On 10 January 2019 SOLIDAR participated in a preparatory meeting in view of the forthcoming EU GSP + monitoring mission which will take place from 21 to 24 January 2019 in Bolivia.  

The Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) + is a special incentive arrangement of the EU for Sustainable Development and Good Governance. GSP+ grants full removal of tariffs on over 66% of EU tariff lines conditionally upon the ratification and implementation by the beneficiary country of the 27 GSP+ relevant international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance.

The preparatory meeting with civil society organisations aimed at gathering information to assess the extent to which Bolivia has fulfilled its obligations under ILO fundamental conventions and other human rights instruments in the last two years.

In the course of the meeting, attended by representatives of the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) and European Commission Directorates of Trade and Employment, SOLIDAR highlighted the following points:

• The positive trend in compliance with the rights enshrined in the ILO Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87);

• Concerns with regards to child labour and forced labour, and thereby the need to promote decent jobs and access to employment without discrimination, and the need to review the minimum wage in consultation with social partners as a means to indirectly avoid rights abuses.

Following the above-mentioned points, SOLIDAR recommended to the European Union to implement and further intensify technical assistance to Bolivia in the field of decent work and enhance the technical capacities of labour inspections.

More information on SOLIDAR Network’s vision for stronger and fairer EU- LAC relations can be found here: https://www.solidar.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/solidar-networks-vision.pdf

*This action is part of SOLIDAR – DEVCO Framework Partnership Agreement “Organising International SOLIDARity: Structuring local to global CSOs engagement on EU development cooperation issues” funded by the EU.