Events in the international community

United Nations General Assembly

58th Session, New York, 2003

Statement by John Langmore, Representative to the United Nations and Director, ILO Office for the United Nations, New York

The ILO is grateful for the opportunity to speak in the discussion of the Secretary-General's report on poverty eradication and the draft programme of action for the International Year of Microcredit.

It is now almost 60 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Philadelphia (1944) which states that “poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere”. Today, there are some 550 million workers who do not earn enough to keep their families above the one-dollar-a-day poverty line and an estimated 1.2 billion living in extreme poverty. Not surprisingly therefore, poverty reduction is at the top of the international development agenda.

Poverty reduction, social inclusion and social justice are central to the ILO's mandate. The world of work is a critical entry point for achieving these objectives.

Progress towards reducing poverty requires integrated policies and action on the four pillars that make up the Decent Work Agenda: (a) employment; (b) respect for fundamental principles and rights at work; (c) social protection, to improve safety and health at the workplace and combat social exclusion; and (d) social dialogue. It was encouraging to hear the speech delivered by Peru on behalf of the Rio Group which included the comment that: “One of the greatest challenges that the Rio Group faces is constant and increasing unemployment, which is the main cause of poverty per income that we confront. Unemployment is the result of low or non-existent economic growth; the current gap with the developed countries in terms of productivity; and the unfavourable international environment because of commercial protectionism and the fall of external financing.”

The ILO's support for employment-intensive investment programmes (EIIPs) is one example of efforts to show that employment is vital for reducing poverty, and that decent work can be promoted in the process. These programmes have had positive results in a number of countries (for example, Cambodia, Philippines and Thailand in the Asia-Pacific region; Guinea, Mozambique and Madagascar in Africa; and Nicaragua in the Americas). They focus on training and capacity-building to promote local private sector development, transparent contracting and payment systems, the development of credit facilities for small and medium-sized enterprises, microfinancing, and capacity building for community-based organizations in the informal economy (e.g. in India, Philippines, South Africa). Practical information on ways of incorporating employment as a criterion for public investment is compiled and disseminated based on experience in different regions. The ILO's fundamental and other standards, labour protection and social dialogue are introduced in all projects. In an evaluation of this approach, DANIDA, one of the major donors to the ILO's employment-intensive investment programmes described this as “... a concrete example of what the Director-General of the ILO actually means by decent work”.

The ILO is committed to reducing poverty, promoting decent work and addressing the social dimension of globalization. “Working out of Poverty” was the theme of the Director General's report to this year's International Labour Conference. The conclusions and recommendations of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization will focus on ways of making globalization inclusive and equitable. The ILO will be working closely with the African Union and other development partners for the Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation to be held in Burkina Faso in 2004. This event, the first of its kind, offers an unprecedented opportunity to work with the African Union in combating poverty and social exclusion in Africa through Decent Work. Perhaps other regional conferences on employment and poverty would also be of value.

9 October 2003