East Timor has come a long way since the establishment of the United Nations Transitional Administration in the country, in 1999. The world's newest State has emerged, and in May of this year, a new labour code was signed into force. The new code, developed in consultation with the ILO InFocus Programme on Dialogue (IFP Dialogue) and the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, provides for a comprehensive and fair labour relations system based on fundamental ILO principles. The goal: to help create jobs and to provide basic standards – from sick leave to equality among men and women.
DILI, East Timor – In a country recently emerging from devastating political strife, how do you create labour standards? That is the work of the ILO, and in East Timor, new rules on hours of work, sick leave, maternity benefits, child labour, dispute settlement, and equal treatment of women, are now enshrined in law.
The development of the new labour code for East Timor is part of the ILO project on strengthening and improving labour relations in East Timor (SIMPLAR), funded by the US Department of Labor. The project aims to contribute to East Timor's social and economic progress through the establishment and operation of an effective labour relations system. In the future, the ILO, mainly through SIMPLAR, will continue working with government, workers' and employers' organizations – building capacity to use social dialogue to achieve results which benefit all three.
Another project focuses on skills and employability, and creating employment opportunities through vocational training. Funded by the Portuguese Government and implemented by the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, the project began in October 2001.
"The labour code must be used, and used well," said ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Yasuyuki Nodera at a May Day ceremony here launching the code. "If any one of the tripartite partners is not able to use the code properly, then it is quite possible that the principles it upholds won't flow through into the day-to-day practice of labour relations."
Gagan Rajbhandari, the ILO representative in Dili, spoke to World of Work about the employment situation in East Timor and the ILO's work there.
How would you characterize the employment situation in East Timor?
East Timor is an agrarian society with a largely subsistence economy in which much of the production is consumed by the producers [home consumption]. About 76 per cent of the people live in rural areas, and the poor among them account for 85 per cent of the nation's poor. East Timor has a young population, with about 48 per cent below the age of 17. The labour force participation rate is about 74 per cent overall, and a little over 50 per cent for women. About three-quarters of those employed are in agriculture. Open unemployment, a recent phenomenon, especially among youth, is in excess of 16 per cent. Entrepreneurial, technical, and vocational skills are lacking in every sector of the East Timorese economy. The proposed national development plan stresses that one of the most important challenges for East Timor, both currently and in the foreseeable future, is to create jobs – both in the formal and the informal sectors – to meet the needs of the country's youth. Some 15,000 to 20,000 young East Timorese enter the working-age population each year, far more than the anticipated number of jobs in the public sector.
What are the most urgent labour issues to be dealt with by the Government of East Timor? Is child labour one of them?
Lack of productive skills and lack of remunerative employment opportunities are urgent issues. The Government is also keen to develop legislative provisions for social security, and occupational safety and health. It faces another challenge in terms of bringing ex-combatants back into the main stream of the national development process. Until recently, the absence of a formal labour law framework made dealing with labour disputes difficult. However, the new labour code was promulgated on 1 May 2002. The Government of East Timor has also indicated its interest in becoming an ILO member State, and is keen to ratify the ILO's eight fundamental Conventions.
Children help adults with household work and on farms. More recently we have begun to see children working on the streets – particularly in the capital city Dili. About 200 to 300 children sell VCDs in the streets and wash cars. A UNICEF study has found that most of these children are trying to escape domestic violence and/or poverty at home. In many cases their parents [or care providers] have sent them there to generate extra income for the family.
What are the main obstacles encountered by the Government in terms of labour and employment?
The Government lacks technical expertise and resources to respond to issues related to labour and employment. To help address the need for employment, the East Timorese National Development Plan argues for an extension of the current on-the-job training undertaken in informal economy workshops throughout the country. It also calls for employers in the formal sector to design and implement basic training programmes, and to further the development of existing donor and church programmes in vocational training. The plan also proposes that the Government establish a unit responsible for technical and vocational education and training. In fact, the new labour code requires the Department of Labour and Solidarity to establish a Division of Vocational Training and Employment, with three units, covering skills development and upgrading, employment services, and labour market assessment. Community-based training centres will also be set up in the countryside, to train people in the skills needed in the local informal economy and to provide advice on employment. These centres will also provide basic services to match people, skills, and jobs.
What are the most promising development sectors for job creation in East Timor? Is tourism one of them and why?
The areas most likely to grow include the informal economy, micro- and small enterprises, and the service sector. Tourism is one of the target industries, but it is a challenge. Both infrastructure and training are needed.
How is the ILO assisting the Government of East Timor regarding employment and labour-related issues? Can you briefly mention the main areas of focus of the ILO programme in East Timor?
All of the ILO activities in East Timor are designed to make sure that decent and productive work is part of life for the citizens of this new nation. One of the first steps was, of course, to provide a legal framework for better labour relations, in the form of a labour code. We now have a technical cooperation project focusing on helping the Government of East Timor, and employers and workers to implement this code. Another project will work with employers and workers, encouraging them to use social dialogue to improve labour relations. Cost-effective training is the key aim of another project, working to make sure that the unemployed and other vulnerable groups can develop the skills they need to find decent, sustainable employment.
[World of work is the the magazine of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).]