Mr. Chairperson, Your Excellency Mr. Seyed Alavi Mowlana,
Your Excellency Ms. Ladawan Wongsriwong,
Ministers of Labour and Government Officials,
Worker and Employer Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and welcome.

I am very happy and honoured to be with you all at this meeting. It is a landmark event for our Organization in this region. And one of special significance for me personally - it is the first Asian Regional Meeting of the ILO that I am privileged to attend. Earlier this year, I was honoured to be able to take part in the meeting of the Arab Labour Organization in Amman, and I look forward to participating in the meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council Labour Ministers in October.

I should like to gratefully acknowledge the presence of Thailand’s Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Welfare, H.E. Ms. Ladawan Wongsriwong, representing H.E. Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand.

It is my deeply held conviction that Asia is central to the future direction and sustainability of the global economy. The ILO Member States in the Asia Pacific region represent wide-ranging diversity in terms of size, stages of development, varieties of culture and richness of national traditions.

I can see tremendous dynamism, energy and resilience – even in the midst of social tensions and unresolved development problems. Your region has experienced the dark side of globalization, and yet has demonstrated its capacity to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.

Asia’s potential ability to influence the course of globalization is enormous. You represent more than half the world’s population and are major actors in our globalizing world. Just imagine, for example, the impact of China, India, Japan and the region as a whole, all expanding at healthy rates of sustainable growth and sound social development. I believe the course of social and economic progress in Asia will profoundly influence world events.

The future we all desire must be founded on the promotion and realization of shared values within a community of people and a community of nations; and not in the blunt assertion of unilateral policies and opinion. I see it in terms of ensuring human rights through prosperity, freedom and security of individuals and their families; and in seeking practical solutions to conflict through dialogue and consensus, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

This is the challenge of creating Decent Work in Asia and it goes to the heart of the development process itself.

Why the Decent Work Agenda?

To begin with, decent work is a development strategy. It reflects a universal aspiration of women and men everywhere, and connects with their hopes to obtain productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. It is built on four pillars – standards and fundamental principles and rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue. In all these areas we know that we have national and global deficits.

Decent work is a goal and not a standard. It is a personal goal for individuals and families, and a development goal for countries. The essence of what people want from work remains constant across cultures and levels of development. All countries, even the most developed ones, have decent work challenges. All societies have their own perceptions of what is considered decent and necessary. We need to build on them to develop common understandings at the global level.

Decent work is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is a tool that can respond to specific country circumstances, and can be shaped by each country according to national needs. The priorities and policy imperatives to implement this Agenda will vary from country to country, depending on levels of development, historical tradition, institutional structures and regional contexts.

Decent work is a package and a common commitment of all ILO constituents. Rights, employment, social protection and social dialogue are not only inextricably linked in practice, but represent the common ground among the three constituents of this House. By endorsing the Decent Work Agenda, all constituents have made a commitment to the whole, and not just to some part of it. The strength of this Organization depends on respecting the integrity of that commitment.

The debate on my Report on the need to reduce the Decent Work Deficit, at the last International Labour Conference in June, indicated that the time was now ripe to put Decent Work into practice. This is, of course, a major challenge. Decent work can not simply be decreed into existence. There are no quick fix solutions. The Report "Decent Work in Asia", which is presented to you at this meeting, is a contribution to this reflection. So how can we move forward?

First, by identifying priorities for action to address decent work deficits in our countries. This meeting is a good opportunity to map them out and give the International Labour Office guidance to support your priorities.

Second, by developing an integrated policy framework and practical programmes at the national level.

The Office will assist countries to achieve these goals by engaging in a dialogue with constituents, and providing an international clearing-house for information on successful practice of integrated policies and programmes. It will also contribute to the analytical foundations of decent work.

This is, therefore, a joint venture. A venture in which we need to invest capital, and one in which both the Office and constituents must learn from each other.

The process of implementation and cooperation with the ILO is already underway. And in this connection, I should like to thank our donors, particularly Japan, who are assisting our efforts to implement our Agenda in the region. Let me mention some of the Decent Work initiatives that have been taken in several countries:

• A Decent Work pilot programme has begun in the Philippines, and another is under discussion in Bangladesh.

• A new Memorandum of Understanding for a programme of cooperation between the ILO and China has been signed on the basis of the four strategic objectives of Decent Work.

• In quite a different environment, the Decent Work Agenda is guiding the ILO’s work in East Timor. We are helping to establish labour administration mechanisms, strengthen the capacity of the social partners, draft basic labour legislation, provide basic vocational training and generate employment through small business.

• Meanwhile, Nepal has made a commitment to a time-bound programme to eliminate bonded labour and the worst forms of child labour.

