ILO to tackle OFW displacement in Geneva conference

The plight of nearly 3 million Filipinos who face displacement in the Middle East and North Africa will be one of the focal points in an International Labor Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva, Switzerland next month.

The ILO’s 100th International Labor Conference — which will take place from June 1-17 — provides a top venue for the development of worldwide employment rights and international trade union standards.

ILO director-general Juan Somavia, in a report made available online in mid-May, urged governments to move on to an “era of social justice” and fair globalization.

“The goal of more and better jobs remains a distant reality, aggravated by the global crisis,” said Somavia in his report.

“Of the 3 billion people at work today, half are in some form of self-employment mostly by necessity, not by choice,” he noted.

Somavia added that in the last 30 years, inequality and social imbalances have become all too familiar occurrences in the global economy and have led to more cases of poverty, discontent, and uprisings, especially in the Arab world.

The global economy is fast changing, Somavia said, noting that India and China were fast growing to be the world’s largest economies.

Economic policies are no longer dominated by the G8 and other groups such as the G20, the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Global Governance Group, he added.

However, Somavia said that while the global economy moves forward, governments need to provide decent jobs to billions of workers.

Half of those in vulnerable employment are in developing regions, particularly in the agricultural sector, he noted.

In the Philippines, over 15 million people are in vulnerable employment sectors, and do not receive decent and regular income or social and health benefits. In contrast, only 2.5 million Filipinos are in formal employment.

Other issues that concern the Philippines such as child labor and decent work and salary for domestic workers will also be tackled during the conference.

There are over 2.4 million child laborers in the Philippines, not including those under hazardous forms of child labor such as child pornography and work with armed rebels as child soldiers, according to the ILO.

Several ILO committees will also discuss decent work for domestic workers, strategic objects of social protection, labor administration and inspection, and the application of conventions and recommendations.

Currently, a bill that seeks to provide standard and decent salaries for domestic workers, as well as social protection and health benefits, is pending in the House of Representatives. — Bea Cupin/JE, GMA News