This Autumn, major international meetings were held in Oslo, Monrovia and New York to discuss how Decent Work can become a reality worldwide. The meetings represented a joint initiative of the ILO's Policy Integration & Statistics Department and the international NGO “Realising Rights (RR): The Ethical Globalization Initiative”, founded and presided over by Mary Robinson. Support for these meetings was provided by the government of Norway.
The main objective of the series of meetings was to mark Decent Work as a special theme under the Elders’ campaign to reclaim the importance of the commitments and obligations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights during its 60th anniversary this year. They have also helped broaden and consolidate a core of Decent Work ‘supporters’, including political leaders, business representatives, NGOs and other UN agencies.
At the conference “Decent Work: A Key to Social Justice for a Fair Globalization” held in Oslo, Norway, on 5 September, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia warned of a backlash against “unbalanced, unfair and unsustainable” globalization, and stressed that “policy coherence to achieve social justice for a fair globalization requires leadership from unions, from business and from politicians”. He called a sustainable globalization that delivers Decent Work.
A week later at the High-Level Forum on "High-Level Forum on "Working Out of Poverty: A Decent Work Approach to Development and Growth in Africa"" held in Monrovia, participants urged that Decent Work be made "a reality in Africa" and said it was central to poverty reduction and peace-building. UN Resident Coordinator for Liberia Jordan Ryan said in his intervention, “A decent job is the generator of the peace dividend”.
In New York at the High Level-Level Forum on “Working Out of Poverty: A Decent Work Approach to Development and the MDGs” on 22 September, participants addressed the challenges facing the MDGs, and Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Somavia called for an increase in global support for Decent Work programmes and policies as a key step toward achieving them. Mrs. Robinson said “The poor work but they have so many barriers. Poor workers don’t have a system that works for them, they don’t have access to justice, and they don’t have the supports that are needed.”
The message of the three meetings was summed up by Ela Bhatt, Elder and founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India, who told participants at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High Level Event on MDGs, that “a word that is largely absent from the development goals is work. In my experience, the link between poverty and growth is decent work. Decent work means full employment at the household level; it builds the local economy and strengthens a community.”
The upcoming UN Financing for Development Conference (to be held on 29 November – 2 December 2008 in Doha, Qatar) will provide a major opportunity to follow up on these three initiatives and further promote the Decent Work Agenda as a main contributor to a fair and sustainable globalization.