• Malaysia will presently launch a national policy on HIV/AIDS in the workplace, based on the ILO code of practice.

• Countries in the Mekong River Delta are working with the ILO on the trafficking of women, children and youth.

• Thailand has made significant progress on coordinated programmes for employment generation, unemployment insurance and job placement schemes.

• The Gulf Cooperation Council countries are pursuing a new programme of technical cooperation with the ILO.

• 15 countries in the region are now engaged in IPEC programmes with activities to the value of 36.5 million US dollars.

• 52 of the ILO’s fundamental rights conventions have been ratified by countries in this region since 1997.

The list could go on and on. Throughout the region, countries are putting some aspect of the Decent Work Agenda into practice. I am proud and happy to see that the Regional Offices and the Multi-Disciplinary Teams, as well as the Area and Branch Offices of the ILO, are actively engaged with our constituents to support their efforts to realize Decent Work goals at the national level.

Decent work gives us a platform for partnership and a policy identity for engaging other institutions and the world beyond the ILO, such as our cooperation with the Asian Development Bank and other multilateral partners in the region. I believe that this is crucial, as achieving Decent Work can not be accomplished by the ILO and its constituents alone.

Mr. Chairperson,

We must set these ongoing efforts within a changing global context.

The last Asian Regional Meeting took place as the first phase of the 1997 financial crisis unfolded, which hurt ordinary people hard. It hit women harder than men. It hurt the poorest and most vulnerable faster and deeper. It intensified pressures that led to diverse forms of exploitation.

All enterprises were affected and many had to close. The crisis underlined the fragility of social protection policies. It exposed the enormous social and economic risks linked to speculation and financial volatility. It also demonstrated how delays in internal reform can spark bigger fires.

Our meeting today begins against a backdrop of the loss of dynamism, or even stagnation, of the major economies that have traditionally been the engines of economic growth. We should not be doomsayers but neither should we be naïve. Clearly serious problems lie ahead in the global economy. Every day we read in the newspapers about new job cuts, even as some countries struggle with the unfinished business of the last crisis.

We all share the hope that policies implemented globally will renew growth and reduce unemployment. But the painful experience of the past teaches us that preventive measures are the best antidote to looming uncertainty.

The present insecurities should spur us into accelerating our efforts to realize Decent Work in Asia. Various measures could be put in place now:

• An intensification of social dialogue to reach consensus-based approaches to crisis management - probably the most urgent;
• A renewed emphasis on public sector investment to increase employment, incomes and economic demand;
• Investments in education, as well as skills upgrading, to build adaptable human resource capacity in those sectors potentially most affected;
• Reinforcement of social protection systems to guard against a volatile global environment, particularly in the informal economy; and
• Employment and income generating schemes targeted at women and the most vulnerable, to protect them and their children from risky survival strategies that can lead to exploitation - such as trafficking and the worst forms of child labour.

And coming myself from a developing country, perhaps the most important reason to act now, is a common experience we all have. When things are going well in our countries, there are many friends around wanting to cash-in on the good times; but when things go bad, a lot want to get out in a hurry and become very demanding. Preventive self-reliance is a good policy.

And I must once again refer to the deepening humanitarian crisis in the occupied Arab territories. The impact of the conflict in the territories and the closure of frontiers to Palestinian workers, has brought normal economic activity to a virtual standstill and massively increased poverty and unemployment in its wake. The ILO is committed - and I am committed - to providing whatever technical assistance is viable in these dramatic circumstances to alleviate suffering.

Mr. Chairperson,

The experience of the last decade has taught us that national efforts – however well designed and executed – can not be effective without a supportive international environment. We are still far from having a global policy architecture for Decent Work.

I think that the real debate today is not about more or less globalization. It’s about the right globalization and how to get there.

We need to re-orient the governance of globalization so that it benefits the poor and excluded, so that it reduces uncertainty and cushions the impact of external shocks. I am speaking of a globalization with equity. This is not what the present model is delivering.

We can establish fair rules of the game to create a level playing field that permits real equality of opportunity - whether for people or countries. I believe that fairness, as perceived by individuals and their families, as well as by developing countries, is the cornerstone of legitimacy, without which present policies will be politically fragile. The only sustainable solution is for economic and social development goals to go hand in hand.

Take the case of employment policies, which are clearly a priority for all of us in this room.

I believe that international policy advice today places too much emphasis on protecting financial capital, and particularly "hot" money with all its speculative and "contagion" effects. We should reduce volatility and increase productivity by promoting the expansion of productive capital that creates enterprises and jobs. And we cannot forget that empowering people with knowledge and skills is the single most important capital investment of any society.

