On June 16, 2011, Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers was adopted by the International Labour Conference. Within a year of this historic event, Uruguay became the first country to ratify C189 on June 14, 2012, followed by the Philippines on September 5, and Mauritius on September 13.

The Fijian Government has expelled an ILO delegation that was in Fiji at its invitation to investigate complaints about labour rights abuses. The Fijian government, a military dictatorship, has a longstanding record of rights’ abuses and ruling by decree.

Workers and their 3 unions at the Spanish-based NH Hotels chain have called a national strike for September 21 to contest massive outsourcing and dismissals. NH Hotels chain has some 400 hotels in 26 countries.

Guests at the Hilton Conrad Rangali Islands Resort in Maldives pay 1,000 dollars a night to stay in luxury villas located on two private islands, where they can choose from "seven world class restaurants including 'the world's first all-glass undersea restaurant serving contemporary cuisine". "For the ultimate dining experience" guests can order a private beach dinner with their own chef and waiter. But conditions are less than luxurious for the workers who serve them.

Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has called on the Cameroon Government to ratify ILO Convention 129 on labour inspection in agriculture. De Schutter, who was in Cameroon on an official visit at the invitation of the Government, says in his preliminary recommendations, “ the situation of workers on large plantations deserves special comment”.

The Malawi National Conference on Child Labour in Agriculture brought together some 350 participants from government, enterprises, trade unions, NGOs and civil society groups in Lilongwe on September 4-6, 2012, to develop a framework for combatting child labour in agriculture as part of the government's Child Labour National Action Plan.

This year, the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations (September 21) falls on the eve of the Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (India, October 1-19). The World Rainforest Movement is circulating an open letter to national governments urging them to take a firm stance at the Conference against the devastating expansion of these plantations.

Investors are pleased. The European Central Bank, the power at the center of the world's largest banking cluster, has committed to supporting financially strapped Eurozone governments through unlimited bond purchases. This should, in principle, drive down interest rates and ease borrowing costs. But it comes with a steep price: governments requesting central bank assistance must sign up to further public sector job and spending cuts.