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The ILO and the Preparatory Process |
The ILO has from the outset been actively involved in the preparations for the Special Session. This involvement has been regularly monitored and guided by the ILO's Governing Body, the organizationīs executive body. The ILO contributed substantive documentation to the Preparatory Committee established by the General Assembly through Resolution 52/25, and has remained in close contact with the secretariat team responsible for the preparations of the Special Session, responding to the various requests and participating in many preparatory activities.(A comprehensive list of ILO documentation related to the preparation, follow-up and review of the World Summit can be found in the recently set up ILO/UN Digital Library (not yet available)). Moreover, it has been the only UN agency to have detached an official on a full-time basis to work as an integrated member of the secretariat team established in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the UN Secretariat. At the Geneva headquarters the Bureau for External Relations and Partnerships,(under construction) under the leadership of its Director, has been entrusted with the central responsibility of coordinating the ILO's participation in the preparatory work.
The ILO and the
Preparatory Committee
At the organizational session of
the Preparatory Committee (New York, 19-22 May 1998) the ILO was invited "to
contribute to the overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the
outcome of the Summit, particularly relating to its activities to implement
the Summit commitment on employment as part of promoting social development"
(A/53/45). Responding to this invitation, the ILO prepared a report entitled
New challenges for employment policy which
was submitted to the Preparatory Committee at its first substantive session
(New York, 17-29 May and 15 July 1999). At this first session the Preparatory
Committee for the Special Session adopted a decision (Decision 1, A/54/45) recalling
the crucial role of the United Nations system and calling for reports and proposals
for further action to be prepared by different organizations on topics related
to the commitments adopted at Copenhagen, to be submitted to the UN Secretariat
in January 2000. Regarding the ILO's contribution, the request referred in particular
to Commitment No.3 (Full employment), but there were also a number of issues
of interest in other commitments, notably Commitment No.1(An enabling environment
for social development), Commitment No. 2 (Eradication of poverty), No.4 (Promotion
of social integration), No.5 (Equality between men and women), No.7 (Acceleration
of development in Africa and in the least developed countries) and No. 8 (Inclusion
of social development goals in structural adjustment programmes).
ILO proposals: Decent Work and Poverty Reduction in the Global Economy
The ILO's response to the Preparatory
Committee's request is embodied in the report entitled Decent
work and poverty reduction in the global economy, submitted by
the Director-General. The basic message of the paper is that the present form
of globalization is facing a crisis of legitimacy because insufficient attention
has been given to its social consequences and its social dimensions. It stresses
the need to improve the distribution of the benefits of globalization and to
reduce inequalities, uncertainties and insecurities in the lives of ordinary
people, focussing on employment promotion, social protection, workers' rights
and social dialogue. Drawing on the discussions and conclusions of the ILO's
International Consultation concerning Follow-up
on the World Summit for Social Development, the report proposes a number
of initiatives to contribute to solving some major problems plaguing the world,
such as poverty, the dearth of decent work, and social disintegration and exclusion.
It thus calls for the Special session to take imaginative and bold initiatives
and puts forward a series of ILO proposed initiatives which emphasize two interrelated
dimensions:
The need for a greater policy coherence
Based on the universal recognition
of the interdependence of economic and social policies, the report proposes
that "The clear message that should emerge from the Special session of the General
Assembly is that the integrated problems of sustainable economic growth
and social development cannot be tackled with sectoral solutions." It stresses
that it is essential to make a conceptual leap from sectoral approaches towards
integrated thinking in order to find viable solutions to interrelated problems.
It is important for this integrated approach to be reflected in policy-making
at the international level (i.e. among multilateral organizations and international
fora responsible for different aspects of economic and social policy) and also
at the national level, among the various government departments and sectors
concerned.
Promoting
decent work in the global economy
The ILO's global programme on Decent
Work is designed to be a strategic means of reducing poverty
and promoting social integration and of giving effect to the more integrated
approach to economic and social policies that is being called for. The report
maintains that "the overall goal of the global economy should be to provide
opportunities for all men and women to obtain decent and productive work in
conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity." Particular emphasis
should also be given to gender
equality and the elimination of discrimination in the world of work.
This goal requires the attainment
of four objectives:
The report thus invites the Special
Session to call on all States and international organizations to support the
ILO's global programme on decent work.
The ILO will be represented at the Special Session by a high-level delegation, headed by the Director-General, accompanied by a tripartite representation of the ILO Governing Body.