Trade Union Meeting of Experts on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

In the year 2000, the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the main development framework for the international system. A set of 8 goals were adopted and 2015 was earmarked as the target date for their attainment. As the target date for the achievement of the MDGs approaches, the UN has initiated discussions on the Post-2015 development compact which will replace the MDGs.

Parallel to this process, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) agreed to launch a follow-up process to develop global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be agreed upon by the UN General Assembly. These SDGs would cover the three established dimensions of sustainable development, namely the economic, the social and the environmental. The Rio+20 outcome document indicated that the process to develop the SDGs had to be coordinated in a coherent manner with the post-2015 development agenda.

It is against this background that the Post-MDG and the Post-Rio+20 processes are converging. The UN system has therefore launched a post-2015 development process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which would integrate the post-MDG and the post-Rio+20 processes in a new global development compact.

It is in this context that the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) is organising a Trade Union Meeting of Experts on the Post-2015 Development Agenda from the 21st to 22nd May 2013 at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. This meeting seeks to:

• Assess the progress being made by members states to meet the MDGs by 2015;
• Reflect on the development model needed to underpin the Post-2015 development agenda;
• Propose key policy messages, goals, targets and indicators that should be included in the Post-2015 development agenda;
• Develop a trade union strategy to influence the Post-2015 processes and ensure that decent work becomes a global goal of the new development compact.

Some 50 trade union leaders from all over the world will be participating in this meeting. Speakers invited to address the meeting include, Ms Amina J. Mohammed, Assistant Secretary-General, Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning; Mr Martin Khor, Executive Director, South Centre; Mr Nikhil Seth, Director, Sustainable Development Division, UN-DESA; and officials from UNEP and the ILO.

For more information, contact: Claude Akpokavie, Senior Adviser, ILO