Press releases

September 1999 

• New ILO child labour Convention receives first ratification
  30 September 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Republic of Seychelles became the first country to formally ratify the ILO's newest international labour standard on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, Convention No. 182, which was adopted unanimously by the Organization's 174 member States at the International Labour Conference in Geneva last June.
• Americans work longest hours among industrialized countries, Japanese second longest. Europeans work less Time, but register faster productivity gains New ILO statistical volume highlights labour trends worldwide
  06 September 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - US workers put in the longest hours on the job in industrialized nations, clocking up nearly 2,000 hours per capita in 1997, the equivalent of almost two working weeks more than their counterparts in Japan where annual hours worked have been gradually declining since 1980, according to a new statistical study of global labour trends published by the International Labour Office ...

August 1999 

• International Labour Organization's XIV th American Regional Meeting concludes its work
  27 August 1999 - LIMA (ILO News) - After expressing their conviction "that economic policies must be harmonized with social justice policies," the representatives of governments, employers, and labour organizations from 35 American countries have reaffirmed their decision to promote concrete actions for the creation of decent work and the immediate elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
• The Director-General of the ILO warns of increasing "social insecurity" in Latin America
  24 August 1999 - LIMA (ILO News) - Warning of a prevailing feeling of "social insecurity" in Latin America as the century drew to a close, Mr Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), called for the benefits of economic development to be translated into just and equitable social progress, and said that it was not possible to go on regarding social issues as something separate fro ...
• Despite decade-long reforms, social progress risks stalling in Latin America, Caribbean, warns ILO in new report
  23 August 1999 - LIMA (ILO News) - Unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean is rising fast and is expected to affect as many as 9. ...

July 1999 

• Juan Somavia calls on international organizations to join global campaign for the eradication of the worst forms of child labour
  05 July 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the International Labour Office has called on multilateral organizations and people everywhere to join in a global campaign for the eradication of the worst forms of child labour.

June 1999 

• Governing Body Elects New Officers
  18 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Meeting in Geneva today, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) elected as Chairman of its 1999-2000 Session, Mr. Jean-Jacques Elmiger, Ambassador, representative of the Government of Switzerland. He replaces Mr. Nobutoshi Akao, Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Government of Japan in Geneva, who served as Chairman during the 1998-99 Session.
• ILO adopts Convention banning worst forms of child labour and starts a campaign for its ratification
  17 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - International Labour Organization (ILO) member States today took a decisive step towards liberating scores of millions of children from slavery and debt bondage, prostitution and pornography, dangerous work and forcible recruitment for armed conflict.
• ILO concludes 87 th Conference Adopts new instruments against child labour
  17 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Conference today wrapped up its 87 th session which heard addresses by three heads of state and a Nobel laureate, and reached a unanimous decision to adopt a Convention and Recommendation banning the worst forms of child labour.
• President Clinton Addresses International Labour Conference
  16 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - "It is a gift for our children worthy of the millennium," said United States President William Jefferson Clinton of the new international labour Convention calling for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, to be adopted by the 87 th session of the International Labour Conference.
• Globalization Needs Social and Political Support Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen addresses International Labour Conference
  15 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - Globalization needs social and political support if it is to appear other than as "a terrorizing prospect for precariously placed individuals and communities" delegates to the 87 th International Labour Conference were told today in a special plenary address given by Professor Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate in economics in 1998.
• Mr. Henri Konan Bédié, President of the Republic of the Côte d'Ivoire, addresses the International Labour Conference
  10 June 1999 - Geneva (ILO News) - In a speech delivered from the rostrum of the International Labour Conference this morning in Geneva, Mr. Henri Konan Bédié, President of the Republic of the Côte d'Ivoire, launched an appeal for a new vision of development shared by human societies with an ethic linking democracy, globalization, solidarity and justice.
• Madam Ruth Dreifuss, President of the Swiss Confederation, addresses the International Labour Conference
  08 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - In an address delivered today to the International Labour Conference in Geneva, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Madam Ruth Dreifuss, called upon the International Labour Organization (ILO) to resume its pioneering role and to redefine its place in the international community so as to be better prepared to meet the social challenges of globalization.
• Indonesia Ratifies Core ILO Conventions ILO pledges support for country's labour-law revision
  07 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The Indonesian Minister of Manpower, Mr. Fahmi Idris today submitted the instruments of ratification of International Labour Conventions on the elimination of child labour (No. 138), forced labour (No. 105) and discrimination in employment (No. 111) to the Director-General of the ILO, Mr. Juan Somavia in a ceremony at ILO headquarters in Geneva.
• International Labour Conference Takes Aim at Abusive Forms of Child Labour
  01 June 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - International efforts to improve the lot of millions of child labourers while providing decent work for men and women worldwide took centre stage at the opening of the 87 th International Labour Conference in Geneva today. ...

May 1999 

• International Labour Conference Set to Adopt a New Convention Outlawing the Worst Forms of Child Labour
  31 May 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) – Delegates to the 87 th session of the International Labour Conference, which gets underway in Geneva on Tuesday, 1 June 1999, are set to adopt a new International Convention designed to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, including child slavery and the use of children in activities that are physically and emotionally damaging to their well-being.
• International Labour Office and Inter-Parliamentary Union Sign Cooperative Accord
  27 May 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) today signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation between them, and take practical steps aimed at promoting social justice, democratic principles and human rights.
• International Labour Conference 1-17 June 1999
  26 May 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The 87 th Session of the International Labour Conference opens on Tuesday, 1 st June 1999 at the United Nations Assembly Hall in Geneva and will remain in session until Thursday, 17 June.
• Forced labour in Myanmar still widespread, says ILO
  25 May 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - In spite of the Government's formal statements to the contrary, forced labour remains widespread in Myanmar, says Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO) in a report 1 dispatched to members of the ILO Governing Body on 21 May and made public today.
• ILO to consider sweeping universal ban on worst forms of child labour
  25 May 1999 - GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO), at its annual Conference here in June, is expected to adopt a new international Convention aimed at an immediate, universal ban on the worst forms of child labour that still afflict millions of children worldwide, and in some cases appear to be worsening.