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South Africa Signs World Mining Safety Norms

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15 July, 2005ICEM News Release No. 70/1999

South Africa has signed up to a key international mining safety standard.

The country's Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana announced the good news in a fax received today by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

ILO Convention 176 on safety and health in mines has now been ratified by the South African parliament, Mdladlana told the ICEM. Parliament also approved the accompanying Recommendation 183.

On 4 November, the ICEM asked South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to promote South African ratification of Convention 176. President Mbeki, who was the guest speaker at the ICEM World Congress in Durban, promised to raise the matter at the next meeting of the South African cabinet.

Approved by the world's government, trade union and employer representatives within the ILO, Convention 176 sets out international standards for ensuring health and safety in mines. The ICEM played a major role in its drafting and adoption.

The Convention came into force in 1995 and had already been ratified by 12 countries. Ratification by South Africa, one of the world's biggest mining nations, will send an important signal to mining countries worldwide.

ILO Conventions are ratifiable by states and binding upon them. The related ILO Recommendations set out further detail on implementation of the Conventions.

"We wish to thank you for raising this issue with us," Labour Minister Mdladlana wrote to the ICEM, "and to assure you that we indeed take the matter of health and safety of all workers, including those in mines, very seriously."