Event: Department of Labour: 12th ILO Conference

The Department of Labour will host the International Labour Organisation’s 12th African Regional Meeting in Johannesburg from 11 to 14 October 2011.

The theme of the conference is Empowering Africa’s Peoples with Decent Work and meeting will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from October 11 to October 14. Four heads of states – including President Jacob Zuma who will officially open the meeting– will attend alongside labour ministers and delegates from around the continent and the ILO Director General.

The Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant who is hosting the meeting has welcomed the conference saying it is important for the country in particular and the continent in general.

“The theme of this conference fits in with our mandate as a department which enjoins us to create a labour market that is conducive to Investment, Economic Growth, Employment Creation and Decent work,” she said adding that she was particularly pleased that Gauteng government and the City of Johannesburg have come on board to make the conference a success.

Central to conference discussions will be the progress made by the countries in the region towards achieving the targets set by the Decent Work Agenda in Africa, 2007-15, adopted by the 11th African Regional Meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2007, and to set out future priority actions for the region to achieve the Decent Work Agenda in Africa.

Minister Oliphant added that South Africa had played and continues to play an important role within the ILO and has contributed to a number of ground-breaking conventions including the Decent Work for Domestic Workers convention adopted in June this year. “Work is already underway for us to ratify these and other conventions and give real meaning to the quest for decent work especially for vulnerable groups like farmworkers and domestic workers,” she said.

The meeting will be preceded by election of Officers: the Chairperson of the Regional Meeting, and the Government, Employer and Worker Vice-Chairpersons. The meeting will also appoint the members of the ‘Credentials’ Committee and the members of the Drafting Committee.

A number of discussions will be held during the plenary sessions. Key among these is a special debate on the theme of “Efficient Growth, Employment and Decent Work in Africa: Time for a new vision”. There will also be a general debate on the Director-General Juan Somavia’s report titled: Empowering Africa’s Peoples with Decent Work.

These discussions in plenary will be interspersed with a series of six parallel discussions on the following themes: women empowerment, rural employment, promoting national ownership of international labour standards; investing in skills and sustainable enterprises for decent work; industrial development and structural transformation as a path to decent work; and moving out of informality.