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World Commission on the Social Dimension
of Globalization meets
GENEVA - The ILO added a new voice to the public debate on globalization in February, with the launch of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization. The Commission aims to build a consensus on a model of globalization which reduces poverty and insecurity, and increases opportunities for all.
The decision to establish the independent Commission was taken in November 2001 by the Governing Body of the ILO, at a critical moment in the public debate on globalization.
As the Commission's Co-chair, Finland's President Tarja Halonen, told the first meeting of the body in March, "There is neither time nor use to invent the wheel anew. I think our task is to find out, and speak out, on what has to be done in order to make globalization work for people and the environment."
Declared Co-chair, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa,"It is true that globalization did not invent mass unemployment or inequalities, but it is not without reason that in many minds - in rich and poor countries - the word "globalization" conjures up ugly images of job losses on a large scale and of losses of income that threaten people's welfare and accustomed ways of life."
Mandate of the Commission
The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization will prepare an authoritative report which will include an in-depth analysis of the social dimension of globalization and the implications of this analysis on decent work, poverty reduction, and development. A major objective of the Commission is to respond to the need for an integrated policy framework which advances both economic and social goals in the global economy.
The Commission held its second meeting in May, and is expected to submit its final report to the Director-General late in 2003.
There are 21 appointed members of the World Commission, of recognized eminence and authority who reflect the principal views and policy perspectives in globalization debates, as well as the experiences of various regions of the world. Additionally, the Chair and two Vice-Chairs of the ILO Governing Body, as well as the ILO Director-General, serve as ex officio members. All members of the Commission participate in their personal capacity.
The Commission is co-chaired by President Tarja Halonen of Finland and President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania. The other Commission members are: Valentina Matvienka, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia; Eveline Herfkens, Minister for Development Co-operation of the Netherlands; Taizo Nishimuro, President and CEO of the Toshiba Corporation; Giuliano Amato, former Italian Premier; Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics; Julio Maria Sanguinetti, former President of Uruguay; Ruth C.L. Cardosa, first Lady of Brazil and President of that country's Community Solidarity Council; Ann McLaughlin Korologos, Vice-Chair of the Rand Corporation and former US Secretary of Labor; Surin Pitsuwan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; Deepak Nayyar, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi and former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India; Hernando de Soto, author and President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru; John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO; François Perigot, President of the International Organization of Employers, France; Heba Handousa of Egypt, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab countries, Iran, and Turkey; Lu Mai, Secretary-General of the China Development Research Centre; Victoria Tauli-Corpus of the Philippines, Chair-Rapporteur of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations; Aminata D. Traore of Mali, author and Coordinator of the African Social Forum; Ernst Ulrich von Weizaecker, scientist and German parliamentarian, and Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
Workers' Memorial Day ceremony focuses
on emergency workers, firefighters
GENEVA - The millions of workers who die each year from work-related accidents or diseases, or are injured, were remembered at a special ceremony to mark Workers' Memorial Day on 29 April at the ILO, which brought its tripartite strength to a campaign initiated in 1995 by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).
The purpose of Workers' Memorial Day is to call attention to the extent of workplace accidents and illness, and to promote awareness of health and safety issues in general. This year's meeting focused on the dangers faced by a particularly vulnerable category of workers, those in emergency services, including firefighters, ambulance drivers, doctors and nurses, and policemen and policewomen.
Among the special invited guests were two representatives of the New York City Fire Department, Brian Cleary and Keith Ruby, who spoke on behalf of the International Association of Firefighters, AFL-CIO, about the hazardous rescue operations undertaken in the aftermath of the September 11 bombing at the World Trade Center in New York City.
Noting that 343 New York firefighters and 50 police officers were killed that day, Cleary said, "History tells us that emergency workers have always confronted danger. Some injured, many killed, but all of us pay a price."
"The death, injury, disability, and illness suffered by emergency workers while carrying out their job, has a dramatic impact on individuals, co-workers, families and friends," he said. "We need our employers, our Municipalities to share in our commitment, not only after a tragedy, but before a tragedy has occurred."
Global estimates
The ILO estimates that approximately two million workers lose their lives annually due to occupational injuries and illnesses, with accidents causing at least 350,000 deaths a year. For every fatal accident, there are an estimated 1,000 non-fatal injuries, many of which result in lost earnings, permanent disability, and poverty. The death toll at work, much of which is attributable to unsafe working practices, is the equivalent of 5,000 workers dying each day, three persons every minute.
This is more than double the figure for deaths from warfare (650,000 deaths per year). According to the ILO SafeWork programme, work kills more people than alcohol and drugs together, and the resulting loss in gross domestic product is 20 times greater than all official development assistance to developing countries. Hazardous substances kill 340,000 per year, with a single substance, asbestos, accounting for 100,000 of those. Exposure to daily occupational hazards such as dust, chemicals, noise, and radiation cause untold suffering and illness, including cancers, heart disease, and strokes.
According to the ILO, at least half of the deaths from accidents could be prevented by safe working practices, and all accidents are avoidable and preventable. Agriculture, construction, and mining are the three most hazardous occupations in both developing and industrialized countries.
New research shows workplace violence
threatens health services worldwide
New research indicates that violence in the health care workplace is actually a global phenomenon. According to the new data, such violence occurs across borders, cultures, work settings, and occupational groups, and represents "an epidemic" in all societies. More than half of the health sector personnel surveyed for the new study had experienced at least one incident of physical or psychological violence in the previous year.
