June 2005

1. Press release

   ILO Governing Body elects new Chairman Committee on Freedom of Association cites Cambodia, Colombia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Myanmar and Zimbabwe

   17 June 2005

   The Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO) elected Carlos A. Tomada, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina, as Chairman for its 2005-2006 Session.

2. Article

   93rd International Labour Conference Forced labour in the Russian Federation: building dachas in Stavropol

   16 June 2005

   Delegates to the International Labour Conference also discussed the ILO's global report on forced labour ( Note 1) during a special sitting last week. According to the report, no country is exempted from forced labour. In Russia, where the shadow economy accounts for some 10 million employees and 22 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it is also an acute problem and a vast field for illegal exploitation practices. Olga Bogdanova from the ILO's Moscow office reports from the Russian Federation.

3. Press release

   93rd annual Conference of the ILO concludes its work Delegates pave the way for urgent action on key labour concerns

   16 June 2005

   More than 3,000 government, employer and worker delegates concluded the 93rd annual Conference of the International Labour Organization today following intense discussions on the need for urgently eliminating forced labour, creating jobs for youth, improving safety at work and tackling what ILO Director-General Juan Somavia called a "global jobs crisis".

4. Article

   WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR 2005 "Kopankas" in Ukraine: Sending children to the "family mine"

   14 June 2005

   This year's World Day Against Child Labour focused attention on the plight of child labourers in mines and quarries. The ILO estimates that about a tenth of the 13 million workers engaged in small-scale mining and quarrying activities worldwide are aged 5 to 17. In Ukraine there are more than 800 illegal coal mines where children are often required to do the same work as adult workers. ILO online reports from the mining communities in the Ukrainian Donbass.

5. Article

   93rd International Labour Conference Working hours around the world: balancing flexibility and protection

   13 June 2005

   In today's fast-moving world of virtual offices, home work and globalized commerce, are international labour standards on working time still needed? Yes, according to a study prepared by an ILO Commission of experts and delegates at the Organization's annual Conference. The Commission, an independent body monitoring the application of ILO standards, has concluded that international labour standards limiting working time are still necessary to contribute to fair competition between countries in a globalized world. Still, it is also clear that ILO Conventions Nos. 1 and 30 don't fully reflect modern realities in the regulation of working time and are viewed by an increasing number of countries as prescribing overly rigid standards. A panel of delegates to the Conference recently discussed the world of diversification, decentralization and individualization of working hours around the world.

6. Press release

   Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo addresses ILO Conference Decent work, debt relief needed to build a "new Africa"

   10 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.

7. Article

   WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR 2005 Digging for survival: The harsh reality of child mining worldwide

   09 June 2005

   Of the estimated 250 million child labourers worldwide, the ILO believes more than one million work in mines and quarries. Under ILO Convention No. 182, working in mines and quarries can be defined as one of the worst forms of child labour - exposing children to severe occupational hazards and often depriving them of basic freedoms. Still, the ILO says child labour in mines and quarries is a problem that can be solved.

8. Press release

   ILO urges ban on child labour in small-scale mines and quarries Initiative is part of World Day Against Child Labour activities to be held worldwide

   09 June 2005

   Workers, employers and governments are to join the International Labour Organization (ILO) in marking the World Day Against Child Labour this year by calling for the elimination of child labour in one of the world's most dangerous sectors - small-scale mining and quarrying - within five to 10 years.

9. Press release

   International Labour Conference elects new members of ILO Governing Body

   07 June 2005

   The International Labour Conference of the ILO elected new members of the Governing Body on 6 June.

10. Press release

    President Abdelaziz Bouteflika calls for a social dimension of globalization

    07 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.