Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 26/10/2015
Indonesia will host the ministers in charge of labor, employment and productivity from OIC Member States in Jakarta for the 3rd edition of the Islamic Conference of Labor Ministers from 28 to 30 October 2015. President Joko Widodo of Indonesia will open the conference and the OIC Secretary General, Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani, in his address, will review the progress made towards the implementation of the OIC Framework for Cooperation on Labor, Employment and Social Protection. The theme of the Conference, “Mainstreaming Youth Employment and Occupational Safety in OIC Member States”, is timely considering the fact that in recent years the average unemployment rate in OIC Member States fluctuated between 7.6% and 8.8% of total OIC labor force, while world average unemployment rate remained around 7%. In addition, the average youth unemployment rate in OIC Member States reached 16% against the world average of 12.9%, even as the female unemployment in OIC Member States averaged 9.4% against 5.3% in other developing countries and 7.4% in developed countries in 2014. The rate of female unemployment is higher than 20% in some OIC Member States. The agenda of the Ministerial Conference includes presentations by the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) on activities within the framework of OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET), OIC Public Employment Services Network (OIC-PESNET), and Youth Employment Support (YES) Program. In addition, the Conference will finalize and adopt the constituent instrument of the OIC Labor Center, which is expected to be a new specialized institution of the OIC dealing with labor, employment and social protection issues. Furthermore, the meeting will provide the Ministers with opportunity to share their national experiences on strategies, achievements and challenges towards addressing unemployment, strengthening social protection systems and labor market policies, in particular occupational health and safety, among others. At the end of its proceedings the Conference is expected to adopt resolutions, aimed at strengthening intra-OIC cooperation in the domain of labor, employment, occupational health and safety, and labor productivity. Some of the concrete deliverables of the Conference will include increasing capacity development operations in such areas as occupational safety and health, skill development for youth employment, and provision of literacy skills, among others.
