prominent place in the Conference’s plan of action,
and that the LDCs should not underestimate the issues of equal remuneration and
equitable wages. Also high on the
agenda were training programmes and the issue of child labour.
Charles Josselin, Minister of Development Cooperation of France,
and a co-Chair, said today’s meeting
was characterized by the acute necessity of making essential investments in
human resources. The role of the State
needed to be reinstated in that respect, as did social dialogue, to ensure that
major socio-economic choices could be sustained in the long term. The role of the State must go beyond the
political. The industrial countries
must also start to think beyond market shares and shortfalls.
Also co-chairing this afternoon’s
session was Girma Birru, Minister of Economic Development and
Cooperation, Ethiopia .
François Trémeaud, Executive Director, International Labour Office,
presented an issue paper by his organization, while other keynote speakers were
Zéphirin Diabré, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), and Youssoufa Wade, President of Employers National Council of Senegal.
The Conference will meet again tomorrow at
9:30 a.m. to hold an interactive thematic session on “Infrastructure
Development”.
Thematic Session
Issues Paper
A paper issued today for the session by
the International Labour Office (ILO), entitled Decent Work for Poverty
Reduction: An Agenda for Development in
the Least Developing Countries, views employment creation as key to the
reduction of poverty and states that the primary goal of the Office is the
promotion of opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive
work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. That “decent work” agenda was endorsed by
the United Nations General Assembly when it conducted a five-year review of the
World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995).
Decent work provides an integrated perspective
to employment-intensive growth as the most effective way of making a
significant impact on poverty reduction, the paper states. At work, it allows safety and health, social
protection and fundamental rights.
“Poverty is about income, but it is also about rights and capabilities”,
it states. Tackling poverty requires a
coherent approach shared by least developed countries (LDCs), the multilateral
system and the donor community. The
failure of many development efforts must be assessed in terms of the failure to
adopt such an integrated approach to the problems of people in poverty.
In separate chapters, the paper goes on to
describe the nature of the poverty problem in the LDCs, some of their special
employment characteristics, the role of decent work for poverty reduction,
successes and failures in poverty reduction, employment policies for poverty
reduction and, finally, “The Role of the ILO:
Decent work as a Development Agenda”.
An accompanying paper, entitled ILO
Deliverables, has also been circulated. It describes proposals for action
in the categories of human resources development and employment, social
protection, social dialogue and vulnerable groups. The first category, for example, contains a national job creation
programme for selected LDCs, and programme for local economic development and
international trade development in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau,
Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe.
Under the second category, among others, is a micro-health insurance
programme for some 30 LDCs in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Opening
Statements
CHARLES JOSSELIN, Minister of Development Cooperation of France,
said that according to
a sixteenth century French saying, “the only wealth was man”. In that light, the current session on human
resource development was fitting. The
main element that allowed hope to be sustained in the world was human
beings. Therefore, investments in basic
education or health care could not be postponed, since there was no second
chance.
He said the consequences of the
tragic lack of investment in human capital in the 1980S and 1990s would be felt
well into the current century and evidenced in stunted growth, deterioration
and loss -- common features of LDCs. Investment
in humans was long term and arduous. It
went beyond the financial potential of LDCs and demanded a sustained
effort. It was a thankless but noble
task that would benefit society, even though the resources to address it were
scant and even though there seemed to be more obviously urgent needs. There were always many questions raised on
that type of investment, simply because the benefits were not immediate or
apparent. Teacher training, for
example, was expensive and one area of public spending where cuts came first
and frequently.
He said that only official
development assistance (ODA) over the long term would help investment in human
capital. Was there anything new today
that might bring about greater public support and opinion change, when so many
had turned their backs on the issue? he asked.
Today’s meeting was characterized by the acute necessity of making
essential investments in human resources.
There was need for reassertion of the role of the State in that respect,
and of reinstating social dialogue to ensure that major socio-economic choices
could be sustained in the long term.
The role of the State, he asserted, must go beyond the political.
Success was possible if the industrial countries started to think beyond the
acquisition of market shares and shortfalls.
GIRMA BIRRU, Minister of Economic
Development and Cooperation of Ethiopia, said that consistent with
various global initiatives in the
1990s, the Conference was expressing solidarity with poor people
worldwide. Poverty, as the World Bank
had put it in its 2000 report, was a pronounced deprivation in well-being. The ultimate goal of poverty eradication was
to allow people to live long, healthy and creative lives.
Human resources development and employment
stood as the most powerful instrument for sustained growth and development, he
continued. It was becoming a widely
recognized conventional wisdom that successes in the globalization process
depended on the ability to build a knowledge-based economy. Despite the rhetoric that globalization
provided an opportunity to raise income through increased specialization and
trade, the income gap between the poor and the rich was widening. Any anti-poverty strategy should take into
account the characteristics of the LDCs and reverse the sluggish growth of
their economies, improving their human resources. Growth should be employment-intensive.
Many in the LDCs were employed in
agriculture and in the informal economy, he said. The employment strategy should aim at improving the productivity
and creating a decent work atmosphere.
