All rural workers deserve social protection coverage, says ILO

The International Labor Organization (ILO) presented this Thursday in Geneva a report in which it described as “a dream” social protection for rural workers around the world.

This is of particular concern to those in precarious working conditions, including informal, casual, temporary, subcontracted and day laborers, who make up the vast majority of the workforce on agricultural plantations, according to the study Decent work deficit among rural workers.

Child labor and forced labor

Based on 16 case studies covering 15 countries in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe and Latin America, the publication shows that poor working conditions are found across all sectors and in relation to every substantive element covered by the framework. ILO decent work indicators.

The framework reveals that forced child labour, as well as debt bondage, remain a reality for many people in the world.

Up to 95% of children in hazardous work are employed in agriculture, especially in the cocoa, palm oil and tobacco sectors.

And forced labor is linked in many ways to the dependence that workers have on employers.

“Many of these workers are young and left school at a young age with little or no training. The transition from education to paid employment is difficult, if not impossible, for many young people in rural areas,” said Maria Helena André, an ILO expert in the report’s foreword.

Some 80% of the world’s poor live in rural areas, many of whom face serious decent work deficits, including inadequate security, low pay, lack of stability and security, and excessive working hours. Women and young workers continue to be the most affected.

Women tend to be the most affectedThe report reveals that women are disproportionately represented in the most precarious positions; they have to accept low-paid and low-skilled jobs, suffer huge gender pay gaps, and are more prone to harassment and abuse in the workplace compared to male workers.

The report also describes chemical exposure as a serious health and other risk to farmworkers, particularly children and pregnant and lactating women.

“The majority of rural workers operate in the informal economy, which includes a large proportion of women, who are employed as unpaid caregivers and who do not have access to maternity leave and other essential protections,” explained the ILO.

© UNDP Nigeria

A farmer tends his crop in Nigeria.

recommendations

Rural workers have many aspirations; however, carrying them out is “a tremendous challenge” for them, the report says.

To address labor deficits, the ILO proposes a series of recommendations, among which the strengthening of labor administration in rural economies, the formalization of informal companies and labor contracts stand out.

It also calls for improved presence and capacity in rural economies of trade unions and other grassroots worker organizations and the ratification and adherence to relevant standards, ILO conventions and others international labor standards

The study advocates the integration of rural economic sectors in formal and institutionalized social dialogue, as well as strengthening crisis preparedness and social protection in the rural economy.

Finally, it emphasizes the need for more research and policy analysis to better understand and respond to the needs and expectations of rural workers.

Countries’ economic, development, trade and investment, employment and social protection policies must become more ambitious, as must their frameworks for a just transition to a greener economy and their labor market information systems. study.