About: ILO
EU to strengthen sustainability enforcement in trade deals
Sustainability concerns should receive increased attention in trade deals and, if necessary, also be enforced through sanctions, according to a new approach presented by the EU Commission on Wednesday (22 June).
The Brief, powered by IndustriAll Europe – The world of work after the COVID-19 battle
As countries are relaxing lockdown measures and people are slowly returning to work, questions arise over what the post-COVID-19 world of work will look like, but also whether companies are prepared and able to ensure the safety of their workers...
Narbaeva: Uzbekistan is determined to reform and put an end to negative stereotypes
Tanzila Narbaeva, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, told EURACTIV about her country's efforts to develop modern agriculture, eliminate child or forced labour and invest in human capital, especially women.
Cambodia’s Hun Sen defiant despite EU trade threat
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has taken a defiant stance following a European Union announcement last week that it would ramp up trade pressure on Cambodia over human rights concerns.
Exposure to carcinogens at work in EU’s crosshairs
The EU Agency for Safety and Health at Work has launched a joint campaign with the European Commission and the Bulgarian EU Presidency aimed at raising awareness of dangerous substances at work while sounding the alarm about the surging costs related to cancer.
Free trade agreements struggle to convince on social, environmental standards
There are real concerns about the lowering of social and environmental standards in free trade agreements, and NGOs and economists point out the lack of binding control mechanisms in trade deals. EURACTIV.fr reports.
ILO concerned about the future of social dialogue
If social dialogue is to remain useful it will have to adapt to changes in the labour market. New, atypical forms of work have blurred the lines of the employee-employer relationship. The representativeness of these relations is a key issue. EURACTIV.fr reports.
Are geopolitics, trade and human rights compatible enemies?
Europe cannot turn a blind eye to the Human Rights abuses occurring in third countries, unless we rewrite the mandates of the functioning of the EU institutions and the Treaty, writes MEP Tomáš Zdechovský.
EESC adds pressure on trade partners to respect ILO conventions
The European Economic and Social Committee adopted a resolution on Wednesday (14 February) calling on the EU to step up its efforts to give greater weight to labour and environment chapters in its free trade agreements.
More than 40 million people trapped in slavery: New global estimate
More than 40 million people were trapped as slaves last year in forced labour and forced marriages, according to the first joint effort by key anti-slavery groups to estimate the number of victims worldwide of the international crime.
ILO director: ‘Trump is the result of our own failures’
Income inequality and the future of jobs became a key topic in the campaign for the US elections. It could also play a decisive role in the upcoming elections in France, where the populist candidate Marine Le Pen has shaken the political landscape.
World leaders discuss tourism’s potential to eradicate poverty
According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), tourists injected €1.1 trillion into the economies of their destinations last year. Their potential to help developing countries was discussed at a conference in China last week. EURACTIV’s partner El País – Planeta Futuro reports.
ILO: Poverty rising in Europe, amid global dearth of solid jobs
A growing number of Europeans are living in "relative poverty", the UN labour agency said Wednesday (18 May), warning that a lack of quality jobs worldwide was threatening to undo decades of progress in poverty reduction.
Researchers: EU turns blind eye to slavery in Thai poultry industry
Migrants processing Thai chicken for its biggest export market, Europe, face widespread abuse by their employers, partly because foreign auditors have focused on food safety rather than workers' conditions, researchers said on Wednesday (25 November).
Environmental and social protection to be discussed at next TTIP negotiations
Europe wants the US to commit to high environmental and social standards, as part of the planned TTIP agreement. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Youth unemployment ‘a timebomb’ in developing countries, UK MPs say
The world needs to wake up to “the ticking timebomb” of youth unemployment in developing countries and treat the issue as seriously as humanitarian disasters and global efforts to eradicate disease, a group of British MPs has warned.
Gender equality: Let’s get our house in order
SPECIAL REPORT / Public administrations everywhere in Europe need to be more in tune with the people they serve and use the full potential of both men and women, writes Kristalina Georgieva in an exclusive op-ed for EURACTIV.
Lack of social safety net hampers fight against killer diseases
SPECIAL REPORT: Billions of people in developing nations lack the health and social protections that most Europeans take for granted, a gap that experts say harms efforts to reduce poverty and prevent crises like the killer Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
ILO warns Europe about growing risk of social unrest
The potential for social unrest in European Union countries is higher than anywhere else in the world and the already yawning gaps between rich and poor, a major trigger, are likely to widen globally, the International Labour Organisation said on Monday (3 June).
EU pressures Bangladesh to improve labour standards
The European Union is considering trade action against Bangladesh, which has preferential access to EU markets for its garments, to pressure the country to improve safety standards after a building collapse killed more than 400 factory workers.