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OAS Member States Approved Agenda for the Next Ministerial Meeting of Labor

The member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) today approved in Cartagena, Colombia, the agenda and central theme of the next meeting of Ministers of Labor of the region to be held on November 18 and 19 in Cancun, Mexico.

During the three-day meeting of the Working Groups of the XVIII Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor, delegations from 20 member countries agreed that the next ministerial meeting will be held under the theme: "Building decent work with social inclusion and sustainable development in the Americas."

In addition, it was decided that the main agenda items to be discussed will be: Education and Labor: building integrated public policy to promote an effective work relationship; Equity and labor inclusion: inclusive labor policies and the generation of quality businesses and jobs; Labor migration: making progress in protecting the rights of migrant workers; and Hemispheric Cooperation for strengthening labor ministries: the Inter-American Network for Labor Administration (RIAL), ten years after its creation.

The Acting Director of the OAS Department of Social Inclusion, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, who participated in the meeting, said the challenge of inclusion must be at the center of the political, economic and social concerns of the Americas. "On this basis, the OAS created the Department of Social Inclusion few months ago, to support the efforts of member states in the formulation of public policies and the implementation of programs and projects to promote development with equity and social inclusion, and building upon the significant achievements of the Organization in the matter."

Muñoz-Pogossian said it is no coincidence that the issues of employment are included in the work of the Department of Social Inclusion. "This reflects the belief we have in the OAS in the need to ensure decent conditions of employment, in conditions of equality, security and freedom, for all our citizens, which is one of the keys to building inclusive and just societies."

Moreover, during the meeting, there was a discussion on how to improve integration into labor markets, in which progress in the region was discussed regarding the strategies developed to anticipate and drive the demand for training, and to assist sectors of the population facing greater challenges, particularly youth.

In addition, the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) presented the preliminary version of the study on bilateral and multilateral conventions on social security, on which delegations of the member countries may comment until August 10, with a view to the ministerial meeting in November. The study was conducted in compliance with a mandate from the eighteenth meeting of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (CIMT), held in Medellin, Colombia, in November 2013, where it was agreed "to analyze experiences of bilateral and multilateral agreements on social security in order to identify alternatives to design and propose a hemispheric mechanism that could facilitate the recognition of nominal contributions to social security and pension rights of migrant workers from member states of the OAS, in accordance with national law and as appropriate."

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-159/15