The first priority should be the expansion of employment itself. Skill development must be viewed as a
dynamic process that required continuous updating of the investment. The potential assets of the LDCs’ women, men
and children, as both agents and beneficiaries of development, must be fully
realized. To that end, the LDCs and
their development partners should work together for the realization of various
human resources development and employment goals, and leading international
institutions, including the ILO, should augment the LDCs’ effort in harmonizing
poverty-reduction strategies and human development and employment programmes.
RUBENS RICUPERO, Secretary-General
of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said the
session should be interactive, leading to practical solutions, not repetitions
of general policy. “We need something
tangible and concrete to present to audiences and LDCs”, he said. One example of that was the ILO deliverable
-- minimum pay for school attendance.
Developed by Brazil, that gets children who were breadwinners to go back
to school instead, while paying the families a minimum salary as an incentive
to keep them in school.
Mr. Josselin said the ILO had developed important concepts
such as the need to promote decent work.
The whole concept was to look at work holistically -- through the lens
of employment, quality, satisfaction, and working time. Decent employment would assume that workers
would also have a say in the conditions in which they worked.
FRANÇOIS TREMEAUD, Executive Director of
the ILO, presenting the ILO issues paper, said that human resources and
employment were the key issues of concern to his organization, and human
resources were the main capital available to the LDCs. In reality, however, with the problems of
poverty, they were often a handicap. In
that respect, it was necessary to ask how to reduce the handicap.
The LDCs were
experiencing rapid population growth, and families had to support a large
number of children, he continued. As a
result, there were problems of child labour, disease and poverty. The majority of the population was occupied
in low-salaried work under terrible conditions, working up to 18 hours a day
just to feed their families. To cut poverty
by half by 2015, an enormous growth of revenues would be required. To improve the situation, a number of
measures were needed. First the legal,
economic and social situation must be improved. Respect for fundamental human rights, social protection and
social dialogue were also needed. It
was also important to ensure peace, good governance, access to markets and
elimination of debt.
For its part, the ILO could provide assistance to governments in
developing economic policies to encourage employment, he said. Among the measures that could be taken
here: providing access to land;
improving infrastructure; education; and giving preference to intensive work
methods. The experience in Cambodia,
for example, showed positive results with creation of infrastructure, maximized
use of local labour and people’s involvement in decision-making. The LDCs deserved financing, for they had
high capabilities and a great potential.
The ILO “decent work as a development agenda” includes measures to
strengthen national capacity, design decent work strategies, harness migration
as a force for poverty reduction, and create partnerships for social progress.
Keynote
Speakers
ZÉPHIRIN
DIABRÉ, Associate
Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the challenges
of overcoming human poverty through decent work and economic growth were
formidable in the LDCs. The issues
paper had presented an impressive list of strategies and recommendations. First, the phenomena of jobless growth or
growthless jobs must be avoided, as neither of them contributed to poverty
reduction. A high growth rate did not
automatically translate into higher employment -- resulting in jobless
growth. Similarly, jobs were often
created only for the sake of employment.
That was a scenario of growthless jobs, but without any potential for
generating or sustaining economic growth.
Thus, both the nature of growth and the characteristics of employment
needed to be carefully examined.
A growth process that benefited poor people must be pursued, he
continued. “Pro-poor” growth would
require greater access by poor people to basic public social services. Also, employment generation and poverty
reduction were too large a risk to be left to one development actor. They required an alliance among major
actors, the government, the private sector, civil society and international
development partners. In addition, the
diversities among the LDCs must be recognized and taken into account in policy formulation,
institution-building and their implementation.
MAMOUNATA CISSÉ, Assistant
Secretary-General, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU),
said that the economy should be geared towards the well-being of people, and
not vice-versa. The World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment programmes were all to
often a threat to social protection, and the people’s wishes were not
respected. Communities and workers were
impotent and unable to understand the situation. With the liberalization of the world market, governments did not
hesitate to put basic labour rights in question. Working conditions in factories were more like cattle pens, in
some cases, and workers in many countries were unable to organize.
While in favour of job creation, she opposed the policies
adopted in many countries. Implementing
sustainable development objectives depended on the respect of ILO health and
safety standards for worker protection, she said. Experiments in the field had demonstrated it was possible to
create work without jeopardizing workers’ rights. Presenting the example of Burkina Faso, she said that in the
1990s projects for job creation had been introduced in that country. The idea was to create jobs for women and
young people in the informal economy. Several
cooperatives had been set up, including those in embroidery and making
bread. A support fund provided loans to
members under favourable conditions.
Returning to general labour problems, she said that the role of
workers and their trade unions was decisive in establishing decent working
conditions. The establishment of
micro-projects for insurance and health should be encouraged. Consultation with the World Bank and the
IMF was also required in order to avoid the negative consequences of restructuring
programmes. However, creation of jobs
at any cost could not be supported.
YOUSSOUFA WADE, President,
Employers’ National Council of Senegal, said educational training in the LDCs
was a decisive factor for development and fighting poverty. That was why many developing countries
devoted many of their scant resources to education. The
scant nature of resources was further enforced by the brain drain to the
North. Today’s world, characterized by
globalization and rapid technological changes, meant that LDCs had to draw up
better strategies to make sure that they were integrated into the international
arena.
