2008-12-12 13:04:10

ILO Director Addresses Human Rights Conference


Excerpts from Remarks of ILO Director General Juan Somavia
60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
10 December 2008




“Speaking from my own perspective and also as the head of the organization I am honoured to lead, I want to highlight the role of decent work in this quest for dignity, which is the foundation of the ILO Constitution when it says that labour is not a commodity.

These three sources of inspiration to make our societies better acquire particular significance in these times of crisis.

We are marking this 60th anniversary in the face of the biggest economic and social crisis since the Great Depression. “

….

“The financial crisis preceded by the rise of food costs has become a crisis of the real economy but, above all, it is a jobs crisis.

That’s the focus of people’s preoccupations.

Understandably, social tensions are brewing and they will expand.

People are asking: Why do billions suddenly appear to save the financial economy and so little has been available to confront the problems of poverty, unemployment, lack of access to basic social protection?

What has happened to a minimum sense of social justice? Of basic fairness in the rules of the game?

Looking at the Universal Declaration, the Social Doctrine of the Church, and the ILO constitution—do we have an answer to the disquiet in people’s hearts?

Coming Together around Decent Work

At the ILO, we have synthesized the inspirational values and vision of these instruments—and the hopes and aspirations of the human person for a meaningful life-- into the concept of Decent Work.”

….

“Decent Work recognizes that you cannot have stable societies based on social inequality, as there can be no social development based on unstable economies.

To realize Decent Work, you must activate four interrelated and mutually supportive objectives:


Each society must organize around its own priorities to get there.
In many ways, the quality of work available defines the moral quality of a society.
Understood in this way, the concept of decent work also includes the properly spiritual dimension of work.”
….

“Six years ago, the Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization established by the ILO described the direction of the global economy as morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable.

The financial crisis has certainly made this evident.

I remember in the 90s some referred to international financial rules as fostering a global casino—or the sobering comment of Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno when he warned us of the “imperialism of money.”

I think that it is essential that we counter a certain feeling of powerlessness we sometimes hear. People saying “there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it. These are powerful forces that are moving on their own”.

Well, they are not.

These are the results of conscious policies put in place in the late 70s—and these policies can be changed and must be changed.

The way to fix it is not by rolling back the opening of markets and stifling the potential gains from increased international trade and investment, but by finding balanced solutions with a strong eye on what happens to people, families and communities.

The positive message is that this can be done. We can have open economies and open societies that foster respect for economic, social and cultural rights.

To do so, it is imperative that we establish balance.

First, overall balance between the public policy and the regulatory function of the state

Instead, we have overvalued markets, undervalued the state and devalued the dignity of work.

Second, balance between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of life—a sustainable development approach.

Third, balance between the financial economy and the real economy.

The financial system must go back to its core business—lending for productive investment, facilitating trade and underwriting reasonable consumption needs.

And fourth, balance between capital and labour. The share of labour relative to capital in GDP has been declining over the past two decades.”



“Sometimes it seems as though things aren’t getting better—that we are forced to fight the same battles over and over again.

Let us never forget all that has been accomplished to strengthen us to do what still needs to be done. There has been progress. Slow, difficult, insufficient. But in many ways we have advanced in the last 60 years.

And yet, do we have the policy instruments and the institutions for a global response to a global crisis?

I will be frank. We have a multilateral system that is underperforming. It is not delivering the type of policy coherence we need today.

There is a profound need in different institutions for a new form of global governance that moves from an international community of government which has created parallel centres of decision making and sometimes contradictory decisions -- to a global community of multiple actors including, but going beyond governments.

In many ways, it will mirror the transition that is already underway in many countries from purely representative democracies to a much richer process of participatory democracies.

Again, it can be done. The make-up of the ILO which includes government, but also representatives of workers and employers organizations—the actors of the real economy--shows it is possible.

And here today, as a response to the crisis, I encourage governments to urgently agree on a major policy coherence initiative bringing together the international organizations dealing with finance, trade, development, and labour issues to jointly reinforce policies and programmes for job creation, social protection, targeted safety nets, and other relevant issues.

Also on this solemn occasion, I call on the leaders of the G20 to address the social implications of the financial crisis.

We need to keep reaching out because social movements are an essential part of the dynamic of change.”








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