BRASILIA - In an official address to the regional meeting, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva put things into perspective. Democracies, he said, must evolve in order to ensure that the "world of work can improve".
The details of the situation facing the Americas were the subject of the ILO report Decent work in the Americas: An agenda for the Hemisphere, 2006-2015, presented to the Conference by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. The report contains recommendations for policies designed to tackle the region's employment challenges, including the formal employment deficit affecting 126 million people in Latin America.
"By committing ourselves now to a Decade of promoting decent work, we may hope for great progress in the region by 2015," Mr. Somavia said at the conclusion of the meeting, adding that the tripartite delegates had reached "extremely useful" conclusions at a "time of major change in the region".
Brazil's Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, emphasized the importance of "the concept of decent work" which "enables people to feel that they are part of a collective effort", and of the real purpose of seeking to stimulate economic growth; he recalled that "growth is not an end in itself". (For a more detailed report, see ILO Press Release ILO/06/18.)
A new decade of decent work
The conclusions of the Brasilia meeting affirm that "as from this Meeting, a Decade of promoting decent work in the Americas will begin", adding that "the countries of the Region stress the importance of formulating and applying national public policies that incorporate social dialogue".
"These policies should stimulate national and foreign investment, inclusive economic growth and the generation of decent work with quality employment, social protection and the effective respect of labour rights", the conclusions state.
Delegates agreed on the importance of Decent Work Country Programmes referred to in the "agenda for the hemisphere" report, and on the need to adapt policies to the specific circumstances of each country, and considered that these Programmes could make an important contribution to promoting sustainable social and economic development.
In order to develop the Programmes, it was important to ensure "direct participation of the employers' and workers' organizations at national level". The conclusions also call on the ILO to support tripartite mechanisms for following up the results of the meeting.
"We leave here strengthened," Mr. Somavia said, "with a very practical and concrete mandate."