By Bimbola Oyesola
Public dialogues with the five nominated candidates for the post of ILO director-general were held last Thursday and Friday, January 20-21, 2022.
The live-streamed dialogues included a brief presentation by each of the candidates, followed by questions and answers with the ILO tripartite constituents.
The dialogues with the five candidates were broadcast live via the ILO website in seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Recordings will be placed on the website at the end of the final session.
Each dialogue consisted of a brief presentation by the candidate of their vision, followed by 16 questions from the ILO’s constituents. The Employers’ and Workers’ groups, which each ask four questions, and the Government group, eight.
The dialogues conducted by the chairperson of the ILO’s Governing Body, H.E. Anna Jardfelt, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations Office at Geneva, had the five candidates for the post, in order of their presentations, Gilbert Houngbo of Togo, Kang Kyung-wha of the Republic of Korea, Mthunzi Mdwaba of South Africa, Greg Vines of Australia and Muriel Pénicaud of France.
The first three presentations took place between 12:00 and 16:20 on Thursday and the final two between 12:30 and 15:20 on Friday.
The broadcast and additional information related to the dialogues, including the candidates’ vision and CVs, were available on the ILO website: Public dialogues with candidates for the position of ILO DG.
Following the dialogues, the next stage in the election process will be candidate hearings conducted in private by the ILO’s Governing Body at the start of its March 2022 Session on March 14, 2022. The election ballot will take place on March 25 and the result made public. The new DG’s term will begin on October 1, 2022.
The current DG, Guy Ryder, from the United Kingdom, has held the office since 2012.