What could firms and employers do to
counter the scourge of unemployment, underemployment and poverty? he
asked. It was imperative for all to
ensure that everyone had access to decent work with dignity and acceptable
remuneration. Unemployment would not be
resolved by either reducing production, which was the core of the economy, or
hampering investment. Employment and
investment dovetailed and complemented each other. The task today should involve action to adopt a framework to
reconcile the changes in the world, job creation and better lives. In addition, it should be noted that
training was not only a tool for generating skills and crafts, but also for
building businesses.
Announcement of ‘Deliverables’
S. RADMAN, ILO, stressed the need to avoid
providing recipes for the poor that did nothing for them. What had emerged this afternoon, he said,
was the agreement that within the LDCs there were low per capita growth rates,
low levels of skills endowment, low competitiveness in international markets
and weak institutions.
In light of that, he said the ILO had come
up with eight deliverables, divided into four categories. The first deliverable, which addressed human
resources development and employment, aimed to provide a methodology for job
creation for the poor. The second
deliverable was directed at the Portuguese-speaking countries, to be executed
jointly by the ILO and UNCTAD, and proposed to contribute to poverty
alleviation and economic development through a combination of local economic
development and training for international trade.
He said that under social protection there
were three deliverables. The first
would support micro-health insurance.
The second would provide re-insurance for community-funded health
insurance schemes. The third would
provide minimum income for school attendance, as mentioned by Mr. Ricupero in
his opening remarks. Under social
dialogue, the overall goal would be to ensure that employment and the Decent
Work Agenda were integrated into the national poverty-reduction strategies of
participating countries.
Turning to vulnerable groups, he said
there were two final deliverables. The
first addressed the eradication of child labour (under ILO Convention 182) in a
gradual way, starting with the most hazardous types of child labour. The second addressed victims of HIV/AIDS. It would target the work place and try to
introduce a methodology there that both prevented infection and discrimination
against those who were suffering from the disease. A code of conduct would be applied to support those efforts.
Interactive
Dialogue
“Employment is the crux of social
cohesion”, a speaker said, reading from a brochure. Were countries poor because they were unstable, or were they
unstable because they were poor? That
was a question for sociologists to ponder.
His country was trying to overcome poverty, conflict and
underdevelopment, and it required assistance in stabilizing the situation and
improving working and living conditions.
Another speaker pointed out that
large-scale migration meant that LDCs were losing their human capacities. Africa had lost to developed countries up to
one third of its managers between 1960 and 1987. Migrants were a potential source of development, however. If regulated, migration could help the LDCs
take advantage of people’s skills and knowledge. It could also help to fill labour market gaps.
It was pointed out that strengthening
training capacities in the LDCs was a priority for several international
organizations, and relevant programmes were being implemented in many
areas. Least developed countries were
ready to commit to an international partnership. A speaker suggested that the most effective way would be for
international agencies to help LDCs create jobs in an integrated manner, for
example, by implementing various ILO programmes in the same country
simultaneously -- “in a single package”.
Poverty was a global phenomenon, a speaker
said, and strict measures were needed to eradicate it. By providing jobs, countries could reduce
poverty; and by reducing poverty, they could reduce unemployment. The fundamental labour standards and
freedoms should be respected in such a process. Least developed countries needed support to increase
productivity, while ensuring access to education and health services.
Also, support was expressed for the ILO
employment generation programme and the deliverables introduced today. Several countries shared their national
experiences and expressed their particular concerns. Speakers supported education programmes to reduce child labour
and allow children to go to school by providing minimal income to families, as
had been done in Brazil.
Employment should have a more prominent
place in the Conference’s plan of action, a speaker said. Measures should be taken to guarantee decent
jobs for all. The LDCs should not
underestimate the issues of equal remuneration and equitable wages. Programmes for LDCs needed to respect social
culture, they needed to be authentic, and they should involve participation
from all levels of society. The role of
the State was also underscored in creating jobs, promoting social dialogue and
ensuring that social rights were extended to the workers.
A common theme was the need to enhance
production capacity and create jobs, a delegate observed, adding that
industrial relations needed to be fostered to achieve those goals. For better results, it was important to
share best practices and experiences, and the ILO had a major role in that
respect. Also highlighted in the
discussion were the issues of: workers’
health; work accidents; small-scale health insurance schemes; the effective use
of mining and agricultural capabilities to create jobs; the role of trade
unions; the problems of rural population; and the role of local banks in
providing credit.
In his closing remarks, Mr. BIRRU said
that many speakers had transmitted powerful messages, which, he hoped, would be
incorporated in the outcome document.
Also in closing, Mr. JOSSELIN said that,
apart from panellists, 27 speakers had participated in the debate. A few points should be targeted, including
training in commercial and social negotiations. A global vision was needed when talking about employment. The deliverables suggested by the ILO had
found support from many speakers, and it would be important to put them into
practice. Also, at the root of concern
was the question of child labour. Human
rights and development went hand in hand.
*****
