The International Labour Organization (ILO) Türkiye Office organized a workshop titled "Elderly Rights and Welfare in Türkiye from Working Life to Retirement" to focus on the rights and welfare of retirees, a significant topic on Türkiye's agenda.
The workshop, organized within the scope of the ILO Türkiye Office's "Strengthening Social Partners and Civil Society Capacities on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Project," began with an opening speech by ILO Türkiye Director Yasser Hassan. Project Coordinator Emre Dönmez provided information about the project and the workshop.
Moderating the workshop, Professor Dr. Şenay Gökbayrak, gave a seminar on global retirement rights and elderly welfare.
Helmut Schwarzer, Head of the Public Finance, Actuarial, and Statistical Services Unit of the ILO Social Protection Department, contributed to the workshop with an online presentation titled "Retirement Models in the World from the ILO Perspective," sharing lessons from the experiences of different countries.
The workshop aimed to identify issues related to elderly welfare in the context of the impact of access to basic labour rights on the retirement period in Türkiye, together with social partners, civil society, and public institutions. The sessions at the workshop discussed increasing access to retirement security, the impact of decent work based on fundamental labour rights on retirement security, sources of income during retirement and their adequacy, the financial sustainability of retirement systems, the management of retirement systems, and social dialogue.
As a result of the workshop, it was emphasized that retirement systems need to be reconsidered with a rights-based, holistic, and participatory approach to enhance elderly welfare. It was also highlighted that social dialogue and freedom of organization are crucial in identifying and solving problems.
ILO Türkiye Office Senior Project Coordinator Emre Dönmez stated, "The workshop provided an important platform for social dialogue, especially in terms of comprehensively discussing the barriers to retirees' access to adequate and fair income. In the next workshop, we will focus on solutions and policy recommendations with a multi-stakeholder approach again. We hope that these efforts to improve social dialogue will contribute to developing more effective policies in the field of elderly welfare and rights."
