109th Session of the International Labour Conference (May-June 2021) General Briefing Note for Worker Delegates and Advisers

Date, place and agenda of the Conference

The 109^th Session of the International Labour Conference will be held in Geneva in a virtual format as follows.

A brief opening session on Thursday, 20 May 2021 at 13.00 (Geneva time) to elect the Officers of the Conference, appoint its standing and technical committees and approve any adjustments to its Standing Orders and working methods necessary in view of the virtual format of the Conference.

The Conference will be reconvened from 3 to 19 June 2021 to deal with all agenda items except items IV (inequalities in the world of work) and VI (skills and life-long learning). During this period, it will establish two working parties to deal with these two items. These two working parties will be held from Thursday 25 November to Friday 10 December 2021. The closing ceremony of the Conference will be held on Saturday 11 December 2021.

In order to accommodate different times zones, Committees will be working between 13.00 and 16.00 (Geneva time) with group meetings preceding them.

The agenda of the Conference is as follows:

1. Reports of the Chairpersons of the Governing Body (2019-20/2020-21) and of the Director-General;
2. Programme and budget and other questions;
3. Information and reports on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations;
4. Inequalities and the world of work (general discussion);
5. A recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of social protection, under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, 2008;
6. Skills and lifelong learning (general discussion);
7. Abrogation of eight international labour Conventions and withdrawal of nine international labour Conventions and eleven international labour Recommendations.

Items III and V will be dealt with in tripartite committees.

Items IV and VI will be dealt with in tripartite working parties when the Conference reconvenes on the 25^th of November.

Item VII will be dealt with in the Selection Committee.

A tripartite committee will also be established on the 3^rd of June to discuss the outcome document concerning the ILO's response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Conference practical information is available at: https://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/109/lang-en/index.htm

The website is regularly updated. In light of the virtual nature of the Conference we invite worker delegates and advisers to regularly consult it. We also recommend that delegates and advisers download the Conference App when available on the site as it will provide daily information and updates on the Conference programme, Committees and Workers' Group meetings.

Plenary sittings

The plenary debate will start on Monday 7^th of June and include the opening remarks of the Director-General and the spokespersons of the groups and the presentation of the reports of the Chairpersons of the Governing Body, followed by interventions on the Report of the Director-General and Chairpersons of the Governing Body. The plenary debate will end on the 16^th of June.

The report of the Director-General will have as a theme the ILO response to the Covid-19 pandemic and will include as an annex the draft outcome document on ILO response to the Covid-19 crisis. The report is expected to be published the week of the 17 of May.

The report of the Director-General will also include an Appendix on the situation of workers in the occupied Arab territories covering the years 2020 and 2021.

The time limit for speeches in the plenary sitting is set at a maximum of 4 minutes. Workers' delegates or their substitutes are urged to speak in the plenary. The registration to speak opens on May 17 and closes on

8 June at 18.00 (Geneva time). Speaking requests should be sent at the following e-mail address: [email protected]

Statements can be delivered live or recorded. We however invite delegates to the extent possible to deliver them live. Practical information relating to speaking in plenary will also be posted on the Conference website.

The Conference will celebrate:

• The World of Work Summiton 17-18 June on the ILO response to the Covid-19 pandemic
• The 2021 World Day against Child Labour will be held on Thursday 10 June 2021 organized jointly with UNICEF, under the aegis of Alliance 8.7, to mark the ratification of Convention Nr 182, release of new global estimates and trends on child labour and show case of the '2021 Action Pledges'

The Palestine Solidarity Event will be held on June 8 from 17.00 to 18.30 (Geneva time).

The adoption of reports and resolutions prepared by the technical committees will take place on the last two days of the Conference:

The adoption of the reports of the Recurrent Discussion Committee and Committee on the Application of Standards will be scheduled on Saturday, 19 June

The adoption of the report on the Covid-19 outcome document is scheduled during the World of Work Summit on the 17 or 18 of June

Workers' Group Secretariat of the Committees

• Committee on the Application of Standards Mr Paapa Danquah
• Inequalities and the world of work (general discussion) Ms Maite Llanos and Mr Leo Baunach
• Recurrent discussion on social security Ms Evelyn Astor, Alison Tate and Mr Jeroen Beirnaert
• Skills and lifelong learning (general discussion) Mr Tim Noonan and Martin Henry
• Covid-19 outcome document Ms Raquel Gonzalez, Maite Llanos and Mr Tim Noonan

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