Guinea-Bissau: ECOWAS and ILO host stakeholder capacity building workshop on international labour standards and conventions

To promote the ratification and implementation of international labour standards by Guinea-Bissau, the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), are organizing from 11 to 12 July 2023 in Bissau, a workshop to strengthen the capacities of stakeholders on international labour standards and conventions in particular Conventions 97, 102, 143, 155 and 189.

In his address, during the opening ceremony of the workshop, Dr Sintiki UGBE, Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission, on behalf of Prof. Fatou Sow Sarr, Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, welcomed the  presence of Minister Cirilo Mama Saliu Djalo, in charge of the Civil Service, Labour, Employment and Social Security and his team of experts and social partners.

She noted that the ECOWAS Commission has launched the ECOWAS Decent Work Regional Programme  (EDWRP) for the period 2019 – 2026,  to address the following deficits identified by a diagnostic study on decent work in the ECOWAS area conducted by ECOWAS and ILO: employment and labour market deficit, labour standards, social protection, labour administration and social dialogue.

Dr Sintiki called for the participants of the workshop to focus on the following key Conventions: C97 Labour Migration Conventions: C102 Social Security Convention, C143 Migrant Workers, C155 – Convention on Occupational Safety and Health at Work and C189 – Convention on Domestic Workers which Guinea-Bissau has not yet ratified in order to fill the gaps in decent work in the country.

While officially declaring the workshop open, the minister of labour, H.E. Cirilo Mama Saliu Djalo said that the government is very committed to improving the working conditions of its citizens and welcomed the presence of this very high-level mission of ECOWAS and the ILO. He reassured ECOWAS that his country will make every effort to achieve the rapid ratification of ILO conventions, as has done recently for many other international human rights instruments.

It should be noted that two other speeches were given at the opening of this workshop by Ms Vanessa Phala, Head of the ILO National Office in charge of Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the liaison with ECOWAS and the second one by Mr Laureano Pereira, Secretary General of the National Union of Workers of Guinea Bissau.

“Despite all the progress that Guinea-Bissau has been able to make recently, mainly with the ratification of Convention 87 and the adoption of the new Labour Code, but also on other fronts, there are still challenges to be met” said the ILO official.

Ms Vanessa Phala recalled the good partnership between her organisation and ECOWAS, which led to the ratification by all Member States of the ILO’s fundamental conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced labour, child labour, equality and non-discrimination, thus marking a significant step forward in improving the working and living conditions of workers of community citizens.

She concluded by congratulating ECOWAS for its dynamism and commitment for the Welfare of the Community.