International Labour Organisation – ILO

The International Labour Organization is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice.

The main aims of the ILO are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues, labour migration, the elimination of child labour, promotion of gender equality, labour law reform, protecting seafarers, labour market statistics, occupational safety and health, HIV/AIDs in the workplace, youth employment and entrepreneurship development.

The ILO Office for Pacific Island Countries based in Fiji, provides technical assistance to eleven member States (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu).

The Cook Islands became the 186th ILO member State in June 2015. The Cook Islands is a self-governing Parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand. Although the Cook Islands is not a United Nations Member State, it works with several UN agencies including the WHO and UNESCO, as well as having diplomatic relations in its own name with 43 other countries.