The rate of ILO core conventions ratification is lowest in Asia and the Pacific region which resulted in poor legal protection of workers’ rights, said a senior official at International Labour Organisation (ILO). “Unfortunately, Asia and the Pacific region as a whole is the region whose ratification of the core conventions is the lowest in the world,” said Tomoko Nishimoto, assistant director general and regional director for Asia and the Pacific of ILO. She informed that 14 countries out of 47, including the West Asian Arab countries, have ratified the core eight conventions. Bangladesh has not also ratified all the conventions. As a result, the workers do not have the legal protection or legal base for demanding a number of core principles as the Asia and Pacific nations have not ratified the core conventions, she said, while talking to a group of journalists from Bangladesh on the sidelines of the recently concluded Asia Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the ILO in Bali, Indonesia. “We have eight conventions on issues like child labour, forced labour, freedom of association and collective bargaining,” Ms Nishimoto said, urging the member states to sign the conventions. The ratification of core conventions is an indication of the member states’ readiness or willingness to attempt to guarantee the labour situation. There are some countries that think if they ratify the conventions, its implication would destroy the domestic industries, she added. “But the lower ratification does not mean that there is no effort from the ILO for ratifying the conventions by the member states. Before ratifying the conventions, the leaders of those countries think the law is working well. That is one of the major reasons for not ratifying the conventions,” she opined. Sometimes there is a misunderstanding about collective bargaining and people think that it might result in street demonstration, she said, recommending social dialogue for a win-win situation for the workers, government and the employers, and for the entire country. The ILO official said trade unionism is not an alternative to the tripartism, because it requires three parties to have the capacity, understanding and willingness to talk and have an effective social dialogue, she added. The factory owners in many of the Asian countries are ready to introduce the social dialogues for resolving the disputes, because the employers are very close and linked to the global supply chain and the buyers. “Bangladesh is one of the major examples in this case. Immediately after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, the government, employers and workers have been working through establishing the tripartism,” she said. Many expressed concern about migration that was one of the major subjects discussed in the 16th APRM, Ms Nishimoto said, adding that resolving the migration issue is not only the responsibility of any particular country. The ILO has already placed the migration issue in the global migration forum last year and the forum has already formulated the fair wages guidelines for the migrant workers of both sending and receiving countries. She said fair recruitment guideline is very important for both the sending and receiving countries to build capacity for fair recruitment and fair wages.
