TEHRAN –Iran’s deputy permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva, Mehdi Aliabadi, has been elected as the chairman of the General Affairs Committee of the 112th session of the International Labor Conference (ILC).

The Conference is being held from June 3 to 14 at two premises: the Palais des Nations and the International Labor Organization (ILO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, IRNA reported.

The General Affairs Committee is a standing committee of the Conference. It consists of 28 members nominated by the Government group, 14 members nominated by the Employers' group, and 14 members nominated by the Workers' group. Each group may also nominate deputy members.

The Committee considers and reports on any matter referred to it by the International Labor Conference. Abrogation of four international labor conventions is expected to be referred by the Conference to the General Affairs Committee.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, a founding member of the ILO, was one of the first countries in the region to join the Organization. Iran has ratified 15 ILO Conventions including six of the ten core Conventions.

The country has been a member of the Board of Directors for the past 26 years and the coordinator/head of the Asia-Pacific Group in the 111th session, last year.

ILO

The ILO is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights, pursuing its founding mission that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace.

The ILC is the ILO's highest decision-making body. Since 1919 the ILO, as in112th session of ILC, has convened governments, employers, and workers of 187 Member States, to set labor standards, develop policies, and devise programs promoting decent work for all women and men.

Government, employer and worker delegates from the ILO's 187 Member States are addressing a wide range of issues, including the protection of workers against the effects of climate change and biological hazards (standard-setting, first discussion), a recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of fundamental principles and rights at work (FPRW), a general discussion on decent work, the care economy, and fundamental principles and rights at work, the organization's work agenda and budget, the election of its Governing Body members of the ILO Governing Body for 2024-27.

Moreover, the inaugural forum of the Global Coalition for Social Justice will be held during the ILC. It allows Coalition partners to exchange knowledge, tools, and experience, and to showcase activities and initiatives undertaken, or envisaged in support of social justice.

The Governing Body has decided to place on the agenda of the 112th Session (2024) of the Conference an item on the abrogation of four Conventions: the Underground Work (Women) Convention, 1935 (No. 45), the Safety Provisions (Building) Convention, 1937 (No. 62), the Convention concerning Statistics of Wages and Hours of Work, 1938 (No. 63), and the Labor Inspectorates (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 85).

According to the statute of the ILO, the Conference can approve, by a majority of votes, the abolition of conventions that no longer fulfill their intended purpose or do not contribute to the achievement of the goals of the organization.

The abolition of these four conventions is part of the process of revising the organization's standards to maintain a set of powerful and up-to-date international labor standards or guidelines.

MT/MG