Many other things could be done better to enhance employment. We need to get the balance of policies right. For example:

• There is too much emphasis on large enterprises, and too little on facilitating micro, small and medium enterprises that create the bulk of jobs today. There is too little emphasis on policies needed to stimulate investment, enterprise creation and entrepreneurship in all fields of human activity - whether for profit or not.

• There is too easy recourse to hire-and-fire policies when practice shows that negotiated adaptability to changing market circumstances brings better long- term results and greater stability for both employers and workers.

• Too little is being done to develop domestic markets for local production and consumption. The strong emphasis placed on international trade as a vehicle for income generation and job growth, is unlikely to be sufficient, particularly for poorer countries. The fact is that today, 80% of manufactured exports by developing countries are concentrated in only 13 economies - none of them least developed. What about the rest?

• There is too little emphasis on improving conditions for self-employment and sustainable livelihoods in the informal economy and for the rural poor, where the majority of people in developing countries live.

• And too little emphasis given to using the economic force of the market for social purposes - what I call "market activism". For example, there is much scope for socially responsible investment by mutual funds and better monitoring by workers of the investment criteria of their pension funds.

Mr. Chairperson,

In the global economy, it must be a basic principle that every person who works has rights at work. For the ILO, this is a crucial issue. These rights aren’t fringe benefits to be gained when the economic conditions are convenient. They have to be in on the ground floor.

It was the Social Summit in 1995, which first laid out these basic rights clearly, and they are embodied in the ILO’s Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in 1998. We are talking about freedom of association and collective bargaining, the elimination of forced labour, child labour and discrimination.

These rights are valid in all countries - at whatever stage of development – whether the sweatshops and "inner cities" of the North, or the shanty towns and export processing zones of the South. These are universal enabling rights.

There are many ways of realizing these rights. The ILO should be open to all opportunities, keeping in mind that without work there are no workers’ rights. The promotion of rights needs to be linked to sustained and sustainable economic growth and rising productivity, to an enabling environment for investment and enterprise.

Our experience shows clearly that the results are best when the ILO is able to work cooperatively with member states in a joint effort to solve acknowledged difficulties. The ILO’s supervisory system and the Declaration are unique resources for identifying problems and setting in motion technical cooperation work to overcome them.

Dialogue and promotion have opened the way to important progress where there have been long-standing difficulties: trade union legislation has been adopted in Bahrain; Workers’ Committees are to be made legal in Saudi Arabia. Trade union rights for state enterprise employees have been restored in Thailand. I welcome these developments.

Legislative action, international agreements, appropriate development policies, organizational strategies by workers, popular pressure and community activism: all can make a big difference.

The UN Secretary-General’s Global Compact has called upon business to implement the Declaration. This is another good basis for developing accountable voluntary private initiatives. A good place to start would be export processing zones.

I believe that the policy proposals and technical cooperation programmes of all international organizations should equally respect and promote these rights. And to begin with, nothing should be done by them to undermine their exercise.

The case of forced labour in Myanmar / Burma has attracted enormous attention. The issues are well known to all of you. What I want to stress here is that, even in this most extreme case, the ILO has been able to combine the findings of its supervisory machinery – hard-hitting in this case – with a sustained readiness to dialogue with the Government and to work for practical solutions to the violations that exist. This is why, in agreement with the authorities, a High-Level Team travels to Myanmar / Burma next month to make an objective assessment of the practical implementation and actual impact of various measures announced by the Government in response to previous ILO action.

Mr. Chairperson,

I have referred to some of the challenges facing Asia, as well as challenges on the global level. In order to address them and their interaction, we have a unique and powerful tool in the ILO. Consider this: we have present here in this room, the very engine of the economic process. We have the policy-making of governments, the investment of employers, and the labour force of workers.

No other international organization can match the ILO membership’s day-to-day experience of the realities of economic life. We have a unique understanding of the complexities of the production process. It is the source of our strength and the legitimacy of our opinion.

In order to tap this potential, we need to forge a strong and cohesive tripartism. This means enhancing social dialogue, and finding the will to respect the voice of "the other" in order to find solutions that represent a genuine consensus based on shared interests. We all know by experience, that when dialogue fails, everything becomes more difficult. And if social dialogue fails within the ILO, or within our countries, then the hopes for Decent Work will recede. Strong social dialogue requires strong social partners whose rights to organize and develop must be acknowledged and protected. And as I have said before, social dialogue between employers and workers is particularly important in the face of looming uncertainties of the global economy.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is your meeting. It is for you to set the course. The Office looks forward to hearing your views and receiving guidance on your priorities. We stand ready to cooperate with you on the practical actions needed to make Decent Work a growing reality at the national and global levels. 

Updated by CHW. Approved by RD. Last update: 28 August 2001.