The Centenary Conference of the International Labour Organisation adopted the Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work and legal instruments against violence and harrassment in the world of work.

Pictured above: the EU team at the negotiations of the ILO Centenary Declaration.

The two-week International Labour Conference gathered 6000 delegates representing governments, employers, and workers in Geneva. The ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work and the Convention and Recommendation on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work were adopted at the conference.

Director-General Joost Korte, from the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, gave a plenary speech at the Conference and was interviewed by the ILO at the Conference's Daily Show. Joost Korte highlighted the links between action at the international and European levels on the future of work. Information was also provided on EU-funded projects in Asia to fight forced labour of migrant domestic women workers and in the fishing sector, as well as to promote decent work in global supply chains.

ILO Centenary Declaration for the future of work

The ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work sets orientations for a human-centered approach to the future of work with international initiatives and cooperation to

• a just transition to an environmentally sustainable future of work
• promote skills and support transitions throughout working lives
• implement a transformative agenda to achieve gender equality at work
• treat safe and healthy working conditions as a fundamental principle and right at work
• provide universal access to social protection, adequate minimum wage and other labour protection to all workers

The Declaration also supports the contribution of social dialogue to the building of social justice, the role of trade and industrial policies in promoting decent work as well as ILO's important role in promoting policy coherence in pursuit of its human-centered approach to the future of work. The EU and Member States played a key role in negotiations for the Declaration, and helped find common ground on several topics.

The Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion welcomes these developments at the international level, which it considers complementary with EU policies and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Convention and Recommendation on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work

The Convention and Recommendation on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work adopted on 21 June provide a coherent and comprehensive framework for protecting victims of violence and harassment in the world of work through an inclusive, integrated and gender-responsive approach.

The new Convention and Recommendation recognise the importance of a work culture based on mutual respect and human dignity in preventing violence and harassment, and set out an effective and complementary set of remedies and support services for addressing this unacceptable behaviour.

These ambitious legal instruments are fully aligned with the key principles of non-discrimination and gender equality of the EU. Throughout the negotiation process, the EU and its Member States stressed the need for a binding international agreement providing adequate protection and remedies in cases of violence and harassment in the world of work. EU and its Member States were major players in the negotiations and were instrumental in finding common ground in a number of issues.

The reference in the Recommendation to applicable international labour standards and international instruments on human rights ensure that vulnerable groups and groups in situations of vulnerability will be protected inclusively and that no one is left behind.

The EU and its Member states further strongly contributed to ILO supervision of the application of ILO norms. The EU advocated for the respect of core labour standards in 17 country cases. It did so through EU interventions insisting on concrete actions by the countries concerned to tackle the shortcomings reported, both in law and practice. It also supported the effective implementation of the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation.