GENEVA (ILO News) – The Government of the Federal Republic of Brazil and the International Labour Office have signed a new Partnership Complementary Agreement on South-South cooperation, inspired by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s commitment to the support of Latin America and Caribbean, African and Asian developing countries’ in their promotion of Decent Work and Social Justice through peer horizontal cooperation and a spirit of solidarity between nations. The agreement was signed in the presence of the ILO Director-General of the ILO and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim.
Through a triangular mechanism (ILO – Government of Brazil – Partner Developing Countries) it will provide support to the achievement of Decent Work outcomes in Latin America and African countries. It also represents a complementary adjustment to the 1987 Cooperation Agreement between Brazil and the International Labour Office on Technical Cooperation with other Latin American, Caribbean and African countries.
In line with the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, Brazil reiterated its commitment to promote South-South cooperation as a means to contributing to enhance the capacities of member States to duly comply with the international labour standards.
As part of the Decent Work Agenda for the Latin America Hemisphere and following the recent development initiated by the Accra and Doha Conferences on Aid Effectiveness of engaging in greater ownership and national led processes, the Brazilian initiative expects to contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and a 20 percent increase in the extension of social protection.
The Director of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) of Brazil, Marco Farani, mentioned the importance of South-South cooperation for Brazil, focusing on the Decent Work Agenda, but in particular on the Fundamental Principles in Rights at Work and Social Protection.
The Complementary agreement includes some features such as sharing of technical cooperation between developing countries on the field of Decent Work promotion, through inter-institutional agreements, such as the programmes led by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affair and the Minister of Social Security, with their counterparts in other Latin American and African countries. These activities will be done in close cooperation with workers and employers organisations.
The agreement reinforces the open platform for discussion between Brazil and other Latin American and African countries in the framework of some regional and sub-regional groupings and fora, including the Andean Community, Community on Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa). It foster the exchange of experiences and good practices in combating poverty among developing countries, including conditional cash transfer systems, programmes combating child labour, the promotion of social protection through social security schemes for the promotion of youth employment and decent work for women and men.
For more information, please contact the Department of Partnership and Development Cooperation, Secretariat +4122/799-7309, Fax: +4122/799-6872. pardev@ilo.org
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