Twelfth sitting - ILO

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Twelfth sittingThursday, 13 June 2002, 3 p.m.

Presidents: Mr. Arbesser-Rastburg, Mr. Rampak

REPORTS

OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE GOVERNING BODY

AND OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL: DISCUSSION (cont.)

Original German: The PRESIDENT (Mr. AR-BEZZER-RASTBIRG) — We shall now resume thediscussion on the reports of the Chairperson of theGoverning Body and of the Director-General.

Original Spanish: Mr. RAY GUEVARA (Secretaryof State for Labour, Dominican Republic) — Ourcountry has received a great deal of assistance in thegeneral context of labour cooperation. We would liketo thank the ILO for what it has done for my countryin social dialogue, jobs, technical cooperation, tri-partism, child labour and other topics of great import-ance in the labour world.

The Government of President Rafael HipolitoMejia believes in tripartism and social dialogue as amethod for promoting the fundamental rights ofworkers and for achieving social progress.

As regards social dialogue and tripartism on22 February this year, the Dominican Republiclaunched a diploma course in labour relations underthe auspices of the Relacentro Project, in whichrepresentatives of the Government, employers andworkers will receive instruction from experts inlabour law, business and union matters. TheRelacentro Project has asked the Secretary of Statefor Labour to take care of national coordination ofthe course.

With regard to collective bargaining, the Domi-nican Republic, represented by the Secretary ofState for Labour, last year concluded an agree-ment with employers’ and workers’ representativesfrom the Dominican Association of Free Zones(ADOZONA), the National Federation of Workersin Free Zones and FENETRAZONA. The agree-ment is aimed at the welfare of workers in the freezone sector and contains programmes for housing,education and social security, to be implementedtaking account of the difficult situation facing compa-nies in the sector as a result of the reduction in de-mand owing to the slowdown in the economy.

The national Government has continued to abideby the agreement on social progress concluded withthe National Council of Trade Union Unity (CENUS)in November 2000.

We held the first employment fair from 8 to10 March, and this is a new public policy instrument topromote employment as an effective means of com-bating poverty. Some 50 of the biggest private compa-nies in the country took part in the event and theMinistry of Labour held 18 workshops for vocational

training. In April the project entitled “Young peopleand first jobs” was launched. This offers technicaltraining to young people aged between 16 and 24 andvocational training in both new and established com-panies.

This year we aim to assist 2,000 young people whohave dropped out of the school system. The Ministryof Labour is implementing this by means of govern-ment funds allocated to the Institute for Technicaland Vocational Training (INFOTEP).

By means of the “Youth and Employment” pro-gramme under the auspices of the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank, the aim is to create jobs foryoung people on a low income and for displaced per-sons, promoting access to the labour market. In thespace of three years, the programme will have pro-vided training for more than 37,500 beneficiaries injobs sought by the business sector. In the field of socialprotection, the Dominican social security system willbegin to operate in November for health-related mat-ters and in February next year for pension-relatedmatters.

One of our essential concerns is to get gender poli-cies established on a wider basis. For this reason wehave set up an Under-Ministry of Labour responsiblefor promoting gender equality in employment.

Our country is seeking a basis of cooperation andsolidarity, which generates jobs and is a true instru-ment of social inclusion and an effective means ofcombating poverty.

The Dominican Republic is working energeticallyto achieve the elimination of the worst forms of childlabour. In the coming weeks we will begin the secondphase of the successful Constanza programme, to befollowed by the Azua programme, with the San Joséde Ocoa programme achieving excellent results. Anational social awareness campaign is also being con-ducted on the theme of putting an end to child labour.

The Secretary of State for Labour considers thatsocial dialogue, based on confidence between em-ployers, workers and the Government, must be a keyinstrument for reconciling market demands and socialjustice. This dialogue should contribute towardsgiving the social dimension of globalization a deeplyrooted humanistic content.

Original Japanese: Mr. ITO (Workers’ delegate,Japan) — Thank you very much for giving me an oc-casion to speak to the plenary. I represent the Japa-nese Trade Union Confederation.

Under the leadership of Mr. Somavia, the ILO hasdivided its work into four sectors — standards, em-ployment, social security and social dialogue. TheILO has been working hard to achieve the objectives

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set for each sector. The ratification of the core labourstandards, included in the ILO Declaration on Funda-mental Principles and Rights at Work, has been welladvanced. I commend this achievement. However, itis disappointing to note that the effective applicationof these core standards in each country has beenrather slow. In order to make significant progress inapplication, I believe that technical cooperationshould be strengthened to analyse the causes of non-application, and to propose adequate technical assis-tance.

The content of the Global Report on child labour isimproved by taking into account the experiences ofprevious discussions on the Global Report. I thinkthere is much to improve. The discussions on the Glo-bal Report should be such that it could lead to cla-rifying difficulties of application of standards and con-tribute to finding effective technical assistance toreduce the numbers of children involved in the worstforms of child labour.

Last November, the Global Employment Forumwas organized to discuss the nature of employment inthe age of globalization. The opinions expressed inthis Forum were reported to the 283rd Session of theGoverning Body in March 2002. The GoverningBody, in response, has adopted a Global EmploymentAgenda, which shows the direction of ILO activitiesfor employment. I welcome this agenda, which consti-tutes the foundation of the ILO’s employment strat-egy for decent work.

The ILO has established the World Commission onthe Social Dimension of Globalization, composed of25 prominent personalities, to analyse in detail thesocial aspects of globalization, including employmentand social security. This committee is an epoch-making initiative for the ILO. In order for this com-mittee to produce clear orientations, the ILO shouldpropose philosophy and theories that are based on itsconcrete experiences.

I would also like to express my opinion on socialdialogue. It is well known that the most important andthe most specific feature of the ILO is its tripartiteapproach involving governments, employers andworkers. It seems to me that this tripartism hasbecome a little weakened within the ILO. The Bureaufor Workers’ Activities and the Bureau for Employ-ers’ activities should have a more important statuswithin the Office, so that they can influence the ILO’sstructure and strategy. I regret that they have only alow status as part of the Social Dialogue Sector. ILOinternal structure should be improved, so thattripartism is given a more effective role within theOffice.

Recent Office activities give me the impression thattripartism and tripartite structures, such as the Gov-erning Body and the Conference, the most importantdecision-making organs of the ILO, are graduallybecoming a kind of seminar, meeting or forum, whileNGOs are gaining influence. In other words, theOffice may be becoming too much of a unilateral deci-sion-maker with regard to ILO activities and, at thesame time, reducing the role of tripartite organs suchas the Governing Body.

I agree that the ILO has achieved good work in re-cent years. I appreciate it very much. But we mustthink about the future of the ILO. I think that the timehas come to discuss very seriously, within the Govern-ing Body, how to strengthen tripartism and whatwould be a more appropriate structure of the Office.

The ILO should be a beacon of hope for all peoplesuffering cruelly under globalization. It is the duty ofgovernments, employers, workers and the Office tomake every effort to make this beacon brighter. Afterall, eradicating poverty and oppression would lead tothe end of conflict throughout the world. Let us worktogether.

Mr. SWEENEY (Workers’ delegate, United States)— Thank you for allowing me to comment on theDirector-General’s Report on behalf of the 40 millionpeople who live in union households in the UnitedStates.

First, I commend the Director-General, Mr. Soma-via, on the most professional and comprehensive re-port ever to be issued by the ILO. The candour andclarity of the Report are much appreciated. I believethat the Report reflects the impact of the manage-ment and strategic budgeting techniques instituted bythe Director-General which have brought us closer toour goal of harnessing our tripartite potential, to-gether for the common good.

We receive this Report at a time when this Organiz-ation, as well as many other international organiz-ations, is struggling to meet the awesome challengesbeing presented to us by the global economy, and bythe threats to peace and stability that can be seen allaround our world today.

I believe, as the Report states, that we have indeedmade great progress towards many of our goals. Cer-tainly, the focus on child labour has been raised higherthan ever.

I am proud that we have expanded our action andour commitments when it comes to fighting thescourge of HIV/AIDS, confronting the conditionsand expansion of export processing zones and puttingin place strategies to promote the Declaration onFundamental Principles and Rights at Work. I alsobelieve the creation of the World Commission on theSocial Dimension of Globalization is a long overduemeasure of our increased commitment to make theglobal economy work for working families and tocreate decent work as a real worldwide effort to over-come poverty and exclusion.

The Director-General’s Report also reminds us ofthe complexity of the tasks before us, and we need noreminder of the additional challenges we face as a re-sult of increased conflicts and tensions around theworld. AFL-CIO believes we must rise to these chal-lenges not by instilling fear, but by fostering hope.This requires an increased global offensive for equi-table, sustainable democratic development. It re-quires a renewed dedication to the defence of basichuman rights, freedom of association and the right toorganize, as well as freedom from starvation, home-lessness, ignorance and disease. We fully realize thatthis requires new global attention, cooperation andaction on the part of all nations in shaping the courseof globalization.

The American labour movement believes now,more than ever, that we need to redouble our effortsto struggle for global justice because since there areno justifications for terror or aggression, we must nothesitate to change the conditions that can fuel suchactions or to address the inequities that can resultfrom future conflicts.

In that regard, in particular, we strongly support theDirector-General’s recommendations, including thatof raising the resources to fully engage the ILO in the

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work necessary, within the mandate of this Organiz-ation, to help Palestinian workers and their familiesrebuild their lives. The funding for this should comefrom donor countries and the ILO budget surplus.

As our AFL-CIO Executive Council noted last No-vember, “in a global economy with nations, marketsand people increasingly interdependent, we can de-fend an open society only by extending justice,spreading democracy, empowering working peopleand defending human rights”. No longer can islandsof prosperity survive untouched in oceans of despair.Interdependence means we are all vulnerable to theactions of others. Justice demands not only that theguilty be punished, but that the innocent be empow-ered. Freedom means not simply the open exchangeof goods, but the guarantee that every individual willhave the economic and social freedom needed to de-velop his or her potential to the fullest. We believethat only by leading a global campaign to reduce des-peration and empower peoples to determine theirown destinies in a democratic manner will peace andsecurity be realized for people all around the world.

We offer our deep appreciation to the Director-General for his fine Report and for his continued ex-cellent leadership.

Original Arabic: Mr. EL FASSI (Minister of Em-ployment, Vocational Training, Social Developmentand Solidarity, Morocco) — In the name of God, theMerciful, Compassionate! It is indeed a pleasure topresent on my behalf and on behalf of the Kingdom ofMorocco our congratulations on your election asPresident of this session, and we wish you every suc-cess in presiding over this meeting. I should like tojoin the previous speakers in reaffirming the impor-tance of the achievements of the ILO during the pe-riod covered by the Report of the Director-General,particularly as regards the reinforcement and promo-tion of workers’ fundamental rights, social protection,promotion of employment and stimulation of socialdialogue. I hope that we will, at the same time, em-phasize technical cooperation programmes as effi-cient mechanisms for the achievement of the objec-tives which are the very foundation of the ILO,particularly in this age of globalization, which calls fora redoubling of the efforts, of the ILO, and giving at-tention to social development issues and the fightagainst social exclusion and unemployment.

It has become essential to develop an approachwhich will address in a new manner the question ofthe foreign debts of the developing countries as theseaccumulated debts constitute an obstacle to their eco-nomic and social development.

I should also like to take this opportunity to men-tion that our Organization must improve its perfor-mance with regard to the establishment of standards,and in particular in what concerns expanding the basisof consultation on the identification of potential areasfor new standards.

Morocco has made the challenge of social protec-tion a priority in the Government’s social programme.We have drawn up a draft code for basic healthcarecoverage, reflecting a practical concrete implementa-tion of one of the fundamental human rights — theright to health.

Social protection being one of the major areas ofattention of the Government of Morocco, it is deter-mined to pursue the implementation of policies aimedat creating many areas of harmony between the social

partners. That is why we have established a mecha-nism for consultation and dialogue between the Gov-ernment and the economic and social partners. Thishas enabled the organization of several rounds ofmeetings in the field of social consultation, crownedby a declaration signed on 1 August 1996 and the sig-nature in April 2000 of the agreement, which was infact a new social agreement making the social ques-tion, labour-related and employment-related issuesand housing one of the major objectives on the way toachieving social peace, a precondition for all econ-omic and social development. Recently, we ratifiedthe Worker’s Representatives Convention, 1971(No. 135).

In order to encourage investment and combat bu-reaucracy, His Majesty Mohammed VI decided todelegate government competencies in this area to lo-cal authorities, and laid down a plan to combat pov-erty, and extend power and drinking water networksto the rural areas.

I am particularly pleased to stress the importanceof the good technical cooperation relations existingbetween the Kingdom of Morocco and the ILOduring the past two years, which has enabled the orga-nization of a number of workshops, including debateson freedom of association, social dialogue, health, andoccupational safety, as well as implementation of alarge part of IPEC, and tripartite meetings withPRODIAF on social dialogue. Morocco would like todeepen its cooperation with the ILO in a number ofother priority social areas, particularly those in-volving the stimulation of employment, improvingworking conditions, and strengthening social protec-tion and social dialogue.

I believe it is necessary that the ILO develop its re-lations and cooperation with the European Union sothat developing countries can benefit from such co-operation, particularly those which suffer from pov-erty and social exclusion.

I should like to take this opportunity to mentionthe efforts made by the Kingdom of Morocco to com-bat child labour. In this respect the Government hastaken a number of measures for the protection ofMoroccan children in general and children at work inparticular. These efforts have culminated in the recentratification of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973(No. 138), and of the Worst Forms of Child LabourConvention, 1999 (No. 182).

Finally, I must take this opportunity to mention thevery serious situation in the Middle East, in particularthe situation of all the segments of the Palestinianpeople as a result of the economic blockade and col-lective punishment practices by Israel, in its con-tinuing aggression against the Palestinian people, incomplete disregard of international conventions andinstruments and security council resolutions. I shouldlike to stress the importance of the recommendationscontained in the Report of the Director-General con-cerning the situation of workers in Palestine, and theneed to implement those resolutions. I hope that ourOrganization will be able to establish a fund for provi-sion of assistance to Palestinian workers, to help themcope with unemployment and the negative effect ofthe economic blockade.

Original Portuguese: Mr. PAIS ANTUNES (Secre-tary of State for Labour, Portugal) — On behalf of thePortuguese Government, I would like to congratulatethe President and Vice-Presidents on their elections.

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They have a great responsibility to manage the workof this session, and I am sure they will discharge theirduties extremely well.

I would like to offer our congratulations to theChairperson of the Governing Body and the secre-tariat of the ILO for the quality of the reports whichhave been presented to us, in which the basic chal-lenges and objectives of the Organization are laid outbefore us. The challenges and objectives of the lasttwo years have been dealt with successfully, as wemove towards the general objective which is toprovide decent work for all children, women andmen. The programme and budget for the ILO for the2000-01 biennium was the first to be designed on thebasis of the prime objective of promoting decentwork. This translated into the four strategic objectiveswhich the ILO defined, i.e. the promotion of funda-mental principles and rights at work, the objective offull employment, social protection (as an expressionof social development) and social dialogue. The ILO,as the organization responsible for defining funda-mental labour standards and for promoting and moni-toring their implementation, fulfils its mission withthese four objectives, which it defined and which seekto tackle the main problems and fundamental needsas people all around the world.

For this reason, the Portuguese Government sup-ports the structuring of the ILO programme and bud-get around these four pillars, the objective of which isto promote decent work.

The Director-General’s Report on the ILO’s activi-ties over the biennium demonstrate the progresswhich has been achieved in respect of each of thesefour strategic objectives and also demonstrates thatmuch remains to be done.

In regard to the first strategic objective — promoteand realize standards and fundamental principles andrights at work — large number of Conventions havebeen ratified, which certainly demonstrates the will ofthe member States to improve the working and livingconditions of their populations, irrespective of the po-litical and economic systems in which they work andirrespective of their level of development.

However, we must also highlight that the ILO pro-motional and technical assistance activities have madea decisive contribution to achieving this progress inregard to the ratification of the fundamental ILO Con-ventions. Nevertheless, much still remains to be donein order to achieve these objectives, as is apparent fromthe report on child labour which the Conference hasbeen analysing this year. The ILO should continue tobe the locomotive of world mobilization against childlabour, by means of its technical assistance and its sys-tem to monitor ratified Conventions.

A few words now about the second strategic objec-tive — create greater opportunities for women andmen to secure decent employment and income. It isessential that fundamental rights be fully respected inthis area. What remains to be done in this sphere is atask of considerable magnitude which is jointly theresponsibility of the social partners, the governments,the regional organizations and the international com-munity as a whole. It is necessary to create more pro-ductive work, and at the same time to promote therecognition and the effective application of the basicrights of the workers, particularly in the so-called in-formal economy.

The third strategic objective — enhance the co-verage and effectiveness of social protection for all —

covers one of the most important aspects of the pro-tection of workers, that is prevention, occupationalsafety and health. It is an area in which indicators arethe source of great concern. Next year this objectivewould merit a general discussion in the framework ofthe International Labour Conference in order to de-fine future guidelines for the ILO in this particularlysensitive area of social protection in the workplace.

The final objectives — strengthen tripartism andsocial dialogue — has a fundamental role to play inhelp with good governance, the promotion of the rightof peoples to social and economic development, theprevention of social conflicts and the strengtheningsocial cohesion. This social dialogue must continue tobe based upon the tripartite mechanism which hascharacterized it to date.

The Portuguese Government recognizes the excel-lent work done by the ILO and appreciates the techni-cal and financial support provided by the Organiz-ation. We welcome the fact that a regional office willbe opening in Lisbon in the very near future, whichwill contribute to strengthening the participation ofour authorities and the social partners in Portugal inthe activities of the ILO. It will give us the opportu-nity to enhance our privileged relationship with thePortuguese-speaking countries, and particularly EastTimor, which has recently joined the internationalcommunity, a move on which we must all congratu-late it.

I do not want to conclude without expressing thefull support of my country for the Declaration bythe Spanish Presidency of the European Union on theMiddle East. The creation of jobs and social dialogueare indispensable elements to achieve peace in theegion. It is an obligation of the international commu-nity to pay particular attention to this whole recon-struction effort.

Ms. BANNERMAN (Minister of Manpower De-velopment and Employment, Ghana) — On behalf ofthe Ghanaian delegation, I would like to echo the sen-timents expressed by various other speakers andwarmly congratulate the President on his election. Itis our conviction that, with the support of the otherofficers of the Conference, to whom we also extendcongratulations, this Conference will accomplish itstasks successfully. I also wish to commend the Direc-tor-General for his erudite and insightful Report onthe progress made by the ILO towards making theworld of work a stimulating and rewarding place forall its stakeholders.

We live and work in a globalized market economywhere the majority of the world’s population still suf-fer inhumane and worsening living conditions andoperate in a hostile working environment. We areconfronted with serious problems of child labour,increasing poverty, and the devastating effects ofHIV/AIDS. The magnitude of these problems re-quires us to review our strategies more frequently tohelp us determine our strengths and weaknesses anddesign appropriate responses with renewed vigourand sense of purpose.

The exploitation of children for labour thrives onpoverty and ignorance. In Ghana, as in many develop-ing countries, unscrupulous adults exploit the igno-rance of poor parents and the innocence of children torecruit and exploit children for labour. Quite often,poor unsuspecting parents are lured into handing overtheir children to traffickers who pose as benevolent

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prosperous people, offering to provide training and abetter life for them.

Innocent children are often encouraged or coercedinto working for small payments to meet their ownimmediate needs, or those of the family. Families andcommunities are often ignorant of the consequencesof child labour, especially the fact that child labourperpetuates poverty. They therefore use their ownchildren for labour instead of sending them to school,even if they can afford to do so.

Working children lose the opportunity to be caredfor properly at home, to receive a consistent formaleducation, social guidance, and adequate nutritionand health care. The end result is that they do nothave the opportunity for proper physical, emotional,educational and social development. At the sametime, they are exposed to social and environmentalhazards, leading to poor health. Most of these chil-dren grow up into adults with little or no marketableskills, and become caught up in the illiteracy-povertycycle, with little or no prospect of breaking out.

Over the years the Government of Ghana hasshown commitment in ensuring the survival, protec-tion and development of the child by creating institu-tional structures to deal with issues relating to chil-dren, and passing laws, such as the Children’s Act(Act 560) to protect children.

Our Constitution recognizes that every child has aright to be protected from engaging in work that con-stitutes a threat to its health, education or develop-ment.

In addition, Ghana has ratified the UN Conventionon the Rights of the Child as well as the ILO WorstForms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).In March 2000, the Government of Ghana signed aMemorandum of Understanding with the ILO forthe elimination of child labour under the IPECprogramme, starting with the worst forms of childlabour.

To further our commitment a national steeringcommittee on child labour has been set up and a childlabour unit established to work with other develop-ment partners for the elimination of child labour fromour country.

The elimination of the worst forms of child labouris now high on the Government’s developmentagenda. There were previously no specific laws onchild trafficking, but such a law has now been incor-porated into our new labour bill. Meanwhile, ourCriminal Code has been amended to include specificlaws on human trafficking. Last year a statisticalmonitoring programme on child labour was commis-sioned.

In recognition of the indispensable role played bywomen in the development of children, a new minis-try has been created with the sole responsibility ofmonitoring women’s and children’s welfare. In addi-tion, a minister has been appointed to oversee theeducation of girls in Ghana.

The scale of the challenges arising from childlabour is such that neither the ILO, nor its social part-ners can solve these problems acting alone. We areconvinced that real progress will come only throughcoherent international action based on national poli-cies that focus on children and lead to measurable,verifiable changes in their quality of life. With this inmind, we call for stronger interagency cooperation infashioning responses that will emancipate familiesfrom poverty and ignorance. Such cooperation would

also eliminate duplication and promote efficient useof resources.

Notwithstanding all the various programmes andinitiatives that have already been undertaken, a lotmore still remains to be done and we are convincedthat with commitment and determination we will beable to eliminate all forms of child labour in the not sodistant future.

Original Spanish: Mr. VILLARAN DE LAPUENTE (Minister of Labour and Employment Pro-motion, Peru) — I would like to deal with one of themost important issues of this Conference, that ofthe informal economy.

Despite the great progress made in research, andthe design of instruments and policies aimed at chang-ing the situation, the informal economy is far fromhaving been eliminated and, on the contrary, duringthe recent years it has grown in a sustainable way ofgreater opportunities and globalization.

As we have seen in the recent ILO report, decentwork and the informal economy: “Contrary to earlierpredictions, the informal economy has been growingrapidly in almost every corner of the globe, includingindustrialized countries — it can no longer be consid-ered a temporary or residual phenomenon.”

In the case of Peru, international cooperation agen-cies, including the ILO, NGOs, municipalities, aca-demics and the State, we have successfully developedan efficient microfinance system and 87 financial in-stitutions have grown at an annual rate of 15 per centover the last ten years with 350,000 clients. There aremore than 40 centres for entrepreneurship and tech-nical innovation where we offer information, advice,training and commercial services to tens of thousandsof micro- and small enterprises. COFORPI hasgranted more than a million titles of ownership tosettlers, most of them entrepreneurs, in low-incomeareas of the country’s cities. PROMPYME, a govern-ment agency, has channelled state spending towardsmicro- and small enterprises.

Despite all of this, the informal economy hasgrown. From being 58 per cent of the active workforcein 1990, it became 64 per cent in 2001. These statisticsconcur with the results of the ILO report on LatinAmerica, in which they report that urban informalemployment has grown from 50 per cent in 1990 to58 per cent in 1997. We are talking about a majority ofthe people in our countries. Although our Govern-ment will continue to support and promote micro-and small enterprises through these and other instru-ments and policies, we are not satisfied and think thatradical decisions must be made.

In December 2001, around 300 people died in atragedy which took place in Mesa Redonda, aneighbourhood in Lima which is completely givenover to the informal sector. A fire broke out whichwas impossible to contain and could not have beenpredicted. That was the day we understood that theinformal economy is not only offensive and segrega-tionist, but it also kills people. We came to the conclu-sion that we cannot put up with this type of situationany longer.

How can we halt the growth of the informaleconomy? How can we integrate the majority of thePeruvian population into the formal economy in arelatively short period of time? Although we mustcontinue the efforts which we have made in trying tolower the demands of the current formal economy, it

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is clear that this approach has not been effective inrecent years.

This is why the proposal we are currently drawingup in the Ministry of Labour and Employment Pro-motion in Peru is that of designing a specific and tem-porary (between five and ten years) legal system formicro- and small enterprises. Rather than makingthem comply with a distant, rigid and inflexible legalsystem, our intention is to create a legal system whichis closer to their situation, a set of standards and re-quirements which will enable them to become part ofthe formal economy in a short period of time.

This proposal is in line with the strategic objectivesof the ILO which are to promote decent work, elimi-nate child labour, combat discrimination againstwomen workers and entrepreneurs, implement realis-tic and applicable standards promote safety andhealth in the workplace and foster social dialogue, asreflected in the Director-General’s Report.

We are designing a new legal system which hasfive well-defined areas: (i) the simplification ofprocedures and requirements; (ii) social security;(iii) labour systems; (iv) taxation systems; and (v) acomplete framework for development.

It is clear that this is not going to be easy, and willinvolve breaking away from traditional patterns.Some people in the formal economy have suggestedthat we are creating “second class citizens” by pro-posing a legal system with fewer requirements and,therefore, fewer rights.

Our point of view is quite the opposite. We are nottrying to reduce anybody’s rights; we are trying tocreate rights for those who presently have none; weare trying to give the majority of the population whichis excluded from the modern world access to itsbenefits.

We cannot allow for the majority of the Peruvianpopulation, and populations in many other countries,to live outside the law, without any protection orrights. We must create a new social pact which in-volves everyone. Then, after we have created this so-cial pact, we can establish dialogue with the minorityof people who already form part of the formaleconomy, which we could call dialogue between twolegal systems.

It would be wrong for the formal sector to be op-posed to such dialogue, to insist on continuing as be-fore and to deny the possibility of creating a new legalsystem. Not only would this have economic and socialimplications, but it would encourage the current in-correct strategy of tripartism, namely that of main-taining a privileged minority.

Original Arabic: Mr. AL-FAISALY (Governmentdelegate, Yemen) — In the name of God, the Merciful,the Compassionate! On behalf of my delegation it isan honour for me to congratulate the President, andthe Vice-Presidents on their election to these highposts.

I would like to take this opportunity to inform theDirector-General of my country’s great respect for thetireless efforts that he has been making to achieveprogress for the Organization. We have taken duenote of the Director-General’s Report and in particu-lar, the section concerned with follow-up of funda-mental rights and the details of the related technicalprogramme.

With the assistance of the Regional Office inBeirut, Yemen has been able to devise a national em-

ployment strategy for 2001-02. We hope this will giverise to the convening of a symposium on employment,which would be the first of its kind in Yemen oncestudies of the macroeconomy, employment, salariesand wages, small businesses, working conditions andsocial security are complete.

Yemen has also taken measures in order to elimi-nate child labour. We have put in place a number ofprogrammes and projects at national level in coopera-tion with social partners. Here, I would like to reiter-ate a point made by the Director-General about theneed to strengthen cooperation within headquartersand between headquarters and the regional offices asthe best guarantee for the success of this Organiz-ation.

The tragic fate of Palestinians — who are con-stantly the victims of genocide and attacks, whosegoods and property are stolen and who are attackedby Israel — prove that Israel is making a mockery ofinternational rights and violating human values,which are the very raison d’être of this Organization,which seeks to protect human beings. That is why theInternational Labour Organization must incorporatethe Palestinian issue into its plans and programmes, inits capacity as a defender of wronged peoples. Theattacks on Palestinian territory are sapping theefforts of the International Labour Organization inPalestine.

It is also absolutely imperative that we finish draft-ing the Recommendation on cooperatives in order toface up to the economic and social challenges re-sulting from economic liberalization. We also thinkthat the proposed Recommendation will create afavourable atmosphere and strengthen the role of theGovernment in creating cooperatives. Cooperativeswill then be able to become democratic undertakingswhose efficiency will be based on the strengths oftheir members. The Government of Yemen haspassed a law on cooperatives in line with the proposedRecommendation.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say thatit is absolutely essential that a new international in-strument be drawn up to help governments to take upthe challenges resulting from the informal sector. Theinformal sector has been expanding in countries intransition and in developing countries. It is a littleknown fact that Arab countries only receive about3.8 per cent of the ILO budget for technical coopera-tion. We need a great deal more resources and that iswhy increased attention must be paid to this issue infuture. We believe that the budget surplus for 2000-01should be redistributed to the regions and countriesthat need it most.

Activities in the Arab and Asian countries andArab and African countries are still to a great extentinadequate and lack coordination. That is why wehope that the Arab cooperation programmes willmeet the aspirations of those countries.

We also hope that in future the Arabic languagewill be used more on the ILO’s Internet site in co-operation with the Arab Labour Organization. Thiswill make it possible for the 22 Arabic-speaking coun-tries to better understand and keep abreast of theOrganization’s activities.

Original Russian: Mr. SAKHAN (Minister ofLabour and Social Policy, Ukraine) — I would like tojoin those who have congratulated the President ofthe Conference and express my sincere hope that the

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90th Session of the International Labour Conference,which is an anniversary Conference, becomes a mile-stone as we move towards our common goal ofachieving decent work and social justice.

The reports submitted by the ILO Director-General and Chairperson of the Governing Body tothe Conference are a response to today’s challenges.They are truly very timely. Indeed, it is impossible toachieve the goals of decent work without providingsocial protection and suitable working conditions forthose in the economy. Are the wide spread hazardousworking conditions and occupational accidents anddiseases there — as well as the absence of a mecha-nism to record and prevent them — in keeping withthe principles of decent work?

The Government of Ukraine monitors the informaleconomy, and some of the results of this monitoringhave been submitted in Report VI. With the help ofthis data, the Government is trying to influence thesituation, particularly by requiring the registration oflabour contracts between hired workers and employ-ers who are natural — not juridical — persons. Thisallows the inclusion of workers in the existing socialwelfare system. But serious problems in the informalsector remain. The Government of Ukraine whollysupports the conclusions of the Report on the need toincrease investment in the labour force, to assist thedevelopment of cooperatives, to create small busi-nesses and provide the necessary political andorganizational conditions for their development.These things will bring us closer to our goal: decentwork for everyone.

We believe that international labour standards playa key role in this process. We also believe that the ILOshould also examine such issues as the migration ofworkers and social protection for migrant workersbecause many of the work in the informal economy.Here, too, a lot of unsolved problems have accumu-lated.

I would also like to say a few words about the prob-lems of child labour. In the past few years, all over theworld, views on child labour have undergone signifi-cant changes. The concern expressed by the ILO, andthe adoption of international standards, has not onlytransformed national legislation. It has also made thepublic at large increasingly aware that child labour isnot merely the crippled life of an individual child. Inthe final analysis, it means the loss of generations.

It is with great pleasure that I can inform confer-ence delegates that the Government of Ukraine istaking concrete political and practical steps towardratification of Convention No. 182. This year for thefirst time, at the instructions of the Government, astate report was prepared on child labour. Ukrainehas become a participant in the InternationalProgramme on the Elimination of Child Labour andhas signed a Memorandum of Understanding with theILO.

In the past few years, cooperation betweenUkraine and the ILO has become more dynamic andconsistent. Ukraine has ratified 54 ILO Conventions,including the eight fundamental Conventions. Techni-cal cooperation between the ILO and Ukraine en-compasses many areas. ILO projects in Ukraine havepractical results, they also influence state policy-making in the labour and social welfare sphere. Forexample, the ILO/UNDP project, financed by theGovernment of Switzerland and introducing a modu-lar system of professional training for the unem-

ployed, is now included in the state employmentprogramme. Another project, funding for which isstill small, provides training for the handicapped. It ishelping to create a new state policy as well as tochange public attitudes toward this vulnerable cat-egory of people. Within the framework of the project“Ukraine: Furtherance of Basic Rights and Principlesin the Labour Sphere”, the Government andUkraine’s social partners are now receiving substan-tial assistance from the ILO in providing freedomof association and gender equality as well as in prepar-ing a new labour code, which is being drafted byUkrainian experts.

The Government of Ukraine has ratified a compre-hensive programme against trafficking in persons.

Ukraine is grateful to the ILO for its plans, withinthe framework of technical cooperation, to helpimplement that programme.

We hope that in the future such cooperation willgrow.

In conclusion, I would once again like to wish theConference success.

Original Russian: Mr. SHMAKOV (Workers’ del-egate, Russian Federation) — My first comment is thatthe Report of the Director-General of the ILO sub-mitted to the 90th Session of the International LabourConference gives a comprehensive and detailed pic-ture of what the Organization and its Members haveaccomplished in the past biennium.

