Post-coronavirus scenario: ILO will convene special session tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The International Labour Organization (ILO) will convene a special session tomorrow (Wednesday) to chalk out a strategy for the well-being of labourers in the post-coronavirus scenario, particularly in the developing countries.

In a series of tweets, the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP+ACY-HRD) stated that the ILO had invited Prime Minister Imran Khan to address the special session being convened on the request of Pakistan, which the prime minister had accepted.

The ministry said that the prime minister would address the special session, and take the ILO member states into confidence on important issues related to the labourers.

The prime minister, in his address, would emphasize the need for taking immediate measures for workers and labourers.

It stated that Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on OP+ACY-HRD Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari had earlier forwarded the request to the ILO on the occasion of World Labour Day for convening of a session of its member states, on an urgent basis, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on labourers and workers across the world.

Through the letter addressed to the ILO Director General, Guy Ryder, the special assistant highlighted the problems being faced by the workers in Pakistan and across the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He called for initiating a global dialogue to develop a way forward, which could help minimise the impact of the pandemic on the labour class. He asserted that it was not Pakistan alone, where the coronavirus posed a serious challenge to the labourers, but all the developing countries in the region and beyond were facing similar challenges.

The special assistant urged the ILO director general to call a special virtual session with representation from all ILO member countries, agencies, enterprises, organisations, groups and individuals to enable a strategic dialogue to discuss the future of work in a post-COVID-19 world for all workers especially those in the developing world and to establish a way forward in a world emerging from a global crisis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020