Ministers of Labour, Trade Unions and Entrepreneurs sign Declaration on Employment.
Agreement for Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic

Tegucigalpa (ILO News) - Ministers of Labour, representatives from employers' and workers' organisations of Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic signed a solemn agreement designed to set the focus of the generation of quality employment on the centre of development policies.

The "Declaración Tripartita para el Fomento del Empleo y el Trabajo Decente", ("Tripartite Declaration for the Promotion of Employment and Decent Work") -as the agreement was called- is the final result of the debates held in the "Foro del Empleo" (Employment forum) summoned by ILO in an effort to encourage national policies for the generation of quality employment in Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic.

The Declaration calls the Heads of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Dominican Republic for their "maximum political support" and requests transferring the results of the agreement "to the authorities in each country, particularly to the Ministers of Economy, Trade, Treasury and Education".

The Declaration of ILO's summit of employment emphasises the need to encourage, before the Heads of State of the region, "the inclusion of the objective of creating decent, sustainable and quality jobs according to ILO's parameters as the main focus of macroeconomic policies". At the same time, it calls not only for concentrating the efforts on inflation control and fiscal deficit but also on investment promotion and growth with equality.

The Declaration's signers both recognise the importance of employment policies as a key issue for the reduction of poverty levels and labour precariousness, and insist on the need to "achieve an articulation of economic policies with social and labour policies and strengthen Ministries of Labour thus promoting their participation in national development programmes in consultancy with workers' and employers' organisations". Furthermore, it challenges Presidents of the region to "make the greatest effort on investment in education and training" and to ensure effective free learning and the compliance of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The Declaration considers that social dialogue is an essential element of concertation at the challenges of integration and socio-economic development. It therefore insists on the importance of trade as an element of socio-economic growth though it warns about respecting a higher symmetry of the international trade rules. It is crucial that these are complied with, under equal conditions, by developed and developing countries, eliminating non-tariff barriers in order to facilitate the access of our products into the international market and generating supportive conditions for social progress."

The signers of the Declaration for Employment and Decent Work equally agreed to:
- Ratify our commitment to fully implement and comply with the contents of ILO Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work as well as those considered by the Constitutions and Labour Legislations of the countries.
- Fight against corruption, either public or private, by adopting the necessary measures for its eradication and later accountability to the society.
- Recognise that the gender dimension and equality are mainstream components of the discussion as well as the definition of actions about innovation, employment, fight against poverty and strengthening of democratic governance. In order to achieve full productive and human resources development, equity must be promoted, particularly in technology incorporation processes.
- Implement public policies that ensure an appropriate development for the most vulnerable sectors such as disabled people, youth and indigenous peoples and seek for a higher balance between urban and rural or less developed areas.
- Strengthen and extend coverage of social security systems promoting their universality, solidarity and effective policies that ensure their sustainability and guarantee the scope of their social objectives in a framework of tripartite social dialogue.

The Declaration recognises that the principles of democracy, Rule of Law and market economy are the main elements for the sustainable development of nations and highlights the role of the private sector "as the main employment generator". Therefore -according to the agreement- "the creation of a higher number of enterprises and an extension of those already existing would significantly increase employment opportunities. In particular, it is necessary to promote the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise and all kind of entrepreneurial ways of social economy as a source of employment generation."
More information: ILO. Subregional Office for Central America, Haiti, Panama and Dominican Republic.

ILO Subregional Office for Central America, San Jose, Costa Rica

 

 

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