These two years were years of intensive coopera-tion between the ILO and the Russian Federationwithin the framework of a programme of cooperationwhich we, as one of the partners of the social dialogue,think has been fairly successfully implemented.

In this connection, expressing the view of the vastmajority of the trade union members of our country, Iwould like to express our satisfaction with the workthat the experts of the ILO have done in analysing andpresenting recommendations which have undoubt-edly had a positive impact on the contents of the newLabour Code of the Russian Federation, especiallyinsofar as they are consistent with the provisions ofinternational labour standards. The Code has beenadopted, it has begun operating and the hullabaloosurrounding it is dying down. Of course, the text is notideal and cannot in itself completely satisfy the inter-ests of all strata of Russian society. However, I wouldlike to say that, this is the first time in the history ofmodern Russia, that legislative a text of such scopehas been adopted as a result of true tripartite coopera-tion. In principle, if we cast aside speculation arisingas a result of fears about a possible infringement ofprivileges, I stress privileges and not rights, then it ispossible to consider the new Labour Code as a quiteprogressive document in the area of regulating labourrelations. We think that the practice of conducting so-cial dialogue at the national level could serve as anexample for other Members of the Organization.

Two years ago, from this rostrum, I expressed ourconcern about a legislative Bill concerning the intro-duction in our country of a single social tax. Unfortu-nately, Russian lawmakers did not heed the opinion oftrade unions. As a result, almost everywhere there hasbeen a drop in the social protection of workers andtheir families. What is most worrying is the cut in sup-port for the healthcare system and for the rehabilita-tion of individuals and, what angers us more, for therecreation and medical treatment of children in the

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school holidays. The trade unions of the Russian Fed-eration have sharply criticized this policy and demandthat the Government of the Russian Federationabolish this single social tax and return to the insur-ance principles of social security.

Yesterday, the international community united inthe International Labour Organization marked thefirst International Day to Combat Child Labour. Itmust be acknowledged that, in the Russian Federa-tion (and this is confirmed by the Global Report ofthe ILO), this is a very topical problem. Unfortu-nately, until recently, this issue has not receivedenough attention in our country. But we hope thatwith the ratification of the Worst Forms of ChildLabour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), this year, thesituation will improve and the Russian trade unionswill do everything they can to contribute to that. Wealso hope that the presidential programme to combatchild homelessness, which has been adopted this yearand which the trade unions as a responsible socialforce have supported up to the hilt. This phenomenonwhich is a disgrace to our country.

In March of this year a third programme of coop-eration between the ILO and the Russian Federationwas signed. In the course of signing this document, therepresentatives of the workers of the Russian Federa-tion touched upon a topic which, on the one hand,might seem not to have a direct connection with theevent in question but which, on the other hand, is asine qua non for the achievement of the underlyinggoals of the ILO.

What I mean is establishing a sustainable atmo-sphere of trust as a factor for the economic develop-ment of society. All participants in the social dialogueare interested in the strengthening of mutual confi-dence. The State requires the trust of society in orderto satisfy the interests of society, it being the vocationof the State to serve society. If their businesses are tosucceed, employers need the trust of the Governmentand their employees. Workers are the largest compo-nent of society and, at the same time, are the directcreators of all types of wealth. They must thereforealso be confident that their abilities will be demandedin keeping with their investment in the developmentof society, business and the State.

We are deeply convinced that the interdependentchain of interest which promotes economic and socialprogress and the building of an effective civil societymust form the basis of any dialogue, especially a dia-logue which constitutes the very essence of the phi-losophy and work of the ILO.

I believe that the ideas of social dialogue will be fur-ther developed in our country as a result of the visit bythe Director-General of the ILO, which is scheduledfor July of this year. At all events, the Russian tradeunions will give all possible assistance in that respect.

Original French: Mr. THYS (representative of theWorld Confederation of Labour) — We would like totake this opportunity to congratulate the Director-General on his commitment to ensuring that theILO’s voice is heard and to gaining recognition for itsrightful place on the international scene. We supporthim wholeheartedly in his efforts to place the Interna-tional Labour Organization on the same level as theWTO and the Bretton Woods financial institutions.We feel that effective cooperation among these orga-nizations and addressing the social dimension of glo-balization are all factors that can contribute to nar-

rowing the world’s inequalities. Indeed, the interna-tional financial institutions have to understand theneed to include in their action plans the social aspect,on the one hand, but also recognition of the funda-mental principles and rights at work relating to theConventions on freedom of association and effectiverecognition of the right to collective bargaining, theelimination of all forms of forced or compulsorylabour, the effective abolition of child labour and theelimination of discrimination in respect of employ-ment and occupation.

This is the context in which we would like the ILOto participate more significantly in major UnitedNations conferences such as the International Con-ference on Financing for Development held inMonterrey and the World Summit on Sustainable De-velopment to be held in Johannesburg.

We all know that democratization of internationalorganizations is necessary. To this end, at our WorldCongress in Bucharest we took a stand in favour ofbuilding a regional and international trade unioncountervailing force to stand up to neo-liberal global-ization and supported the creation of an Economicand Social Security Council within the framework ofthe United Nations. This body would be charged withensuring socio-economic regulation of the globaliza-tion process, with representation of trade unions andnon-governmental organizations.

The World Confederation of Labour has alwaysbeen very much involved in the standards-relatedprocess of the ILO, be it in the drafting of standards orin the supervisory machinery and complaints proce-dures. We are convinced of the need for a modern andstrengthened ILO normative system. Such a review ofthe system will only be possible, as the Workers’group has stressed, when all three groups are jointlycommitted to improving the ILO’s normative activ-ities — not to weakening them. Unfortunately, itwould appear that this joint initiative is still very mucha Utopia today, given the positions taken by the em-ployers and many governments.

Standards, like laws, are a specific response to aspecific problem. The World Confederation ofLabour, one of the ILO’s partners, considers thatmodernization of the ILO’s normative system impliesthat the ILO should be capable of genuinely protect-ing all workers and that it should seek the most effec-tive means of promoting social justice, that respect foreach person’s dignity should be mandatory and, lastly,that standards should become the basis of a body ofsupra-national social legislation that cannot beevaded, the development of which should be man-aged on a tripartite basis.

We would also like to take this opportunity to con-gratulate the International Labour Organization onthe creation of the World Commission on the SocialDimension of Globalization. Every effort must bemade to ensure that it achieves its ultimate objective:that globalization should be a means of reducing pov-erty and unemployment in favour of growth and sus-tainable development. We would like to take this op-portunity to sound the alarm against the current trendof criminalizing the social struggle. All too oftencriminal sanctions are imposed on defenders of socialjustice.

