103rd Session of the International Labour Conference
Tripartite information session on « Ouagadougou +10 »: Opening Remarks by Francis ATWOLI (Kenya), African Workers'Spokesperson
5 June 2014
On behalf of my sisters and brothers from the African labour movement, and in my own capacity as the President of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) and Vice President of the global International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), we thank the ILO Director-General for this initiative of calling for this information session, amidst the busy agenda of the International Labour Conference. This session is very important for workers.
We thank the Director-General because he has kept his promise. When we met him in March as African members of the Workers’ Group of the Governing Body, he told us that indeed he takes the Ouagadougou+10 initiative very seriously. He hinted to us that he was planning to call for a tripartite discussion on the preparation to the initiative during the Conference to brief African ministerial delegations on the current state of preparations and support provided by the ILO and its partners to the African Union Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held in September 2014 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Indeed, he has done that today.
Director-General; Honourable Ministers; and my fellow Social Partners;
We all know that employment has been a serious challenge to the African continent for a long time. As such, the 2004 Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment and Poverty Alleviation, was a watershed to the continent. We might not have achieved much in the overall ambitions of the Declaration, but we are convinced there have been some moderate successes. One of the good outcomes of the Declaration is the fact that most countries on the continent have made employment creation a major development goal. We also know that many countries have come up with comprehensive programmes and mainstreamed employment into their national development plans.
We also commend the support from ILO on the steps taken towards implementation of the Declaration. The report on Recurrent Discussion on Employment at this session of the Conference contains good references to the actions of the ILO in this regard.
But, we also want to face the reality. And this is the fact that many aspects of the Declaration remain unimplemented. As we prepare for Ouagadougou+10, we need to insist, at the very outset, that there is need to integrate very clearly the notion of a follow up mechanism. This mechanism must specifically go beyond the Declaration and the Plan of Action. We look forward to Ouagadougou+10 to enable us translate a strong commitment and the “political milestone” of 2004 to an influential engine for actual change.
The way forward must emphasize that full, productive, freely chosen and decent employment is a necessary and achievable goal. The new mechanisms must benefit from the principles contained in the body of relevant ILO standards, in particular, the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), and Recommendation, 1964 (No. 122), the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169), and the other governance standards as well as the fundamental principles and rights at work.
We are better advised to do the right things to create employment, especially for the youth. This may seem quite expensive in the short time. But, in reality and in the medium and long term basis, it would be cheaper than resorting to harsher measures that would be needed to combat associated crime, insurgency and terrorism derived from the youth unemployment crisis.
The new steps forward must also take on board the continuing and emerging challenges facing Africa. These include giving priority to the issue HIV and AIDS pandemic that continues to afflict the continent, and the question of migrant labour. The new measures must take on board the collective interest of Africa by adopting the "Getting to Zero in the Work Place" campaign against HIV/AIDS being waged by UNAIDS and ILOAIDS.
On the challenges of labour migration, we see it as an integral part of the process of globalization. It is in evitable. We fully support the Report of Director-General on Fair Migration. We agree with him that labour migration has the potential to contribute very considerably to growth and development. The way forward is to also address the negative consequences of mistrust and exclusion, as we deal with effects of tragedies and disasters.
My fellow delegates;
Additionally, we need to further emphasize that, a sure way out of poverty is to make social protection an enforceable right. We must promote targeted measures to increase labour market participation of women and under-represented groups, and to promote decent work and protection of vulnerable groups; as well as other measures – for example, conditional cash transfers, public employment programmes, guarantees and unemployment benefits – to help low-income households to escape poverty and access decent employment.
So where do we go from this information session?
Just like in 2004, the Workers’ Group have endorsed the holding of African Social Partners Forum to be held on the occasion of the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and of Government of the African Union on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Burkina Faso in September. We are fully informed of the joint collaboration between the Bureaux for Employers’ and Workers’ Activities (ACTEMP and ACTRAV) in working with Business Africa, OATUU, ITUC Africa and our employers and workers in Burkina Faso towards making the Social Partners Forum a success.
The purpose of the Social Partners Forum 2014 will be to produce joint conclusions and a joint message to the AU Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development. Following the deliberations and consultations in the last couple of months, I wish to confirm that both employers and workers groups agreed that the theme of the Social Partners’ Forum should be the following: Sustainable Development and the Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda: The Social Partners’ Perspectives.
In fact, this theme is in line with the Governing Body decision on explicit goal in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Therefore, the Forum will allow African employers’ and workers’ organizations to (i) take ownership of the Common African Position and (ii) assert their total commitment to play a clear role in influencing it.
