GENEVA (ILO News) – His Highness Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, today urged delegates to the International Labour Organization’s annual conference to “work together towards fair globalization” and added, “we must address the four cornerstones of the decent work agenda – creating employment first and foremost – but then also guaranteeing that there are rights associated with that work; that social protection is extended; and that opportunities for dialogue and conflict resolution are available to all”.
“There are few things in life that make as much difference to the human condition as a sense of dignity”, he said. “And it is this quality, and a quest to create more of it, that must drive the ILO.”
At the same time, the Crown Prince also invited Heads of State from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Asia to Bahrain to participate in a proposed interregional social dialogue summit on labour issues, to bring together labour sending and receiving countries to “discuss openly and honestly the real impacts of globalisation on each of our home nations” and “to build the tripartite social dialogue structure within our region”.
He said Bahrain was addressing three core labour issues, namely changing demographics and an increasingly youthful workforce, the issue of Bahrain’s guest workers and the need to “give our young people not just access to education and economic inclusion” but “access to aspiration”.
“By committing today to building a shared platform to increase social dialogue to address these three key issues, we can begin to build workable solutions” that have the support of many stakeholders, including government, the private sector trade unions and non-governmental organizations, the Crown Prince said.
Welcoming the Crown Prince the ILO Director General Juan Somavia described him as an innovator with a modern vision of commitment to change and a belief in dialogue. He noted that Bahrain had been one of the pioneers of Decent Work Country Programmes, beginning with a pilot programme in 2002.
The Crown Prince told delegates “Bahrain may be an island, but our economy is not”. He noted that while Bahrain remains committed to welcoming and protecting guest workers from across the world, there is a growing recognition that more must be done to meet the challenge of national unemployment.
He said Bahrain had created two new public bodies to make the “home grown” workforce more attractive to industry and encourage entrepreneurship. A Labour Fund has been established to increase private sector productivity as well as to develop training programmes, and a Labour Market Regulatory Authority that works with government departments to formulate optimum approaches to the labour market structure.
The Crown Prince also added that with the help of the ILO, unemployment insurance protection has been introduced and education is being aligned with the needs of employers. He said the government is also committed to the freedom of workers to join unions and to encouraging dialogue between workers and employers.
Speaking about the suffering of the Palestinian people, he called for an immediate easing of the economic conditions that have led to unprecedented unemployment levels and for “dialogue that leads to a mutually agreed two state solution… These steps are key to ensuring that hope is allowed to remain and that the light of justice is not extinguished”.
The International Labour Conference is the annual gathering of the ILO. It brings together more than 3,000 delegates, representing governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations from180 Member States. The conference, which is being held in Geneva, closes on Friday 15 June.