WOMUN selects one or two agencies of the UN system in each issue and introduces their mandate and activities. May 1st is International Worker’s Day, and so in May we are focusing on the ILO.

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the UN and seeks promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights.

It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being. It became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946.

Within the UN system, the ILO has a unique tripartite structure with workers and employers participating as equal partners with governments in the work of its governing organs. Its tripartite structure makes the ILO unique among world organizations in that employers’ and workers’ organizations have an equal voice with the governments in shaping its policies and programmes.

The ILO encourages tripartism within member States as well, by promoting a social dialogue which involves trade unions and employers in the formulation and, where appropriate, implementation of national policy on social and economic affairs.

The ILO formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues. Mostly recently, an ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights was adopted at the ILO Conference in 1998.

Strategic Objectives:

The ILO has four principle strategic objectives: to promote and realize standards, and fundamental principles and rights at work; to create greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment; to enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all; and to strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.

The technical assistance provided by ILO includes those in the fields of social and economic empowerment of women, particularly the rural and urban poor, and the marginalized; reduction of child labour; elimination of forced child labour and from hazardous occupation; vocational training; employment policy; labour administration; labour law and industrial relations; working conditions; social security; and occupational safety and health.

In keeping with the four objectives of the Organization, the ILO in Bangladesh attempts to respond to the needs of the constituents, i.e. the government, employers and workers in areas covered by the core mandate of the Organization. It offers a mix of policy advice and projects and programmes conceived and implemented on the basis of International Labour Standards (ILS). Presently, a number of technical cooperation projects aimed at elimination and reduction of child labour from the organized and unorganized sectors of the economy are under implementation.

Collectively these projects aim at: awareness creation and advocacy of fundamental rights of the workers; identification of the causes of child labour and family indebtedness; prevention and reduction of child workers through development of sustainable alternative job creation and employment opportunities for the families of the child workers, particularly female headed house holds and families in debt bondage; implementation of action research pilot schemes with the view to developing sustainable and replicable national institutional mechanism for complete elimination of child workers and alleviation of poverty through appropriate skills training; enforcement and adherence to the relevant ILO Conventions and Recommendations and national labour laws; capacity building of the workers’ and employers’ organizations and other stakeholders in achieving these objectives.

A number of projects under implementation are also geared toward providing decent employment and incomes, hence contributing to poverty eradication and economic development. The overall goals of these projects are: workplace improvement; productivity and safety improvements; human resource management; social dialogue and labour management cooperation; empowerment of poor women through increased access to decent employment and incomes; access to viable health insurance systems; promotion of women’s fundamental rights at work.

Besides the project specific activities, ILO in Bangladesh organizes seminars, workshops, symposia, undertake research and policy studies, and facilitate the participation of the government, employers’ and workers’ representatives in regional and international study tours and fellowship programmes’with a view to promote and realize standards and fundamental principles and rights are work, create greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income, enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection, and strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.

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