The adoption of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation (R202) at the 101st International Labor Conference in Geneva in June 2012 marked an important step forward in the field of international social policy. The international recognition of social protection floors (SPF) as an innovative approach to fight poverty has created a window of opportunity for changing the debate on social protection benefits. With the ILO-UN initiative on SPF, launched in 2009, the implementation and improvement of social security systems at the national level has emerged as a realistic policy option in many developing countries.

This regional workshop, jointly organised by FES and ILO Berlin Office, aims to serve as a platform for exchange of national experiences, good practices and challenges with regard to the promotion, implementation and monitoring of national SPF and social security systems. It will address various aspects of NGOs’ involvement in the establishment of SPFs as well as in advancing social security systems.

The outcome of this workshop shall be a collection of ideas for a civil society roadmap to social protection. In this regard, the participants will identify main needs of NGOs for such a roadmap. Furthermore, the participants shall collect key ideas how civil society organisations can support the monitoring process of social security systems.
This workshop is part of a joint series of events in Africa, Latin America and Asia, which aims at supporting NGOs involved in the implementation process of SPFs.

In December 2012 the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda together with the General-Secretary of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Guy Ryder have reaffirmed to support the Core Labour Standards (CLS). For many years, violations of CLS, precarious working conditions and union busting have taken place in projects that have received financial funding by the ADB. The Public Services International (PSI) and other Global Unions have started a dialogue with ADB on labour relations in 2006. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is supporting PSI and other Global Unions in their call of the implementation of a labour desk at ADB, the end of violations of CLS and the implementation of joint research and activities. International and national trade unionists will attend the ADB Annual Meeting in Delhi to get to know the structures of ADB and to raise the worksers' voices in the seminars and meetings.

The ratification of the ILO Convention No 189 is a key objective of the international trade union movement. In December 2011, the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) launched the 12 by 12 Campaign aimed at 12 ratifications by the end of 2012.
Seven countries have ratified the Convention so far (Uruguay, Philippines, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Bolivia and Italy) and ITUC and the International Network for Domestic Workers (IDWN) want to take advantage of the momentum created and increase the support for Domestic Workers further.

FES will support a regional meeting to strengthen and extend the 12 by 12 Campaign. 30 representatives from unions, NGOs and social movements will get together in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to increase their knowledge on the ILO Convention and supervisory mechanisms.  The meeting will further help to build a stronger union of Domestic Workers as well as stronger alliances between stakeholder groups represented. 

A strong, continued commitment to gender mainstreaming is one of the most effective means to support promotion of gender equality at all levels - in research, legislation, policy development and in activities on the ground - to ensure that women as well as men can influence, participate in and benefit from development efforts. Guided by the ASEAN Charter, ASCC Blueprint and other regional commitments of ASEAN, gender mainstreaming should support ASEAN’s agenda of building the Community that is people-centered and socially responsible by 2015. For this purpose, it is hoped that the ASEAN Secretariat could stimulate gender mainstreaming in the policies, programmes and activities of ASEAN through its sectoral bodies. Acting on this vision, the Social Welfare, Women, Labour and Migrant Workers Division of the ASEAN Secretariat, with the support of Human Resources Division and in partnership with FES, will organise a Gender Mainstreaming Training for the ASEAN Secretariat on 13-15 February 2013. The Training will utilize a ‘learning and change approach’ with guidance and support of two trainers. The staff members should be enabled to develop a gender-based capacity (knowledge) within the organisation. It is also hoped that gender equality could be practised on a daily basis within the Secretariat’s own work and corporate affairs, as well as a guiding principle in cooperation with its partners.

 

The Asian Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Labour Migration was formally established by formal resolution in Phnom Penh in 2011, following 5 years of engagement on migrants' rights issues. The Caucus, composed of parliamentarians from South and Southeast Asia and now East Asia, meet annually to exchange ideas, information and strategies to use their oversight function in their respective parliaments to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers and members of their families.

The upcoming meeting of the Parliamentarian's Caucus will take place in Manila from 23-26 November. The meeting will be hosted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Migrant Forum in Asia and the Philippine House of Representatives' Committee on Overseas Workers' Affairs. It will focus on strategies for effective social protection for migrant workers and encourage a pro-active role for parliamentarians with respect to advancing the rights and welfare of migrant workers across Asia.

This meeting will take place immediately prior to the 5th World Social Forum on Migrations (WSFM), also hosted in Manila. Participants of the Caucus on Labour Migration will attend the Opening Plenary of the WSFM and have the opportunity to be introduced to diverse discourses on migration and to further deepen their understanding of migration issues.