madam president the ilo as colleagues have said has been around for a long time since nineteen nineteen ninety years of business and still working on the decent work agenda
it is important that member states as others have said ratify all of the conventions especially at a time of economic crisis when workers are under pressure
but i think it is also important in this debate to acknowledge the role of the ilo in the developing world and its links with non-governmental organisations and the many programmes which it runs particularly targeting the most vulnerable for example working with people with a disability who would never have any opportunity if it were not for these programmes
also two very important areas that we talk about in this house forced labour and child labour
so if we are looking to the ilo to do good work as it does in the developing world i think the very least that member states of the european union could do is to fully ratify the conventions to lead by example
