Invited to the seminar "Decent Work, Vocational Training and Peace in the Horn of Africa" organized in Bologna on 14 March 2023 by Nexus ER and CGIL, the representatives of FESTU (Omar Faruk Osman, Secretary General and Sumeya Osman Abdi, Head of Kind of FESTU) reflected together with the participants on the good practices of social dialogue and work inclusion in Somalia and Women, work and peace in the Horn of Africa.
The following day, FESTU representatives participated in the session dedicated to foreign delegations of the XIX National Congress of the CGIL in Rimini, introducing the “INFORMA.L. – To educate, to regulate, to train, to work. From informal to formal for inclusive growth, peace and social dialogue in Somalia”.
The interventions of the two FESTU representatives also focused on the gender pay gap and the importance of women's empowerment and campaigns that tackle inequalities, discrimination, misogyny and gender-based violence.
Sumeya Osman Abdi said that: “Working women are devalued and excluded from economic and social equality. Gender issues need to be discussed at all levels and in all contexts. To address the obstacles preventing the elimination of gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, FESTU and its member federations are fighting for the effective implementation of ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work, which Somalia ratified in 2021, the first country in East Africa and the Horn of Africa to ratify this convention. We need to continue the process of dismantling the barriers between gender, gender identity and class. Our position is very clear: FESTU needs women if it is to increase the membership, power and influence of organized labor across the country, in order to improve the working and living conditions of Somali workers and to bring necessary and progressive political changes for the good and Peace of Somalia. Rights, work and collective bargaining are the contemporary challenges in Somalia and in the Horn of Africa to be faced with actions in support of vocational training courses, work inclusion and social dialogue also for a trade union agenda of peace based on decent work and implemented through international cooperation."