The research was commissioned by a joint programme on workplace violence in the health sector, organized by the International Labour Office (ILO), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), the World Health Organization (WHO), and Public Services International (PSI). The results, presented to an informal technical consultation held in Geneva from 23 to 26 April 2002, revealed a problem affecting significant proportions of the workforce.
In Thailand, for example, the percentage of staff experiencing violence was 54 per cent, in Lebanon 47 per cent. Such high levels were just not restricted to developing countries; in Portugal the incidence was found to reach 60 per cent, and in South Africa 61 per cent. Many health workers reported that violence in the streets is "spilling over" into the hospitals.
Who is affected, and what is being done about it?
According to the research, workplace violence affects all health workers, both women and men, though some are more at risk than others. Ambulance staff was cited as having to deal with "very high" levels of exposure to violence, with nurses and physicians also reporting high exposure.
The research also highlighted the key interrelationship between stress and violence. In some cases, after experiencing a violent incident, approximately two-thirds of victims suffered from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In addition, stress resulting from health systems being restructured was seen as a major contributing factor to workplace violence.
Despite the scale of the problem, in most of the countries studied there were no specific workplace policies to prevent or respond to workplace violence. This resulted in under-reporting of incidents, poor follow-up of reported incidents, no sanctions taken against the perpetrators, and dissatisfied victims.
To try to improve the situation the ILO/ICN/WHO/PSI joint programme has drafted guidelines taking a "preventive, remedial, participative, and systematic approach". Strategies include workplace violence recognition, risk assessment, intervention, monitoring, and evaluation.
For more information:
ILO: Gabriele Ullrich, ullrich@ilo.org
ICN: Mireille Kingma, kingma@icn.ch
WHO: Naeema Al-Gasseer, algasseern@who.ch
PSI: Alan Leather, Alan.Leather@world-psi.org
ILO gives mixed verdict on working conditions
in the Cambodian garment industry
GENEVA - ILO monitors working in Cambodian garment factories have announced that they have found no evidence of forced labour or discrimination, but have uncovered problems involving sexual harassment, freedom of association, and the payment of wages and overtime hours.
The findings are set out in a recently published ILO report - the Second Synthesis Report on the Working Conditions Situation in Cambodia's Garment Sector - which contains an overview of the monitoring of 34 factories under a technical cooperation project set up following an agreement between the Governments of Cambodia and the United States.
The First Synthesis Report by ILO monitors, released in November 2001, produced similar "good news and bad news" on working conditions in the initial 30 factories investigated.
On the good-news front, the latest report found that there is no evidence of forced labour or discrimination, and no evidence of child labour, with the exception of one minor instance.
However, it also highlighted that incorrect payment of wages occurs frequently and that overtime work is not, or not always, undertaken voluntarily at a substantial number of factories. In addition, strikes are not always organized in conformity with legally required procedures, and there has been sexual harassment reported in three workplaces.
The report argues that the monitoring of factories "is not an objective in itself but part of a process aimed at improving working conditions in Cambodia's garment sector as a whole."
The latest three-year Trade Agreement on Textiles and Apparel offers a possible 18 per cent annual increase in Cambodia's export entitlements to the United States, provided the government of Cambodia supports the "implementation of a programme to improve working conditions in the textile and apparel sector, including internationally recognized core labour standards, through the application of Cambodian labour law".
The Project Advisory Committee (PAC) - comprising representatives from the Cambodian government, the Garment Manufacturers' Association, and trade unions - endorsed the second report and said it was pleased that forced labour and discrimination, with the exception of a limited number of cases of sexual harassment, were not matters of concern in the factories surveyed.
The Committee noted, "with satisfaction", that "with the exception of one minor incident, there was no evidence of child labour", but also acknowledged, "with concern", the violation of trade union rights in a number of factories.
The factories monitored did not include any of the 30 factories covered in the first report; information on the progress made in implementing the project's suggestions for these factories is expected to be published before the end of June.
Monterrey: Developing a wealth of ideas
to tackle the poverty of nations
The International Conference on Financing for Development took place in Monterrey, Mexico, 18-22 March 2002. Behind the plethora of acronyms (ODA, FDI, NEPAD) lay a truly global challenge - how to ensure that a greater proportion of the world's population shares in its prosperity - a debate on which the ILO is seeking a significant input. And while the outcome and value of Monterrey are hotly contested, few doubt the importance of the issues at stake.
GENEVA - One in four children in the world today lives in abject poverty; that is, in families surviving on an income of less than US$1 a day. Of the 130 million children born this year, 23 million will never go to school, and 10 million will die before they reach the age of five, most from preventable causes.
These are some of the stark statistics of poverty which formed a backdrop to the International Conference on Financing for Development - the first United Nations-hosted Conference to specifically address key financial and development issues.
The Conference was huge; in attendance were 50 Heads of State or Government and over 200 ministers, as well as leaders from the private sector and civil society, and senior officials of all the major intergovernmental financial, trade, economic, and monetary organizations.
It marked the first quadripartite exchange of views between governments, civil society, the business community, and the institutional stakeholders, on global economic issues. These discussions involved over 800 participants in 12 separate roundtables, with a further 55 side events taking place during the Conference week.
For the ILO, Monterrey represented an opportunity to ensure that the social dimension of finance is duly acknowledged, and that decent work appears on the agenda of international financial institutions. The "Monterrey Consensus" document which was endorsed by the governments included text proposed by the ILO.
The Conference also represented a chance to hear the views of a wide range of groups on the social aspects of globalization, a topic currently being examined by the ILO special Commission set up earlier this year. Its conclusions will no doubt help inform such events in the future.