The World Confederation of Labour also expressesits solidarity with the workers and the people of Pales-tine. The spiral of violence is currently reaching alevel rarely equalled in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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The WCL considers the military attacks on the Pales-tinian people to be unacceptable, just as it firmly con-demns the terrorist acts which cause the death of in-nocent persons. We are convinced that the origin ofthe suffering of the Palestinian workers and peoplelies in the constant violation of the United Nationsresolutions which stipulate the right of the Palestinianpeople to their own territory and State.

We condemn all forms of violence and appeal for ajust and lasting peace between Palestine and Israel.Peace in the Middle East will only be possible if theUnited Nations resolutions are respected and applied.The international community must take all the diplo-matic action necessary to secure the end of hostilitiesand the initiation of negotiations aimed at making itpossible to set up a Palestinian State. The creationand implementation of an international peace-keep-ing force under the auspices of the United Nationswould constitute a guarantee in this respect whilestrictly observing the United Nations resolutions. TheILO must strengthen its action in the Middle East inorder to ensure that the rights of Palestinian workersare guaranteed.

Just and lasting peace between Palestine and Israelwill be a key contribution to global détente and thepeaceful resolution of other conflicts. Peace is crucialto achieving a world order based on solidarity and so-cial justice as the foundations of real globalizationwith a human face.

Original Arabic: Mr. AL-JUMA (Minister of Man-power, Oman) — It is an honour for me to convey toyou the greetings of the Sultan of Oman, His MajestyQabus Bin Saïd, and those of his Government, and toexpress to you his wishes for full success in carryingout the work of this Conference. Allow me to con-gratulate the President on his election to preside overthis session of the Conference. We have every confi-dence that his skills will guarantee the full success ofthis Conference, so that we may attain the goals whichwe have set for ourselves.

The Director-General, justly so, has highlighted anumber of points in his Report, particularly the issueof child labour, in conformity with the basic principlesembodied in the ILO Declaration on FundamentalPrinciples and Rights at Work, as well as the Univer-sal Declaration of Human Rights. You are undoubt-edly aware of the social dangers of child labour, whenchildren leave their homes too early in order to earn aliving, and find themselves at the mercy of people whomay exploit them, who may abuse them and forcethem to work.

The situation prevailing in the world today, withwars, disasters and poor economic conditions, has hadevil consequences for children. This makes it incum-bent upon the rich countries to fulfil their humani-tarian duty to the poor countries, to guarantee a de-cent life for the children and shelter them fromexploitation. We are following with great apprecia-tion the efforts undertaken by the InternationalLabour Organization in its standard-setting activitiesin pursuit of the effective elimination of child labour.

We have listened attentively to a number of delega-tions which have addressed the issue of globalization,and it is our wish to state here that unfortunately glo-balization is inevitable and we are all obliged to dealwith it, and try to develop its positive aspects whiletrying to limit its negative effects, with the aim of im-proving the global economic situation for the benefit

of all peoples throughout the world, and for theachievement of the justice, peace and security towhich we all aspire.

Throughout its history humankind has neverknown borders and frontiers, especially now in the eraof globalization where transportation and communi-cations are facilitated. People can emigrate today farmore easily than ever, and that is the reason for emi-gration from developing countries to industrializedcountries, which is increasing despite all the restric-tions placed on migration. It is therefore in all our in-terests that the economic situation be more equitable.

With its rich heritage, and on the basis of the prin-ciples of the Islamic sharia, in compliance with theDeclaration of the Rights of the Child and the Univer-sal Declaration of Human Rights, the Sultanate ofOman has adopted economic and social policieswhich guarantee a better life for children, so that theycan better fulfil their potential. It is our duty to pro-tect children, to guarantee that they will have a betterfuture.

The Sultanate of Oman passed legislation whichprovides children with social protection, health cover-age and education. These efforts culminated in ourratification of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Con-vention, 1999 (No. 182).

The Sultanate of Oman is convinced of the impor-tance of human development, as the pivot of develop-ment. That is why the government has attached greatimportance to the formulation of educational andtraining policies to prepare young people for thelabour market, and to ensure opportunities for a dig-nified life for all, by concentrating on the principle ofcooperation in training and employment, involvingthe tripartite partnership of the government, the em-ployers and the workers.

In conclusion, it is clear that repressive practices ofIsrael have created an inhumane situation and have inparticular inflicted suffering on Palestinian workers,depriving them of their most fundamental rights. TheIsraeli war machine has destroyed the health, socialand economic infrastructure. This is a flagrant viola-tion of international law and of the United NationalCharter, as these practices deny the workers all pros-pects of dignified work. We endorse the Report of theDirector-General on the situation of the workers inthe occupied Arab territories.

It is our hope that security, peace and stability willreign in this world, so that we can all live without warand without conflict. We pray that we will be able tolive in a better world, in a world of peace.

Mr. KHAN (Minister of Labour and Employment,Bangladesh) — We warmly congratulate the Presi-dent and other members of the Office on their elec-tion. We have faith in their leadership and assurethem of our full support and cooperation. I thank theDirector-General for his Report and his statement.He has rightly highlighted the plight of the Palestinianworkers in the occupied territories. We are gravelyconcerned about the situation of the Palestinianworkers and express our full solidarity with them. It isimperative that we act decisively and urgently to pro-tect their rights.

Bangladesh has ratified 33 ILO Conventions, in-cluding seven out of the eight core Conventions. Weare committed to the full and effective implementa-tion of our obligations under these Conventions. It isbecause of this conviction that we support the ILO’s

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decent work initiative. We hope this initiative can pro-vide the basis for a new development paradigm to ef-fectively address the new challenges faced by employ-ment owing to the process of globalization. We lookforward to the ILO launching the pilot project on thedecent work initiative in Bangladesh soon. With anestimated 35 million unemployed people in Bangla-desh, there is no time to lose on embarking on thisinitiative.

In the context of globalization and its potentialnegative impact on developing countries, we believethat the scarce resources spent on preparing for warand other destructive purposes should be diverted to-wards development and creating employment.

The ILO is closely associated with our efforts toeliminate child labour. Our approach to this problemis pragmatic. We recognize that underlying povertyand economic necessity must also be addressed tobring about a realistic solution. Legislative or admin-istrative actions or coercive measures are not in them-selves sufficient. The Government of Prime MinisterBegum Khaleda Zia is fully committed to eliminatingchild labour. She has undertaken innovative pro-grammes, including that of food for education. More-over, the Government has introduced a monthly sti-pend for up to two children in each family to increaseenrolment and stop children from dropping out ofschool for economic reasons.

The MOU signed by the Bangladesh GarmentManufacturers and Exporters Association, the ILOand UNICEF for the elimination of child labour fromthe ready-made garment industries has been imple-mented successfully. We are in the process oflaunching another major time-bound initiative for theelimination of the worst forms of child labour, withsupport from the ILO.

