Feature articles

June 2009 

• Decent Work for domestic workers: a long way to go.
  17 June 2009 - The ILO and other women’s advocacy groups consider domestic work to be among the most precarious of occupations. The present economic downturn and jobs crisis sweeping the world is likely to aggravate those vulnerabilities depicted in a report to the 2009 International Labour Conference taking stock of gender equality in the world of work. ILO press officer Allan Dow reports from Bangkok.
• Taking the crisis as an opportunity: How the garment industry in Kyrgyzstan faces a 40 per cent decline in exports
  16 June 2009 - After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the country’s transition to a market economy, the Kyrgyz garment industry was one of the first to recover. Today, it is the first sector that has been severely hit by the global economic and social crisis.

• Questions and answers on the global jobs crisis
  More than 4,000 delegates representing governments, employers and workers are meeting at the annual Conference of the ILO from 3 to 19 June to discuss ways of addressing the global crisis in jobs and social protection. ILO Online asked Raymond Torres, Director of the ILO International Institute for Labour Studies about the current jobs situation, and how decent work policies can tackle the crisis.

June 2009 

• Migrant working girls, victims of the global crisis
  10 June 2009 - More than 100 million girls are involved in child labour worldwide, according to a new ILO report for World Day against Child Labour 2009. The report warns that the global financial crisis could push an increasing number of children, particularly girls, into child labour. ILO Online reports from Moscow where migrant workers and their children are the first to be hit by the crisis.
• Girls in gold-mining: “I don’t want my children to be like me”
  10 June 2009 - Over 18,000 girls and boys are engaged in mining and quarrying in the Philippines. For many generations, the search for gold in small-scale mining has been a means of survival for poor families. Girls in such work are particularly vulnerable. Minette Rimando, ILO press officer in Manila, wrote this report for ILO Online.
• Work sharing: A strategy to preserve jobs during the global jobs crisis
  05 June 2009 - Work sharing could be a relevant response to the global jobs crisis, according to a new ILO policy brief prepared for discussion at the International Labour Conference in Geneva from 3-19 June 2009. Work sharing policies and programmes can result in a “win-win-win” solution benefiting workers, employers and governments. ILO Online spoke with ILO working time expert Jon C. Messenger.
• HIV/AIDS: Discussions on a new labour standard begin at ILO conference
  03 June 2009 - This week, governments, workers and employers representing the ILO's 183 member States begin a two-year process during which they will discuss a ground-breaking draft labour standard on HIV/AIDS in the world of work. ILO Online asked ILO/AIDS Director Dr. ...