Kuwait Pledges $0.5 Million in Continued Annual Support for ILO Activities in the Palestinian Territory

Arabic: العربية

Press release | 22 January 2018

A new grant from Kuwait to the ILO will promote decent work and social justice in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, bringing the total of Kuwait’s contributions to ILO efforts in the Arab States region to US$ 5 million since 2009.

Beirut (ILO News) – Kuwait pledged US$500,000 to support the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT.)

Jamal Al-Ghunaim, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, made the contribution to ILO Director-General Guy Ryder on Friday (January 19) in Geneva.

Director-General Ryder voiced the ILO’s appreciation of Kuwait’s support to the ILO and its consistent contribution to the Organization’s interventions.
“Kuwait has proven itself time and time again to be a firm supporter of the ILO’s work in the Palestinian territory,” Ryder said.

“This is the tenth year in which Kuwait has brought both a good message and material support to the ILO. This is always appreciated, and useful to the ILO’s activities in Palestine,” the ILO Director- General continued.

Ryder noted that, thanks to Kuwait’s previous contributions, the ILO was able to align its support around three priorities within the Palestinian Decent Work programme during 2013-2016, and deliver on employment, social security and labour market governance.

The new funding brings Kuwait’s total contributions to the ILO’s promotion of decent work and social justice in the Arab States region to US$5 million since 2009.

On his part, Ambassador Al-Ghunaim praised ILO’s role and efforts in the Palestinian territory.

“This contribution comes out of a strong commitment of the Government of Kuwait to supporting the Palestinian people, especially in the current difficult circumstances. We are confident that the technical support provided by ILO to the Palestinians effectively contributes to attaining objectives of decent work,” said Jamal Al-Ghunaim.

In particular, the new contributions will enable the ILO to expand its technical support to its Palestinian constituents under the umbrella of a new Decent Work Programme for the period 2018-2022. The programme will prioritize enhancing employment and livelihood opportunities for Palestinian women and men, and strengthening labour governance and realizing fundamental principles and rights at work through freedom of association, strengthened collective bargaining and improved social dialogue mechanisms. It will also prioritize implementing and developing the Palestinian social security system towards extending social protection to all.

The second Decent Work Programme will support the Palestinian National Policy Agenda (NPA) (2017-22): Putting Citizens First. The first such ILO programme in the Palestinian Territory was implemented from 2013-2016.