Minister of Labour, Trade Union Relations and Sabaragamu Development W.D.J. Seneviratne said that ‘Sri Lanka will make every endeavor to be an active partner of the ILO in achieving the anticipated goals of the green initiative”.

The Minister encouraged the ILO to provide a platform for effective global dialogue, to facilitate technology transfer from developed to developing countries, to convert their production technologies in to green technologies, and thereby facilitate prevention and mitigation of the impact of climate change, while supporting to create significant additional green jobs.

Minister Seneviratne made these observations when he addressed the 106th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva on 12th June 2017, in the context of the report of the Director General of ILO on ‘Work in a changing climate: the Green Initiative”.

During his intervention, Minister drew the attention of the Conference to the recent floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, and how it has affected the livelihoods of its people.

As a labour sending country, the Minister said Sri Lanka has significantly contributed to strengthen the governance of migration through a number of measures taken at the national level, bilateral as well regional initiatives such as the Colombo Process - the regional consultative forum of contractual labour originating countries in Asia which Sri Lanka Chaired till February 2017, and the Abu Dhabi Dialogue - a group of both labour sending and receiving countries in the GCC- Asia migration corridor, which is currently Chaired by Sri Lanka. He further said, based on these experiences, Sri Lanka will be an active partner in ILO programmes and activities in addressing the governance challenges of migration.

Drawing attention to Sri Lanka’s recent ratification of Seafarers Identity Document Convention No.185 and Maritime Labor Convention, 2006, Minister informed the ILC that Sri Lanka has ratified 43 ILO Conventions including all core Conventions, and that the country is in the process of completing the ground work required to ratify Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health and Conventions 97 and 143 relating to migration.

State Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations Ravindra Samaraweera who attended the initial meetings, made an intervention at the Plenary of the ILC on 7th June 2017 on behalf of Sri Lanka’s Chairmanship of the Group of 15, and noted the ‘Decent Work’ as a vital pillar of the 2030 Agenda, and on behalf of the Group, acknowledged the need to enhance the working conditions for nearly 780 million working poor as a priority.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, the Commissioner General of Labour Mr. R.P. Ananda Wimalaweera, Assistant Secretary of Ministry of Labour & Trade Unions and other officials from the Ministry, Department of Labour as well as of Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Geneva as Government representatives, and representatives of trade unions and employer organisations, comprised the tripartite Sri Lanka delegation to the 106th Session of the Labor Conference.