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ILO Conference Approves Maternity Rights Treaty

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By Gustavo Capdevila

Inter Press Service
June 15, 2000

The International Labour Conference approved a new treaty during its final session that calls for protecting pregnant women and mothers, opening the way for greater benefits for women workers around the world.


The new legislation on maternity protection at work ''goes straight to the core of the ILO's (International Labour Organisation) concern for reconciling family life and working life,'' declared Juan Somaví­a, director general of the institution, following the vote on the initiative Thursday.

During its three weeks of deliberations, the conference distinguished itself from those of previous years in the radical discourse of the workers' representatives, who blamed employers and some governments for attempting to debilitate the ILO by stripping it of its regulatory authority.

The new agreement on maternity, which would extend paid leave from 12 to 14 weeks for new mothers, would replace a similar treaty from 1952, which had been ratified by just 37 countries. Approval of the new accord, with 304 votes in favour, 22 against and 11 abstentions, reflects the diverse criteria of the sectors that form the tripartite governance of the ILO: governments, employers and workers.

The vast majority of employers, as well as some governments - including Japan, Britain, Malaysia, Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan and South Africa - joined in a failed attempt to prevent the assembly from achieving quorum for the maternity vote. Those in favour of the treaty included nearly all workers' representatives, alongside government delegations from Cuba, China, India, Russia and the United States.

Opposition to the accord came from several governments - mostly Latin American nations, such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Their delegates objected to the new accord alleging that its benefits had been watered down and that their own national laws on the maternity issue were stronger.

The success of the treaty when it comes to ratification by each country, and whether those nations that support the measure will actually implement it remain to be seen.

This year's ILO conference covered other issues as well, and adopted sanctions against Myanmar (Burma) for flouting international norms on forced labour. But the ILO administrative council must confirm the measure in November before any of the international penalties against the country would go into effect.

The report by the Committee on the Application of Standards brought the conference-goers' attention to the cases of forced labour in the Sudan and non-compliance with ILO norms on freedom of association in Cameroon and Venezuela. Secretary general of the Venezuelan Confederation of Workers, Carlos Navarro, stated that this mention in the report ''constitutes a new international sanction against the capabilities of the (president) Hugo Chávez government.''

Sixty percent of all assassinations of unionists in the world during the last three years occurred in Colombia, but the nation was not included in the committee's report due to objections by the employers' delegation, according to a statement by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). However, the ILO administrative council will study the situation of this South American country.

''It is not what we had hoped for, but we are doing as much as we can given the unwillingness of the employers to support us,'' said Julio Roberto Gómez, secretary of Colombia's General Confederation of Democratic Workers. The ILO conference also approved a resolution exhorting governments - and employers' and workers' associations - to reinforce the role of social actors in confronting the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In a special session dedicated to this disease, Namibian president Sam Nujoma stated that AIDS ''is an artificial disease ... it is the result of certain countries producing chemical means to kill other humans, other nations.'' Nujoma called on ILO members to join forces to make ''those who have invested in chemical war spend that money instead on the fight against this disease.''

The ILO conference, chaired by Argentine Labour minister Mario Alberto Flamarique, held its preliminary discussions on a draft initiative on health and safety in agriculture, to be debated in next year's sessions. (END/IPS/tra-so/pc/mj/ld/00)


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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.