Impact and people
2011
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Stories of decent work in Asia and the Pacific
18 October 2011
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Building a social protection floor in Mozambique
10 October 2011
Mozambique is a low-income country with high levels of poverty, informal and rural labour. Seriously affected by HIV and AIDS and exposed to climatic shocks and crises such as floods and droughts, the country’s institutions only have a limited capacity to deal with such shocks and offer social protection for the poor and vulnerable population. To address these challenges, an ILO technical cooperation project financed by Portugal works, together with other UN Agencies, to improve public policies and strengthen institutional capacity for the extension of social protection in Mozambique and other Portuguese-speaking African countries.
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Decent work for Africa’s Youth
10 October 2011
Africa has the youngest population in the world: Young women and men represent the continent’s best hope for getting on a sustainable development path. However, youth unemployment rates are double adult unemployment rates for Africa as a whole – for North Africa they are even four times higher. ILO Online reports from Egypt where the ILO supports a pioneering project helping youth to find decent employment after leaving school.
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Empowering South Africans with decent work
07 October 2011
While African economies have bounced back from the economic crisis, daunting challenges for the continent remain, including poverty, unemployment and underemployment. Faced with these and other major challenges, the Republic of South Africa is one of the 27 African ILO Member States that are implementing Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) aimed at promoting decent work as a key component of their national development. ILO Online reports from Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Inequities in health care access in the European region
06 October 2011
The objective of providing universal health coverage is high on the agenda of countries in the broader European region, yet vulnerable groups often do not have full access to health services, according to Dr. Xenia Scheil-Adlung, Health Policy Coordinator at the ILO’s Social Security Department. ILO Online spoke to Dr. Scheil-Adlung, who has published a study looking at the situation in the region, which includes the European Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central and Eastern Europe.
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Greying of the workforce in retail commerce: Questions and answers
20 September 2011
According to a recent ILO study, 2 billion people will be aged 60 or over by 2050. While most discussions about population ageing turn around the sustainability of pension systems, a forthcoming ILO meeting to be held in Geneva on 21-22 September, will focus on the impact of the greying of societies on labour supply in the retail commerce sector, an industry that has traditionally drawn a large proportion of its workers from people aged 30 and under. ILO Online spoke with John Sendanyoye, the ILO’s Commerce Sector Specialist.
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The banana agribusiness in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica: rich ground to create green jobs
16 September 2011
The ILO, through the Joint Program for strengthening the Banana value chain by Growing Inclusive Markets, invited a delegation of fifteen technicians and producers of bananas from the Dominican Republic to visit Costa Rica to learn about the experience of this country's banana sector in plastic recycling as well as environmental and labor practices.
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The story of Munti: Tortured to death in Malaysia
15 September 2011
Suparmo, 47 years old, still cannot forget his wife’s condition. Her teeth were broken. Her backbone was fractured. She had bruises and stab wounds on her face and body. His wife’s name was Munti. She was only 36 years old and was in a coma. “I couldn’t believe that she could still be alive with all those severe injuries,” Suparmo recalled. “She had been severely tortured by her employers.”
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The story of Umi Saodah: Tortured and trapped in war-torn Palestine
15 September 2011
“I’m still angry and cannot forget what they have done to me,” Umi Saodah, a 34-year-old, recalled. It’s still crystal clear in her mind how four family members of her employer tortured her two years ago. “They showed no mercy. If they were living here in Indonesia, I would retaliate,” she said.
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The story of Halimah: A father’s persisting regrets
15 September 2011
Kohar, 49 years old and a resident of Cianjur, West Java, has five children: four daughters and a son. His wife died in 1999 and his two eldest daughters have worked in Saudi Arabia. When his third daughter, Halimah, 27 years of age, asked his permission to follow in her sisters’ footsteps working in Saudi Arabia as a migrant domestic worker, he could not say no.