Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience: The Role of Trade Unions
ILO launches series of regional seminars on Recommendation 205 for workers’ organizations
In May 2018 the ILO’s Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV), with the participation of the Fragile States and Disaster Response Group, has launched a series of regional seminars to present the various aspects of the Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation (No. 205) and brainstorm the opportunities and challenges that it brings to workers’ organizations.
Recommendation No. 205 gives a clear role to the ILO in matters of employment and decent work in conflict and disaster situations, and calls for trade unions to be at the centre of the ILO’s endeavours in this regard. The Recommendation offers measures for prevention, recovery, peace and resilience, and covers many topics and aspects of decent work. It is therefore key to approach it from a regional, or sub-regional, perspective as different parts will be relevant for different contexts, realities, and concerns.
The regional activities launched by ACTRAV have the objective to disseminate and analyse Recommendation No. 205 and bring out its potential for the regions. They also have the objective to raise awareness regarding initiatives that could be carried out to implement the Recommendation, and to share practices in this field.
The first two seminars, sub-regional in nature, were held in Ouagadougou (7-9 May) and Addis Ababa (14-16 May). They addressed a total of 50 leaders, office bearers and technical experts of trade union organizations from West and East Africa who were directly responsible for issues related to conflicts, crises, disasters, industrial relations and social dialogue as well as focal persons of women and youth committees. Representatives of the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA), the East African Trade Union Confederation (EATUC), the African Regional Organization of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) were also in attendance.
The expected outcomes of the seminars in the medium to long term are:
Recommendation No. 205 gives a clear role to the ILO in matters of employment and decent work in conflict and disaster situations, and calls for trade unions to be at the centre of the ILO’s endeavours in this regard. The Recommendation offers measures for prevention, recovery, peace and resilience, and covers many topics and aspects of decent work. It is therefore key to approach it from a regional, or sub-regional, perspective as different parts will be relevant for different contexts, realities, and concerns.
The regional activities launched by ACTRAV have the objective to disseminate and analyse Recommendation No. 205 and bring out its potential for the regions. They also have the objective to raise awareness regarding initiatives that could be carried out to implement the Recommendation, and to share practices in this field.
The first two seminars, sub-regional in nature, were held in Ouagadougou (7-9 May) and Addis Ababa (14-16 May). They addressed a total of 50 leaders, office bearers and technical experts of trade union organizations from West and East Africa who were directly responsible for issues related to conflicts, crises, disasters, industrial relations and social dialogue as well as focal persons of women and youth committees. Representatives of the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA), the East African Trade Union Confederation (EATUC), the African Regional Organization of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) were also in attendance.
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The expected outcomes of the seminars in the medium to long term are:
- Improved knowledge on conflict, extremism and prolonged drought situations and their impact on social, economic, political and environmental development.
- Enhanced knowledge on the ILO’s flagship programme on Jobs for Peace and Resilience within the context of Recommendation No. 205.
- Strengthened trade unions’ capacity to contribute to job creation and livelihood support to create the economic foundations for inclusive peace, resilience and state-building processes in West Africa and in the Horn of Africa.
- Implementation of a union-owned roadmap, policy guidelines and intervention tools for promoting a culture of peace and resilience in West and East Africa.