Welcome to the ILO Country Office for Sri Lanka and the Maldives

The strong cooperation between Sri Lanka and the ILO dates back to Sri Lanka’s admission to the ILO in 1948. We deliver our technical and financial assistance to Sri Lanka through a Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP), developed in full consultation with our tripartite partners; the Employer’s Federation of Ceylon (EFC), the Trade Unions and the Government (Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations as our focal point).

Decent work is captured in four strategic objectives: fundamental principles and rights at work and international labour standards; employment and income opportunities; social protection and social security; and social dialogue and tripartism. These objectives hold for all workers, women and men, in both formal and informal economies; in wage employment or working on their own account; in the fields, factories and offices; in their home or in the community.

The ILO also believes that decent work is central to efforts to reduce poverty, and is a means for achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development in Sri Lanka.

The Republic of Maldives joined the ILO in 2009 as the 183rd member state. An archipelago consisting of about 1,200 small low-lying islands, Maldives numbers a population of about 300,000 and 80,000 migrant workers with tourism and fishing acting as major generators of income and employment.

Projects in the Maldives are coordinated by the office in Colombo and presently focused on the development of labour market institutions, social dialogue, tripartism and ratification of ILO’s core labour conventions.