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| Sunday, 12 June 2005 |
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Youth unemployment a complex issue - Athauda
Labour Relations and Foreign Employment Minister Athauda Seneviratne led Sri Lanka's delegation to the 93rd session of the International Labour Conference held in Geneva last week. Here are excerpts of the speech he made there. We have noted the Director-General's desire to focus this year on consolidating progress and moving ahead on the major ILO reports presented in the last years, which have been a major contribution to the global debate on the role of ILO in the multilateral system. The introduction of the concept of Decent Work in 1999 forms the central pillar on which our thinking has been based both in the Governing Body debates and also in national policy-making in member countries. Achieving Decent Work goals has stimulated considerable interest at national level both in influencing policy and implementing projects and generating interest amongst the tripartite constituents. The period since 1999 has also seen important achievements in Sri Lanka in the area of standard setting. Considering that in 1999 Sri Lanka had ratified only four Core Conventions and that by 2003 all eight Core ILO Conventions had been ratified, it could be concluded that remarkable progress has been achieved in this area which has also enabled national economic strategies including market access objectives. The Director-General in his report has emphasised the need for Decent Work country programmes to be established in each of the member states as 'important operational innovations'. I am proud to state that Sri Lanka is currently drawing up the National Plan of Actio for Decent Work and we are very hopeful that it could be completed before the Asian Regional Conference to be held in October, 2005. All activities and programmes that will derive from this national framework aspire to promote Decent Work. Decent Work Country Program The Decent Work Country Program will make a significant contribution to Sri Lanka's attaining the Millennium Development Goals. As stated in last year's Director General's report 'Working out of Poverty', decent work is the quality road to poverty reduction and greater legitimacy of the global economy. The establishment of a new cluster for increased employment and industrial relations in the National Council for Economic Development is another important stage towards integrating issues of importance to labour in national economic policy considerations at the highest level. My Ministry, the Ministry of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, is being restructured both on organisational and on functional levels to bring it to take a leadership role in national economic and social planning. The establishment of a Social Dialogue unit, a Monitoring and Compliance unit on the application of labour standards, an Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and strengthening these units with ILO technical assistance are measures in the right direction in achieving Decent Work goals. The establishment of a Gender Bureau within the Ministry is intended to mainstream gender issues into labour policy at the national level and to undertake programmes and activities towards gender sensitisation at all levels. I am also very much concerned with the welfare of migrant workers and their families. In this light, currently, action is being taken to document all the families of migrant workers thought the country. Being one of the eleven lead countries of the Youth Employment Network (YEN) the delegation from Sri Lanka looks forward with profound interest to the deliberations at the Committee, the plenary session, and the side events on Youth Employment which are scheduled during this conference. According to recent census, the youth unemployment rate in Sri Lanka is three times that of the average unemployment rate, which stands at 7.9%. Youth unemployment is a complex issue combining labour market distortions, including lack of educational qualifications and skills, with prevailing unhelpful attitudes and aspirations. Our National Action Plan on Youth Employment is under preparation. Mobilisation in tsunami affected areas Earlier this year, Mr. President, the Sri Lanka delegation addressed the Governing Body, on the ILO response to the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean. We thanked ILO for its rapid mobilisation in Sri Lanka for the initial assistance in assessment of the livelihood and labour market situation in the tsunami affected areas. The ILO, with the support of my Ministry was able to prepare a rapid income recovery programme, which was included in the main government programme for 'Rebuilding Sri Lanka'. The UN Resident Co-ordinator for Sri Lanka has already pointed out at the OCHA briefing in Geneva recently of the most important need in the medium term for livelihood assistance for thousands of fishermen who lost their boats, for the small entrepreneurs and those working in the tourism sector who lost everything on December 26 last year. ILO's assistance was also important in the social protection issues relating to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable group, the orphaned tsunami children, and an important component in the humanitarian response to the tsunami. We commend ILO's approach of building partnerships with front line humanitarian agencies for the employment intensive recovery which is now under way in Sri Lanka. |
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