Uganda elected to Labour body council

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development Mr Pius Bigirimana

What you need to know:

  • Ms Mukwaya pledged Uganda’s commitment to boosting the Decent Work Agenda and observance of Occupational Safety and Health at work places.
  • The Gender ministry team will in June travel to Geneva, Switzerland for the 106th ILO conference, where Uganda’s position on the governing body will be ratified.

Kampala. Uganda has been elected to the Governing Council of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The elections took place on Wednesday at an ILO conference in the Algerian capital, Algiers.
A Gender ministry delegation led by the Gender, Labour and Social Development minister, Ms Janat Mukwaya, and the Permanent Secretary, Mr Pius Bigirimana, put up a strong-willed campaign that saw Uganda beat Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and Ethiopia to the position.

The governing body, the executive council of the ILO, determines ILO policy, including the programme and budget.
Mr Bigirimana described the election as a privileged opportunity for Uganda to sit on the world’s top-most roundtable on labour issues.
“Uganda will now be at the centre of influencing the smooth working relationship within member countries, but also focus on getting support in terms of training of our people in labour related fields, attract technical support, without forgetting to mobilise financial resources where necessary,” Mr Bigirimana said.
“The new position is the opportunity to access jobs for Ugandans with technical competencies, we were not doing that because we were far away from the high table,” he added.

Uganda is no stranger to ILO praises in the recent past for its strategic reforms in the labour sector after the re-constitution and operationalisation of the Industrial Court, as well as appointment of the Minimum Wages Advisory and Labour Advisory Boards.
Speaking during last year’s International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the ILO director general, Mr Guy Ryder, commended Uganda for instituting a number of reforms geared towards boosting the Decent Work Agenda, describing them as a dynamic tool for promoting social justice and inclusive growth.

Reforms
Some of the reforms include, among others, rolling out of the Green Jobs and Fair Market Programme; domestication of ILO conventions; registration of work places under the Occupational Safety and Health Act; Implementation of the National Employment Policy, development of the National Programme of Action on employment, the development of the Youth Employment Plan and development of the National Social Security Policy for Uganda.
Ms Mukwaya pledged Uganda’s commitment to boosting the Decent Work Agenda and observance of Occupational Safety and Health at work places.

“We want to be an example to other member countries in ensuring that social safeguards are observed in all infrastructure development projects and encourage observance of the labour laws,” she said.
The Gender ministry team will in June travel to Geneva, Switzerland for the 106th ILO conference, where Uganda’s position on the governing body will be ratified.