GENEVA (ILO News) – The ILO Decent Work Agenda can play a pivotal role in assuring human dignity and an African Renaissance, H.E. Mr. John Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) said today in an address to the annual Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
“Let the Decent Work Agenda be the vehicle towards … human dignity”, President Kufuor told more than 3,000 governments, worker and employer delegates from the ILO’s 180 Member States.
“The African renaissance is real. Africa is back and opened for partnership with the international community with the purpose of catching up and launching itself into the mainstream of the globalization process”, added President Kufuor.
In introductory remarks, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said, “We welcome the Chairman of the African Union having won unanimous election to that position and carrying forward the Pan African vision of your countryman Kwame Nkrumah”.
“We are at the forefront of promoting the Decent Work Agenda”, President Kufuor said, recalling that African Heads of State and Government participating in the AU Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Ouagadougou in September 2004, “overwhelmingly” endorsed the Decent Work Agenda.
Ghana has recently passed a law establishing a Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, set up a Decent Work Country Programme and launched a national youth employment programme.
The Chairman of the African Union welcomed the launch of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD, 2001) and the creation of the African Union (2002) described as “Africa’s resolve to engage positively on a win-win basis with the rest of the world”.
He said major political and economic signs of African Renaissance recently included the election of Ms. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Africa’s first female Head of State in Liberia, the highest percentage of elected women parliamentarians in the world for Rwanda, the leadership of former President Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the recent successful elections held in Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the good overall performance shown by African economies for 2006, all good examples and “happy indications of Africa’s awakening”.
Recalling that this is “a time when the whole of Africa is making efforts to transform itself within the context of globalization”, President Kufuor acknowledged that “unfortunately, many nations including most in Africa, lack the resources, infrastructure and the capacity”.
The chairperson of the AU called for “extra support in terms of debt forgiveness, timely implementation of promises of enhanced aid and technical support, especially as pledged by the G8 and the other donor communities”.