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ILO and Japan (in Japanese) |
Ms. Ryoko Akamatsu introduced earlier the views of the employers at the time the Equal Employment Opportunity Law between Men and Women was adopted, but I think employers' attitude on this issue have changed significantly over the past twenty years. During these twenty years a huge change has been made although you may hardly perceive the changes every year. More changes will likely take place in the next decade.
I would like to congratulate the 50th Anniversary of reopening of the ILO Office in Japan Considering the history prior to the reopening, Japan's involvement in the ILO spans even longer. This is a breakpoint in history, and I would like to congratulate the ILO Office for their engagement.
As a part of the tripartite constituents, I would like to speak from the perspective of employers, hoping that the ILO remains and continues to be a significant entity. I would like to elaborate on three points: firstly to prompt adaptation to changing environment; secondly, to support realization of ownership; and thirdly, to differentiate itself from other international organizations. After that I would like to talk about what we expect of the ILO Office in Japan.
1. Prompt adaptation to changing environment
Since its foundation in 1919, the ILO has always focused on labour issues, while flexibly modifying its activities with the changing environment. For example, when many developing nations joined the ILO and membership was diversified, it added a new area of action, i.e., technical cooperation in addition to its standard-setting activities.
The world of work is changing quickly. The changing environment caused by globalization, emphasis on the service economy, technological innovation, demographic changes, etc. has brought different challenges in the field of work. To facilitate each member country to effectively respond to these issues, the ILO should be ahead in choosing their agenda and in their speed, and not lag behind. A recent good example is the adoption of the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up in 1998. This Declaration made a significant impact in the world and was also reflected in the UN Global Compact.
A debate is already underway at the Governing Body as to how the International Labour Conference and the Governing Body should be restructured and be improved. With the introduction of IT and the accelerated speed of the changes in the economy and the society, we should consider more appropriate ways to hold meetings. The fact that the ILC agenda is identified two years in advance is too early in my view.
2. Supporting the realization of the ownership
Ever since Mr. Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the ILO assumed his position, he has spearheaded the organization with the agenda of realization of Decent Work for all. Decent Work need not be explained in detail to this audience today, but it does not represent any specific or fixed concept. Rather, the efforts on Decent Work is a process of climbing up step by step towards reaching a goal or a challenge to be overcome, set by and renewed by each country in their pursuit to realize better work. Of course each nation has different challenges and diverse issues so it is only natural that the processes are different from one another.
A Fair Globalization, the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization published last year stated "beginning at home" is a key to participate effectively in the gains of globalization. I believe in the realization of Decent Work, too, identifying the challenges and selecting their solution should be done on the initiative of each nation, under their ownership. In such activities, the tripartite cooperation within a nation is crucial. In this sense the ILO could help establishing tripartite structures and support the autonomous efforts of each member state. This is a critical role of the ILO.
When one country tries to address its issues, it could learn greatly from other nations. It is more efficient to take stock of existing collective wisdom instead of starting from scratch with trials and errors. Therefore the ILO should provide its member states with opportunities to learn from one another, propose appropriate menus of countermeasures for respective countries based on a body of information and facilitate the achievement of the Decent Work process in timely and efficient manner.
From these perspectives, standards-setting, one of the pillars of ILO activities, may need to go through some review. With the diverse composition of current member states, Conventions should only include general principles that could be applied universally, while more detailed measures could be presented as options in the form of Recommendations, so that the member states could adopt those that appropriately suit their situation at home.
3. Differentiations from other international organizations
At present there are a number of international organizations engaged in social development. If the ILO desires to achieve its mission in full, differentiation from others would be necessary. With the strength of its specialty in the world of work, it must create unrivaled achievement. One of the strength of the ILO is their expertise in the world of work and the tripartism founded on this.
Jobs and employment are not only means of earning livelihood, but they are fundamental in generating dignity and raison d'etre of individuals as well as building relations with the society. It is enterprises that create jobs and employment, and ILO is a precious organization in that both employers and workers take part in its work. In pursuing the Decent Work goals, the mechanisms and the role of enterprises should be recognized again to appropriately position them within the undertakings of the ILO. Productivity and competitiveness, the very source of employment and better working conditions, should not only be talked by the employers side, but should naturally be discussed in the ILO in its work.
Another advantage of the ILO is its regional organizations. The contents of Decent Work is not uniform, and if every country is to solve their challenges one by one, information sharing at the local level in the region would be effective. To ensure employment creation and improvement of the working conditions, decentralized approaches are called for. On the other hand, centralized approaches in data collection would be more sensible. Depending on the types of activities, decentralized and centralized approaches should be creatively used.
4. Expectation to the ILO Office in Japan
As today's Symposium is to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of reopening of the ILO Office in Japan, I would like to share with you my expectations to the office.
a. Improving visibility of the ILO
In Japan today, the ILO lacks visibility from the general public. Because the ILO deals with the world of work, I think it should be closer and better known to the main actors, namely the working people. There were times in the past when filing of the cases to the ILO made the headlines, and so this organization may be more familiar to senior people, but for younger generations the ILO must be a distant organization. As a local office of ILO, the Japan office needs to communicate activities and its role to increase the ILO's visibility. At the same time it is hoped more active public relations activities would realize that many highly competent Japanese people would be working at the ILO Office.
b. Communicating Japanese situation to the world
I think it is very important to communicate information on the labour and economy of Japan not only to the ILO Headquarters but also to the world. Latest and important data should be gathered at the ILO, so that it could fully play a role as a clearing house. It needs to be checked constantly whether the data on the Japanese labour economy are latest and ample enough to be fully utilized by the member states and the ILO HQs. I hope the ILO Office in Japan will fulfill the function of being a good information transmitter.
Of course these responsibilities I have pointed out should be fulfilled in cooperation with the Government, labour and employers. As employers, we the JBF would like to contribute to this process.
As regards the visibility of the ILO, in Japan we have the ILO Association, one of few such associations around the world. I see some countries have set up this association, and the same association could be expanded to other countries. This association works with the Government on human resources development projects in developing countries, apart from the promotion of the ideas of the ILO. I consider it would be effective that such activities of this Association be acknowledged widely.