UN labour agency chief urges international aid to help Liberia create jobs

With unemployment in post-war Liberia having reached a record 85 per cent, the head of the United Nations labour agency today called on participants at the agency’s annual conference for stepped up international assistance in creating jobs in the West African country.

“Liberia is facing a jobs crisis that is virtually unprecedented anywhere in the world today; more than four out of five citizens are unemployed,” UN International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia told 4,000 delegates meeting in Geneva at a special session on Liberia, which President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf also addressed.

"Your presence here sends the strongest possible signal to the world community and development cooperation partners to give urgent focus to the priority of immediate job creation in Liberia," Mr. Somavia told President Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman head of State.

“This is a real call to action,” the Liberian President said. “I want to challenge this audience to attend this call with urgency.”

Liberia’s national agenda “encapsulates a vision deeply rooted in our determination to humanize and restore dignity to the Liberian labour force,” with a special focus on areas of priority such as child labour, human trafficking, women empowerment and labour relations, she said.

“I come to advance a different agenda and partnership with the ILO on behalf of Liberia and other nations,” President Johnson Sirleaf said, mentioning the development of an Emergency Employment Programme leading to a long-term Employment Action Programme.

These labour-intensive initiatives are expected to employ more than 1,500 persons per month in several areas of rehabilitation and reconstruction, she said. “We need the support and resources. The rebirth of our nation will rest on the emergency programme in the short run."

Mr. Somavia replied that the ILO fully supports Liberia. “We stand with you in taking immediate and concrete action” to advance the country’s employment initiatives.

Ms. Johnson Sirleaf later signed the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, adopted by the ILO in February to improve labour standards for the global maritime sector. The move made Liberia, with one of the world's leading shipping sectors, the first country to sign the pact.

The issue of Liberia’s development challenges was one of the “Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About” released by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) on 15 May.