Philipsburg:--- The Minister of Labour, Health, and Social Affairs Cornelius de Weever and the members of the tripartite committee that attended the ILO conference in Geneva gave reporters an outline of their participation at the ILO conference during a press conference on Wednesday at the A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall.Minister de Weever said this is the second year St. Maarten is given an opportunity to attend these meetings because in the past Curacao was sending a representative on behalf of the Netherlands Antilles. Minister de Weever said that while all of this is new for St. Maarten, it gives government the experience it needs in those forums. Those that accompanied the Minister were Hubert Pantophlet, Claire Elshot, Raphael Boasman, and Linda Froston. Hubert Pantophlet told reporters that the countries within the Kingdom participate in the meetings as advisers and he would like for St. Maarten to be able to participate on a level where the new country could vote. However, it should be noted that the only way that could happen is if St. Maarten becomes an independent country. The ILO meetings last for a period of two weeks where the delegation is given an opportunity to prepare for legislations that are voted upon. Pantophlet participated in the committee that dealt with the Social platform.
Froston told members of the media that she sat on committee that dealt with the reports, because each member country of the ILO (International Labour Organization) must submit an annual report. Froston said St. Maarten was given credit for submitting its report early while those countries that did not submit their report were blacklisted. Last year, some 37 countries submitted their reports. Froston said St. Maarten has to abide by the ILO labour standards. Countries that are parties to the ILO conventions must also submit an annual report on the applications of the ILO conventions. Last year St. Maarten submitted a report on nine ILO conventions.
Policy adviser of the Labour Department Raphael Boasman said there were over 5000 participants at the conference this year and one of the things that stood out was youth unemployment in Spain which is now 50% compared to 29% of youth unemployment on St. Maarten. The ILO adopted a legislation entitled "A call for action regarding youth employment." He said that there are close to 75 million young people worldwide that are unemployed and most of them work in deplorable conditions. Boasman said the young people working are often described as the working poor. Boasman said based on what he has seen this year there is an increase of 4 million unemployed young people in the world compared to 2007.
Claire Elshot who represented the workers organization said that attending the conference gave her a closer insight on how the conventions are established. This year she sat on a committee that reviewed the conventions number 89 and 98. ILO Convention number 98 is the Right to Collective Bargaining, while number 89 is on Freedom to Association, both of which she said are very important to St. Maarten. Elshot said these two conventions had to be discussed because only 49 countries ratified them. This year's discussion she said was based on having more countries adopting the conventions since they are based on the fundamental rights of workers.
