Conference primer: Labour and Social Affairs: 2024 Labour and Social Affairs

Continuously skilling, reskilling and upskilling people of all ages provides immense value to society and helps to overcome social, environmental, and economic disruptions. The Global Skills Forum brings together representatives from around the world to take part in a conversation about how to shape skills development in our ever-changing economies and societies.

Examples of occupational risks exacerbated by climate change include heat stress, UV radiation, air pollution, major industrial accidents, extreme weather events, an increase in vector-borne diseases and increased exposure to chemicals.

The report highlights disparities between high and low-income countries, noting higher unemployment and poverty rates in lower-income nations. It also points out that a significant portion of the global workforce remains in informal employment. Key concerns include worsening income inequality and the impact of inflation on real incomes, especially in G20 countries. The report underscores the need for policy interventions focused on social justice to ensure a fair and sustainable global economic recovery.

including the recognition of occupational safety and health (OSH) as a fundamental principle and right at work (FPRW), dynamic changes in the world of work and supply chains, and the urgent need to address the impact of climate change on the safety and health of workers. The Forum will provide a space to collectively shape the future of OSH in supply chains.

On 26 June 2014, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 26/9, in which it decided "to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, whose mandate shall be to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises."