GENEVA (ILO News) - "The resources exist within the world economy and society to achieve the objective of the eradication of poverty, globally", the President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, told delegates at a special sitting of the International Labour Conference today. ( click here for his speech)
"The question we must all answer is why we are not using these resources to achieve this goal that is of central importance to the poor and unemployed, but also to those of us present here, who represent the tripartite constituency of the ILO", he said.
Citing the case of the European Union which has engaged "in a deliberate process of resource transfers to ensure the even and balanced development of all communities within the Union", the South African President said that "there are certain challenges of poverty and underdevelopment that can only be addressed through a conscious process of resource transfers from the rich to the poor, globally".
He added that in the process of globalization "this decision can no longer be taken solely at the national level. The war against poverty calls for global action".
Referring to the European Structural Funds, Mr. Mbeki compared the 16.6 billion Euros allocated by the EU to a "developed and prosperous country", the United Kingdom, with the US$14.5 billion sub-Saharan Africa was transferring annually to the rich countries of the North, including the European Union, to service its debt.
Referring to the Decent Work Agenda of the ILO, Mr. Mbeki presented himself as "employed" holding a job that "qualifies for the description of decent work". Citing passages from the Conference report of the ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, on "Working out of Poverty", Mr. Mbeki said. "In the last decade, as globalization brought faster growth and better living conditions to some parts of the world, the majority of poor countries have become increasingly marginalized, sinking more and more into poverty".
"The International Labour Conference and the ILO occupy an important place among the global forces that have to join, and are part of, the war on poverty", he said, adding that he welcomed having the Organization "as comrades-in-arms in the struggle to eradicate poverty in our country, in the rest of Africa and throughout the world".
In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Somavia hailed the South African as "a man of vision and courage" and said the ILO would "stand with you - to eradicate the scourge of poverty, to promote decent work, to build lasting peace and reconciliation, to reawaken an African renaissance. We pledge to keep walking with you on the journey for social justice".
The South African President, who quoted in his address citations from the "Biblical Gospel according to St. Matthew" stated "I presume therefore that, other things being equal, profit maximization remains an immanent feature of the capitalist economy".
"If all these assumptions are correct, the question must necessarily arise as to whether the much larger problems confronting Africa and the rest of the developing world can be solved through a preponderant dependance on those who, objectively, have no choice but to pursue the goal of gaining maximum profit from their economic activities", Mr. Mbeki said.
"We must remember that even those cast into the other darkness, among whom there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, are also capable of speaking", Mr. Mbeki said. "And when they do speak in the end, on all continents, including where we are meeting, they will proclaim - we are the hope of the world, free at last of the curse of the money merchant!"