KARACHI - International Labour Organisation Pakistan office is encouraging the federal government to ratify the ILO Convention 189, which pertains to the decent work for domestic workers. Now it is the responsibility of civil society to advocate for ratification.This was stated by Margaret Reade Rounds, Programme Analyst, ILO country office for Pakistan. Delivering a public lecture on “Compliance of ILO Conventions in Pakistan” organised by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) at a local hotel, she said, “The demand has to come from the workers and civil society, which can ask the government to ratify the convention.” The ILO Convention 189 is the first convention which covers the rights of workers of informal economy, he said. The ILO passed the Convention 189 at Geneva 2011 and so far only one country, Uruguay has ratified it.The participants of the lecture, mainly from the trade unions, workers’ associations and civil society organisations complained about non-implementation of the ILO Conventions so far ratified by Pakistan. They also underlined the need for true representation of the workers and employers at the ILO committees and forums.They also underlined the need for ratification of the ILO convention addressing rights of agriculture workers and fishermen.Margarete spoke on the working mechanism of ILO and role of Pakistan office in assisting the government to implement the conventions. She informed that Pakistan has so far ratified total 34 ILO Conventions out of the total 189 Conventions. “Pakistan is one of the few countries in the region, which has ratified all the eight ILO Contentions which cover core labour rights,” she added.After the 18th Amendment to the Constitution now the core responsibilities for implementation of the labour related issues are assigned to the four provincial governments. Other regions and Islamabad Capital Territory, however, remain the responsibility of the federal government’s Ministry of Human Resource Development. The ILO now focus on both federal and provincial governments and employers and workers’ organisations, she added.The ILO is mandated to provide technical assistance and support delivery. “When people ask me, I said to them that the ILO Pakistan office is not mandated to deliver.” Some demonstration programmes address the ultimate beneficiaries directly but support is aimed at enabling the environment and the capacity of Pakistan and Pakistanis to apply International Labour Standards through policies, legislation and programmes.Explaining the functioning of the ILO, she said it is working under tripartite constituency, means equal rights to government, employer and employees. She said the ILO uses various means of action to support its “constituents” to directly impact or indirectly influence the application of international labour standards. Earlier, in his opening remarks, Executive Director of PILER Karamat Ali said true representation of employers and employees at the ILO was essential for effectively implementation of the ILO Conventions.Noted economist Dr Kaiser Bengali, Ehsanullah Khan of Workers-Employees Bilateral Council of Pakistan, Majyd Aziz from Employers Federation of Pakistan, Dr Aly Ercelan, Saeed Baloch of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, trade union leaders Habibuddin Junaidi, Lateef Mughal, Noor Muhammad, Iqbal Detho also attended the lecture.