We therefore, wish to call upon the Director-General to support workers and employers in realizing our intentions.
I thank you all for your attention.
We thank the Director-General because he has kept his promise. When we met him in March as African members of the Workers’ Group of the Governing Body, he told us that indeed he takes the Ouagadougou+10 initiative very seriously. He hinted to us that he was planning to call for a tripartite discussion on the preparation to the initiative during the Conference to brief African ministerial delegations on the current state of preparations and support provided by the ILO and its partners to the African Union Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held in September 2014 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Indeed, he has done that today.
Director-General; Honourable Ministers; and my fellow Social Partners;
We all know that employment has been a serious challenge to the African continent for a long time. As such, the 2004 Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment and Poverty Alleviation, was a watershed to the continent. We might not have achieved much in the overall ambitions of the Declaration, but we are convinced there have been some moderate successes. One of the good outcomes of the Declaration is the fact that most countries on the continent have made employment creation a major development goal. We also know that many countries have come up with comprehensive programmes and mainstreamed employment into their national development plans.
We also commend the support from ILO on the steps taken towards implementation of the Declaration. The report on Recurrent Discussion on Employment at this session of the Conference contains good references to the actions of the ILO in this regard.
But, we also want to face the reality. And this is the fact that many aspects of the Declaration remain unimplemented. As we prepare for Ouagadougou+10, we need to insist, at the very outset, that there is need to integrate very clearly the notion of a follow up mechanism. This mechanism must specifically go beyond the Declaration and the Plan of Action. We look forward to Ouagadougou+10 to enable us translate a strong commitment and the “political milestone” of 2004 to an influential engine for actual change.
The way forward must emphasize that full, productive, freely chosen and decent employment is a necessary and achievable goal. The new mechanisms must benefit from the principles contained in the body of relevant ILO standards, in particular, the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), and Recommendation, 1964 (No. 122), the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169), and the other governance standards as well as the fundamental principles and rights at work.
We are better advised to do the right things to create employment, especially for the youth. This may seem quite expensive in the short time. But, in reality and in the medium and long term basis, it would be cheaper than resorting to harsher measures that would be needed to combat associated crime, insurgency and terrorism derived from the youth unemployment crisis.
The new steps forward must also take on board the continuing and emerging challenges facing Africa. These include giving priority to the issue HIV and AIDS pandemic that continues to afflict the continent, and the question of migrant labour. The new measures must take on board the collective interest of Africa by adopting the "Getting to Zero in the Work Place" campaign against HIV/AIDS being waged by UNAIDS and ILOAIDS.
On the challenges of labour migration, we see it as an integral part of the process of globalization. It is in evitable. We fully support the Report of Director-General on Fair Migration. We agree with him that labour migration has the potential to contribute very considerably to growth and development. The way forward is to also address the negative consequences of mistrust and exclusion, as we deal with effects of tragedies and disasters.
My fellow delegates;
Additionally, we need to further emphasize that, a sure way out of poverty is to make social protection an enforceable right. We must promote targeted measures to increase labour market participation of women and under-represented groups, and to promote decent work and protection of vulnerable groups; as well as other measures – for example, conditional cash transfers, public employment programmes, guarantees and unemployment benefits – to help low-income households to escape poverty and access decent employment.
So where do we go from this information session?
Just like in 2004, the Workers’ Group have endorsed the holding of African Social Partners Forum to be held on the occasion of the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and of Government of the African Union on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Burkina Faso in September. We are fully informed of the joint collaboration between the Bureaux for Employers’ and Workers’ Activities (ACTEMP and ACTRAV) in working with Business Africa, OATUU, ITUC Africa and our employers and workers in Burkina Faso towards making the Social Partners Forum a success.
The purpose of the Social Partners Forum 2014 will be to produce joint conclusions and a joint message to the AU Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development. Following the deliberations and consultations in the last couple of months, I wish to confirm that both employers and workers groups agreed that the theme of the Social Partners’ Forum should be the following: Sustainable Development and the Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda: The Social Partners’ Perspectives.
In fact, this theme is in line with the Governing Body decision on explicit goal in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Therefore, the Forum will allow African employers’ and workers’ organizations to (i) take ownership of the Common African Position and (ii) assert their total commitment to play a clear role in influencing it.
We therefore, wish to call upon the Director-General to support workers and employers in realizing our intentions.
I thank you all for your attention.