COVID-19 spurs calls to boost protections for millions of homeworkers
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation The dramatic global shift to remote working during COVID-19 lockdowns has underscored an urgent need for greater protections for homeworkers, many of whom are paid far less than those employed outside the home, the United Nations said on Wednesday. About 7.9 per cent of workers – 260 million people – were […]
Labour group seeks help for hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded by COVID
New York, USThomson Reuters Foundation Hundreds of thousands of seafarers around the world are stranded at sea due to coronavirus travel restrictions, unable to go home or get medical care, the International Labour Organization said on Tuesday, calling on nations to address their plight. Many shipping and transport workers have been at sea as long […]
Costa Rica backs UN treaty to combat forced labour
Thomson Reuters Foundation Costa Rica vowed on Monday to ramp up its fight against modern slavery by signing a United Nations treaty that requires countries to identify and rescue victims of forced labor, provide them with compensation and punish human traffickers. The Central American nation is the 47th country globally and the fifth in Latin […]
Pandemic seen rolling back conditions in Asia garment factories
Phnom Penh, CambodiaThomson Reuters Foundation The pandemic risks triggering a race to the bottom that could push tens of millions of Asian garment workers into greater hazard on the factory floor, with women hardest hit, the International Labour Organization said on Wednesday. About 40 per cent of workers furloughed or laid off by the COVID-19 […]
Jobless youth risk lifelong “scarring” from pandemic – ILO
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Young people who have lost jobs or schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic risk carrying “scarring effects” throughout their working lives unless governments provide immediate support, the International Labour Organization said on Tuesday. An ILO poll of 12,000 youths in 112 countries showed in May that more than one in six people under 24 […]
UN hails “historic” milestone in global drive to end child labour
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation The United Nations’ labour agency hailed a “historic” milestone on Tuesday in the drive to end child labour after a global treaty to protect children from sexual exploitation, forced labour and armed conflict was signed by all member states. The International Labour Organization’s convention against the worst forms of child […]
COVID-19 pandemic plunges working world into crisis – ILO
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Global leaders called for a comprehensive approach to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which International Labour Organization chief Guy Ryder said on Wednesday had plunged the world of work into “unprecedented crisis”. “Let’s be clear: it’s not a choice between health or jobs and the economy. They are interlinked: we will […]
‘Lockdown generation’ looms as pandemic risks robbing young of future
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Economic fallout from COVID-19 is hitting young workers so hard they risk becoming a “lockdown generation” scarred for life, with women the worst hit, the United Nations said this week. A study by the UN’s International Labour Organization pointed to the “multiple shocks” young people now faced worldwide – […]
UN sees “major progress” on forced labour in Uzbek cotton harvest
Tbilisi, GeorgiaThomson Reuters Foundation Uzbekistan made “major progress” on stamping out forced labour in its cotton harvest last year, when 94 per cent of pickers worked voluntarily, the United Nations said on Wednesday. The Central Asian country, one of the world’s biggest cotton exporters, has for years been under international pressure to end the use […]
Focused look at human trafficking could reveal better data, top US official says
Washington, DCThomson Reuters Foundation The United States could fight human trafficking effectively with more refined measuring tools which could distinguish young victims from old, or those trapped in domestic jobs from forced farm work, its top anti-trafficking official said on Tuesday. Ambassador-at-Large John Richmond, speaking after a top-level government anti-trafficking commission meeting, said targeted questions […]