The 100th Anniversary of the establishment of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was commemorated at the UN Headquarters in New York at a High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly, held from 10 - 11 April 2019.
The centennial celebration focused on the theme “Future of Work” with wide participation from Member States of the UN. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres; President of the General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa; Director-General of the ILO, Guy Ryder and Representatives of Member States addressed the Meeting.
The Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York, Rohan Perera, delivering a statement on this occasion, felicitated ILO for its tireless work in promoting social justice, human and labor rights. He noted the strong history of resilient cooperation between Sri Lanka and ILO, and appreciated ILO’s efforts to promote green jobs, wages, social security, labour migration, combating trafficking, labour-based technology, gender mainstreaming etc in Sri Lanka. The Ambassador made special reference to the importance of youth skills development, noting the challenges faced by countries in harnessing the positives of technological advancement, while minimizing the negative of technological unemployment or underemployment. He also highlighted efforts taken by Sri Lanka at the UN in having July 15 declared as the ‘World Youth Skills Day’ with a view to bringing to the forefront the imperative need for bridging the youth skills gap in an increasingly technologically oriented world.
Sri Lanka became a member of the ILO in 1948 and the ILO Country Office was established in Sri Lanka in 1984. Sri Lanka has ratified 43 ILO Conventions including all eight fundamental Conventions.
