Video interviews

November 2012

  1. 21 million trapped in modern slavery

    30 November 2012

    Modern slavery, forced labour, still traps more than 20 million people around the world in different forms including debt bondage, forced begging, or trafficking. According to Beate Andrees, Head of the ILO's Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, one of the main problems in the fight against modern slavery is how to identify victims of this crime. The ILO plays a key role in training institutions to take legislative action that enable societies to implement and enforce laws that make modern slavery a crime.

October 2012

  1. "Things are getting worse" when it comes to job recovery, says ILO

    11 October 2012

    "Self-evidently, things are getting worse," in terms of employment recovery according to ILO Director General Guy Ryder. The ILO head called on G20 nations to make good on their pledge at the G20 in Los Cabos to support accelerated demand for job creation should the global economic situation worsen.

  2. Take a Stand for Teachers

    03 October 2012

    A Video Message from Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Office on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day.

September 2012

  1. ILO Director-General addresses European employment conference

    06 September 2012

    Juan Somavia, the ILO Director-General, addressed the "Jobs for Europe" conference organized by the European Commission on 6 and 7 September 2012 in a special video message. “The challenge is to achieve socially responsible fiscal consolidation in the medium term, while stimulating growth of the real economy in the short term, and to pave the way to the expansion of decent employment”, Juan Somavia said.

August 2012

  1. Social protection is essential for our future, says the Haitian Minister of Labour

    23 August 2012

    Interview with Haitian Minister of Labour and Social Affairs recorded in June 2012. Mr Léon Ronsard St-Cyr, told ILO TV that his country has no choice but to invest in social protection as his country slowly recovers from the earthquake that destroyed parts of the island in 2010 (In French with English subtitles).

July 2012

  1. Migrant workers: Hidden victims of the economic crisis

    19 July 2012

    Migrant workers are the hidden victims of the economic crisis, especially in the Eurozone. Thousands have lost jobs in construction and other sectors that were heavily dependent on them in boom times. Now unable to send enough money back home,growing numbers rely on the informal economy to get by, according to Steven Tobin, Senior Economist at the International Institute for Labour Studies.

  2. Employment far from recovery in the Eurozone, warns the ILO

    10 July 2012

    An ILO report warns that millions of jobs could be lost in the Eurozone. Unemployment in the single-currency area could reach almost 22 million over the next four years, according to the "Eurozone jobs crisis: trends and policy responses". ILO TV interviewed Vincenzo Spiezia, Senior Economist at ILO's International Institute for Labour Studies, which authored the report.

June 2012

  1. The impact of public sector adjustments in Europe

    28 June 2012

    Fuelled by the economic crisis, budget deficits have plunged the public sector in Europe into an unprecedented wave of ‘adjustments’, leading to significant cuts in expenditure, jobs and wages. Interview with Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead, author of a new ILO study* on Public Sector Adjustments in Europe – Scope, Effects and Policy Issues

  2. ILO Director-General Elect Guy Ryder about the next priorities of the ILO

    25 June 2012

    The UN Regional Information Centre interviewed Guy Ryder, Director-General Elect of the International Labour Organization (ILO), about the next priorities of the ILO. Guy Ryder stressed the urgent need for the Organization to play its role in constructing effective responses to the current jobs crisis, and to ensure that the social protection floor become a real vehicle for providing people with the most basic protection in their work lives.

  3. ILO Director-General Elect Guy Ryder about the ILO-EU partnership

    25 June 2012

    "The ILO and the EU have an essential partnership", says Guy Ryder in an interview with the UN Regional Information Centre in Brussels. Emphasizing the historical aspects of the cooperation of the ILO and the EU, he also considers tomorrow's challenges for both the ILO and the EU. "We will have to work together to find answers to questions at the practical level, like the youth employment crisis that is hitting Europe particularly hard", Ryder says. "Tackling these issues can be done at EU-wide and at national levels", he concludes.