session Labour situation in Belarus and Myanmar will be discussed, along with youth employment and labour inspection
  November 2006 - The Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO) will address a wide range of issues at its 297th session beginning here today, including basic labour rights in Myanmar and Belarus, the ILO response to the post-crisis situation in Lebanon and the latest report of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association.
• South African elected new Chairman of ILO Governing Body Committee on Freedom of Association cites Cambodia, Djibouti, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Zimbabwe
  June 2006 - The Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO) elected Mr. Membathisi Mphumzi Shepherd Mdladlana, Minister of Labour of the Republic of South Africa, as Chairman for its 2006-07 Session.
• H.E. Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, addresses ILO annual Conference Calls for urgent action for peace and development as unemployment reaches estimated 85 per cent
  June 2006 - Facing an unemployment level that has risen to an estimated 85 per cent, Liberia requires immediate support to create sustainable conditions for peace and development, H.E. Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, told the annual Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) here today.
• International Day of Disabled Persons 2005 - Disabled people in Ethiopia: Making public services work for poor people
  December 2005 - Most of Addis Ababa's estimated 3 million population lives in slums and informal settlements. While 24 per cent of housing units have no toilets at all, 45 per cent share pit latrines. Earlier this year, the President of Ethiopia officially opened the first of 30 modern public shower and toilet facilities run by a cooperative of disabled persons in Addis Ababa with the support of the ILO.
• World AIDS Day - Employers in Cameroon: Saving tomorrow's workforce
  December 2005 - The business world is now having to deal not only with the human cost of HIV/AIDS but also losses in profits and productivity. At the same time the workplace can play a vital role in reducing the spread and impact of the epidemic.
• ILO, AFDB strengthen support for women-run businesses in Africa New studies cite women's growing role in African economic development
  November 2005 - African women entrepreneurs are playing an ever-increasing role in African economies and will receive new support from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the African Development Bank, the two organizations have announced here.
• Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo addresses ILO Conference Decent work, debt relief needed to build a "new Africa"
  June 2005 - Noting that employment creation has become "an explicit and central objective" of Africa's economic and social policies, Nigerian President HE Olusegun Obasanjo today urged the continent's development partners to join it in making the decent work agenda of the International Labour Organization (ILO) a global goal.
• President Abdelaziz Bouteflika calls for a social dimension of globalization
  June 2005 - The next United Nations Summit scheduled in September 2005 to review the Millennium Declaration should promote renewed international efforts to build a social dimension of globalization, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, told delegates to the annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) here today.
• Forced labour in Africa: between poverty and tradition
  May 2005 - The ILO estimate of the number of victims of forced labour in sub-Saharan Africa is 660,000. In this region, the figure reflects the stubborn survival of traditional forms of servitude, but also relates to extreme poverty, a high incidence of child labour, and a context of severe political violence.
• Africa: insecurities compound poverty
  May 2005 - Africa has suffered greater economic insecurity and instability than any other region of the world during the past decade and half.
• Global Campaign for Social Security hits its stride
  January 2005 -The recent launch of a national campaign to provide Kenya's population with social security was the latest in a series of events designed to expand the ILO's Global Campaign on Social Security and Coverage for All.
• Media advisory: ILO lends support to African network of mutual health organizations
  November 2004 -The Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Juan Somavia is visiting India on the invitation of the Government of India from 26 to 28 November 2004 for high level discussions with the government and representatives of workers' and employers' organizations.
• Africa: working out of poverty
  November 2004 - Today, Africa is working to find a way out of poverty. At the Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Ouagadougou in September 2004, many African heads of state and government formally adopted a Declaration making the job creation a prime objective for reducing poverty.
• ILO Director-General Addresses Extraordinary Summit of African Union says, "good national governance will not succeed unless we have good global governance"
  September 2004 - The Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Juan Somavia, today said that good national governance affirms "Africa's right to expect global fairness" and that "good national governance will not succeed unless we have good global governance."
• Gawanas Bience: "Decent work is about realizing how each of us can make a contribution to the whole"
  April 2004 - Last September, Gawanas Bience, a Namibian lawyer and ombudswoman in her country for the last seven years, was elected Commissioner for Labour and Social Affairs of the African Union (AU). ILO Online spoke to her about a wide range of issues, including employment, international labour standards, social protection and social dialogue.
• Regional meeting concludes with pledge to strengthen ILO role in African development "Decent Work for Africa's Development"
  December 2003 - After four days of discussion, the International Labour Organization's Xth African Regional Meeting concluded today with a broad set of recommendations on putting employment at the centre of Africa's development strategies and strengthening the organization's role in poverty reduction on the continent.
• ILO delegates lay groundwork for African summit on poverty and employment Burkina Faso President stresses job creation as critical to poverty reduction
  December 2003 - To fight poverty, African nations must reorganize their development priorities around the challenge of creating jobs, Burkina Faso President H.E. Blaise Compaore told delegates to the to the International Labour Organization's Xth African Regional Meeting.
• Xth African Regional Meeting Opens with Calls for Changes in International Policies on Poverty Alleviation Job-Centred Development is the Focus
  December 2003 - With the challenges of reducing poverty and promoting job-centered development topping their agenda, African labour ministers and representatives of workers' and employers' organizations will open the International Labour Organization's Xth African Regional Meeting tomorrow in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, addresses 91st International Labour Conference
  December 2003 - "The resources exist within the world economy and society to achieve the objective of the eradication of poverty, globally", the President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, told delegates at a special sitting of the International Labour Conference.