The 1st BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting in virtual format was held on 11th – 12th May 2021 in Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi. The Meeting was hosted by India, which assumed the BRICS Presidency in 2021.
The meeting was chaired by Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Labour and Employment.
Key People:
Apart from the representatives of BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the representatives of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Agency (ISSA) participated in the meeting.
Discussions of 1st BRICS EWG Meeting:
i.The member of BRICS, ILO and ISSA discussed their initiatives and best practices along with their concerns and challenges.
ii.The agenda of the discussion were promoting Social Security Agreements(SSA) among BRICS Nations, participation of women in the labour force, formalisation of the labour markets, and Gig and platform workers – Role in the labour market.
- Promoting SSA amongst BRICS Nations:
- The member nations have agreed to enter into a dialogue and discussions towards signing the agreements.
- The ISSA and ILO are set to provide technical support for the agreements.
- The member nations have also agreed to come up with a multilateral framework for the same.
Note:
The SSA will support the international workers to send their benefits to their home countries and prevent their loss.
- Formalization of labour markets:
- The efforts toward the formalization of jobs and how COVID-19 has increased the risk of informalization were discussed.
- Participation of women in the labour force:
- The member nations have agreed to promote the participation of women in the labour force and to the extreme the social security cover to the women working in the informal sector.
- Role of Gig and platform workers in the labour market:
- The role of the Digital Labour Platforms toward the transformation of the labour process and the challenges faced by them were discussed.
- The efforts of the member nations like the extension of the social protection system were discussed.
Recent Related News:
Under the chairship of India, the First Meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) was held from 9th March 2021 to 11th March 2021. This is 26th Meeting of BRICS CGETI.
The 2021 theme of the BRICS is “BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus”.
About BRICS:
Members– Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa
Current Chair– India
