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The new Director-General was elected from among nine candidates by the ILO’s Governing Body on 28 May, and will replace outgoing Director-General Juan Somavia, who retires later this year.

“The ISSA’s history has been closely bound up with that of the ILO for the past 85 years,” said the ISSA Secretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewsky.

“The election of a new Director-General marks a new stage in the life of this eminent international organization and in its essential mission of promoting social justice, decent work and enhancing social protection across the globe,” he stated.

“The ISSA looks forward to continued close partnership with the ILO and with Mr Ryder, and to strengthening our common efforts to promote and develop social security worldwide.”

With responsibility for International Labour Standards and Fundamental  Principles and Rights at Work, Mr Guy Ryder (UK) currently oversees the ILO’s key work in the supervision of the application of ILO Conventions and Recommendations and its activities to promote the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). Ryder previously served as General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The ISSA was founded under the auspices of the ILO in 1927. Since its creation, the ISSA Secretariat has been based at the ILO headquarters, and has worked closely with the ILO in the development of social security.

In March, the ISSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO. The agreement recognizes the complementarities and potential of strengthened coordination of ISSA and ILO capacities, particularly in the extension of social security, and commits the two organizations to closer programmatic and strategic cooperation.

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