NEW YORK (ILO News) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, noting that too many people - particularly in developing countries - feel excluded and threatened by globalization, called on world leaders Monday to summon the political will to better manage the economic and social effects of globalization.
Annan led more than a dozen Heads of State and Governments who welcomed the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, which calls for a more effective multilateral system that creates a legitimate and coherent framework for managing globalization.
They spoke before a packed UN chamber at a special event on "A Fair Globalization: Implementing the Millennium Declaration" - hosted by the World Commission Co-Chairs, Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia acted as moderator.
Annan recalled "in the Millennium Declaration, world leaders pledged to work to make globalization a positive force for all the world's peoples. I have no doubt that, in next year's review of the Millennium declaration, it will be clear that we have a long way to go to meet that goal."
Annan said that the Commission's report had shown that "globalization's benefits have been unevenly distributed, with many of its burdens falling hardest on those who can least protect themselves."
"Too many people, particularly in developing countries, feel excluded and threatened by globalization," he said. "They feel that they are the servants of markets, when it should be the other way around."
Annan said "we should not forget that, in a range of areas - including trade, financing for development and debt relief - solemn promises have been made. We should not await institutional reform before summoning the political will to keep those promises."
He added that "as the report rightly stresses, employment creation, the protection of fundamental rights at work, strengthening social protection and broadening social dialogue are keys to a globalization that promotes not just economic reform, but social progress."
French President Jacques Chirac said that in countries such as China, India and Brazil and in many other nations, globalization "had improved the lives of hundreds of millions of men and women with the liberalization of production and trade and the opening up to investment".
"Yet how can globalization be justified to workers whose jobs have been relocated?" Chirac asked. "Where is the hope for the millions of men, women and children who eke out their existence in extreme poverty or in disgraceful working conditions?"
Chirac declared "there is no wealth without initiative and freedom; but neither should we forget that the price of selfishness is rebellion. Before it is too late, let us find the new balances between capital and labor, between individual and collective interest, between liberty and rules."
Chirac supported the presentation of the World Commission's recommendations on globalization to the United Nations, international financial institutions and the World Trade Organization in connection with the necessary reforms of these organizations and the 2005 meeting on implementing the Millennium Development Goals.
"Over and above the multilateral system, we need to give a boost to social dialogue, to promote the social ethics of globalization…there is no future in globalization that tolerates predatory behaviour and the hoarding of its profits by a minority," Chirac said. "There is no future in globalization that destroys the social and environmental balances, crushes the weak and denies human rights. It is up to us to refuse these drifts and to give globalization a conscience and social ethics, to give it its full legitimacy and meaning at the service of humankind."
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the World Commission's report comes at a good time because "how many more times will it be necessary to repeat that the most destructive weapon of mass destruction in the world today is poverty?"
"We know that market forces do stimulate production and the efficient allocation of resources," he said. "But market forces alone are not able to ensure by themselves the end of inequality and injustice; in some cases they can even aggravate them. That is the reason why the engagement of world leaders committed to social progress is necessary."
"We must harness globalization and turn it into a positive force for all peoples of the world," he added and stressed that "another globalization - one that is both socially fair and politically sustainable - must begin with the right of all to employment, to a job that dignifies the worker. Access to decent work is at the centre of the first and foremost of the Millennium Goals: the reduction of poverty and hunger."
In his address, President Mkapa of Tanzania listed three things that were necessary for globalization to be properly harnessed and provide the impetus for achieving the millennium development goals. Much more needs to be done by governments, in both rich and poor countries; the entrepreneurship and energy of the private sector, including in poor countries, must be harnessed to the cause of broader prosperity, poverty reduction and the realization of the MDG's; and, the democratic deficit in the governance of globalization must be deliberately and seriously addressed.
"The deep-seated and persistent imbalances in the current workings of the global economy are ethically unacceptable, politically unsustainable, and are a seedbed of global insecurity," Mkapa said.
He quoted U.S. President John F. Kennedy's warning of 40 years ago that "if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich" and added, "in a globalizing world, if we cannot help the many who are excluded in global prosperity, we cannot save the few who are included".
"The call for a fairer and more inclusive globalization is not about charity, it is about justice; but above all, it is about survival of the rich and the poor, the very survival of the soul of humanity," Mkapa said.
President Halonen of Finland, Co-Chair of the Commission and also of the Millennium Summit, stressed that "in the millennium declaration we challenged ourselves to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world's people… this challenge has been the guiding beacon in the work of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization".
She declared that while "we believe that globalization could and should be a force for a brighter future for all people, unfortunately today's globalization falls far short of this promise and actually is morally wrong and politically unsustainable".
"A fair globalization is not a zero-sum game, but a mutually beneficial process for all its participants," she said. "The burden of change must also be evenly distributed between nations. All the people have the right to work. Decent work for all should be made a global goal and pursued through coherent policies within the multilateral system. Because people will continue to chase after work and send remittances back to their home countries, we also need a multilateral framework for cross-border movement of people."
Gabonese Foreign Minister Jean Ping, current President of the UN General Assembly, foresaw the General Assembly becoming "the crucible where we forge a universal consensus in favour of a more equitable globalization and the realization of the ideal of a world of peace, progress and justice".
"It is, therefore, with particular interest that the General Assembly will examine the World Commission's report, which offers an innovative and direct vision of the fears and aspirations of the majority of the peoples of the world," he said.