Introduction | Sultanate’s
Joining International Labor Organization (ILO)
Introduction:
The ILO was
established in 1919, after the first world war and
the establishing of the peace conference on
25/1/1919. A 15 member committee was formed at that
time to study international legislation matter, at
the request of laborers
The first international labor conference was held in
Washington on 29/10/1919. The conference elected the
first board to manage the International Labor Bureau
in 1922 and appointed its director general.
In the aftermath of the second world war, some
amendments were introduced to the Organization’s
constitution during ( 1919 – 1972 ) without changing
the essence of its philosophy, content and
structure. This have helped enhance and complete the
system of international labor criteria, through
regulating working hours and provision of labor
force, fighting unemployment, availing proper wages`
system, protecting laborers against disease and
injuries resulting from work, protecting children,
juveniles and women, guaranteeing pension for the
old and the disabled, protecting expatriate workers,
reaffirming union freedom and regulating vocational
and craft education. The number of the organization
members rose from 39 countries in 1919 to 150 in
1989 and 174 states in 2004.
Sultanate’s Joining ILO
The Sultanate
joined the ILO in 1994 as per Royal Decree No. ( 10/
94 ) issued on 9/1/1994. Since then the Ministry of
Manpower has been participating in all ILO
conferences held in Geneva during July every year in
the presence of the three production parties.
The Sultanate’s participation in these conferences
and the technical committees emanating from them has
been of great importance in highlighting Oman’s role
in the international arena. Thanks to the
Sultanate’s efforts in international laborers
issues, it has been selected as a representative of
West Asian countries as rotating member in the ILO
board for three years.
( 2002 – 2005 ).
Oman’s participation in the Organization’s
activities has contributed to enhancing solidarity
between the GCC labor ministers and their
counterparts in the Arab group, through unifying
common vision at the Gulf and Arab level. The
sideline meetings of Asian and Pacific Ocean
countries and the non-aligned nations have
contributed to finding a common ground for most of
joint issues which are tackled by international
conferences.
Since it has joined the ILO,
the Sultanate endorsed two basic pacts which are:
Pact No. (29) on
compulsory labor signed in 1930. This agreement was
endorsed by Royal Decree No. ( 75/ 1996 ) issued on
25/9/1996.
Pact No. (182) on the banning of the worst types of
child labor concluded in 1999. The pact was endorsed
by Royal Decree No. ( 38/ 2001) dated 24/4/2001.
The Ministry prepares reports on the extent of the
Sultanate’s commitment to the content of the two
pacts regularly and it prepares annual reports on
Oman’s commitment to the content of the declaration
of labor principles and basic rights and other
pacts.
It is worth mentioning that the Ministry has
benefited from the training programmes held by the
ILO whether in Arab, or Gulf countries or Torino
institute in Italy. It has also recently sought the
assistance of a team of the Organization’s experts
to prepare a study on manpower planning in the
Sultanate, in order to plan and develop human
resources in the country to avail the appropriate
labor cadre.
Due the international position of the ILO and its
remarkable role in laborers` matters , the Sultanate
has to remain an active member of the ILO.
