iFish6

Aquaculture is an important source of income and livelihood, especially for many rural communities, providing direct employment to more than 20 million people, with many more people employed along the supply chain. The sector’s exponential growth in recent decades has significantly contributed to alleviating poverty in a number of developing countries, enabling millions of the rural poor to escape from social and economic exclusion. Despite its growing contribution to employment and decent work opportunities, food security and nutrition, and economic development, in many countries, aquaculture faces decent work deficits alongside other important social and environmental challenges. The proposed session will focus on the most salient challenges facing the sector from the employment and labour perspective. It will draw on good practices and lessons learned from the work of the ILO and its tripartite constituents – governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations – in the development and implementation of policies, strategies and tools to promote decent jobs in the aquaculture sector; rights at work, especially fundamental principles and rights that ensure inter alia the rights to organize and bargain collectively and to a safe and healthy working environment; social protection; and, social dialogue. The session is planned to have 5 speakers, including the moderator. These will include: 1. Elvis Beytullayev, Rural Economy Specialist, ILO, whose presentation will focus on decent work in the aquaculture sector and recent ILO initiatives, including the development of a Code of Practice on OSH in the aquaculture sector. He will also serve as the moderator of the session. 2. Representative of a Government (ILO Member State), who could present national policies and practices in the promotion of decent work in the aquaculture sector (name/title tbc), 3. Representative of an employers’ organization/private sector, who would speak about the current and emerging issues in sustainable enterprise development in the sector (name/title tbc) 4. Representative of the International Union of Food and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), whose presentation will focus on workers’ rights, including freedom of association and collective bargaining, child labour, OSH, non-discrimination (name/title tbc). 5. Representative of a research institution / academia (name/title tbc).