I now wish to raise the subject of internationallabour migration. While we have liberalized themovement of goods and capital, we have not donemuch to create a regime for the orderly movementof labour. The short-term movement of workersfrom our countries to meet labour demands in the in-dustrialized economies helps both sides. This subjectis of particular interest to us since an estimated300,000 people leave Bangladesh every year for betterjobs abroad. There is a need for urgent global actionto develop an orderly migration regime, in which theILO could take a lead.

I would like to conclude by briefly touching on theparticular needs of the least developed countries. Onaccount of our inherent structural weaknesses, we areunable to integrate effectively into the emerging glo-bal trade and labour market intricacies. If these diffi-culties are not addressed, the decent work paradigmmay remain elusive for us. The activities in the ILOfor the LDCs need to be strengthened further, withnew programmes and additional resources. We wouldurge the ILO to continue to attach high priority toimplementing programmes in the LDCs, concentrat-ing on decent work.

Mr. NUWA WEA (Minister of Manpower andTransmigration, Indonesia) — Allow me at the outset,on behalf of the Indonesian delegation, to express ourwarm congratulations to the President on his electionto preside over this 90th Session of the InternationalLabour Conference. I am convinced that your greatexperience and long association with the Organiz-ation will guide this important session of the Confer-

ence to a successful conclusion. I should also like tocongratulate the Vice-Presidents on their respectiveelections.

I should also like to compliment the Director-General on his comprehensive Report to this Confer-ence, which the Indonesian delegation fully supports.It is my opinion that we are moving progressively to-wards the goals of decent work and that this generaldebate will contribute significantly to the future workof the Organization.

I would like to give you a brief overview of the mea-sures which the Government of Indonesia, in collabo-ration with other participants, is actively striving toimplement in order to conform with ILO objectives,in particular how best to promote the principle ofrights in the workplace and employment on a nationalscale. Efforts have been made through a series ofactivities country-wide to ensure the full implementa-tion of the ILO Core Conventions, all of which Indo-nesia has ratified.

Perhaps I may mention briefly here a number ofproblems which Indonesia is currently facing in itslabour and employment sector. These include inparticular the relatively high rate of unemployment,limited employment opportunities, and less than con-ducive industrial relations. In this connection I shouldlike to express my sincere thanks to the Director-General of the ILO for responding positively to theproposal put forward by the Government of Indone-sia to become the lead country in the Young Employ-ment Network Programme.

Despite the national laws and regulations whichprohibit children under 15 years from working in In-donesia, child labour proved difficult to eliminate.This is due to the fact that most working children arefound in the informal economy. Nevertheless, theGovernment remains steadfast in its attempt to elimi-nate all the worst forms of child labour. As a follow-upto the ratification of related Conventions, a NationalCommittee was established in 2001. In the same vein,on 20 May 2002, the Government of Indonesialaunched the National Campaign on the Eliminationof Child Labour.

The Government of Indonesia is sincere in its de-sire to apply the principles of freedom of associationto help restore harmonious relations between thevarious parties and encourage them to solve their dif-ferences through a series of social dialogues. Today,these government efforts have largely paid off, andthe prospect of improved industrial relations is nowbrighter.

I should not like to conclude these remarks withoutexpressing my deep regret over the ongoing violationsin Palestine. Indeed, I sincerely hope that the ILO willlend its weight to resolving the matter.

Finally, it is an undeniable fact that, since its incep-tion, the ILO has played an important constructiverole in the history of mankind. Indonesia sincerelyhopes that it will continue in this path. Moreover, wehave always supported the Organization, and havefull confidence in its ability to deal with the multipleproblems which confront us today. We maintain thisfaith and look forward to another half-century ofdedicated work by the ILO on behalf of socialprogress and justice for all.

Mr. SULKOWSKI (Employers’ delegate, Poland)— The Director-General’s Report pays remarkableattention to the issue of successful social dialogue. For

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this reason, speaking on behalf of Polish employers, Iwould like to present two cases that illustrate ourpositive experience in this area of cooperation of so-cial partners in the past year. These are first, the estab-lishment, based on new legislation, of an institutionfor social dialogue in Poland and, second, a tripartiteagreement on the draft of a new law on occupationalaccidents and diseases insurance.

In the first case the partners had to consult andagree on the issue of principles governing the selec-tion of representative organizations and on the modeof the dialogue. This involved the answer to the ques-tion of whether the institution of social dialogue inPoland should function based on a tripartite model,with the participation of the Government as a partner,or on the basis of an autonomous dialogue from thevery outset. For example, it is the bilateral dialoguethat is found in the majority of the European Unioncountries. In the end, there were two main factors thatargued in favour of adopting a tripartite mode of op-eration: the still important role of the State as an em-ployer and an anticipated large scope of privatizationin the restructuring process.

The principle of selecting representative organiza-tions for the purpose of the institution of social dia-logue was the subject of controversy between the twoemployers’ confederations active in Poland. The factthat they reached a compromise on this issue made itpossible, in a short period of time, to conclude the tri-partite agreement between the social partners, to passa new law and to appoint the tripartite committee onsocial dialogue that has operated since November oflast year. We acknowledge it as a success for the socialpartners in Poland.

One initiative that is quite innovative indeed in thearea of social security is the draft of the Law on Occu-pational Accidents and Diseases Insurance. It is nowbefore the legislature in Poland. As a result of the tri-partite committee’s work on the draft of this law,amendments had been introduced to take into ac-count the postulates presented by the trade unionsand employers. As a result, it was possible to reach anagreement regarding this draft between all parties onthe tripartite committee. One of its special advantagesis that it not only includes compensation provisions,but also preventive measures. It differentiates theamount of contributions paid by the employers de-pending on workplace conditions and previous occur-rences of accidents at work and occupational illnesses.We are counting on a quick adoption of this law by theParliament, and expect that its entry into force nextyear will quickly become a factor encouraging theemployers to take proper care of workplace condi-tions. On the other hand, it will eliminate unfair com-petition in respect of the observance of labour protec-tion standards.

We are open to sharing our current and future ex-periences in this respect through the InternationalLabour Organization.

Mr. RYSSDAL (State Secretary, Norway) — I amvery honoured to have the opportunity to address theInternational Labour Conference.

The Report of the Director-General, ILO pro-gramme implementation 2000-01 demonstrates thebenefits of strategic budgeting; but the Report alsoindicates clearly that strategic budgeting is a long-term process which has just started. Establishingreliable, measurable performance indicators is of vital

importance in this context. My Government will fol-low this reform process with great interest and sup-port. We believe that reforms are necessary to makethe ILO more relevant. Institutional reform is ne-cessary to enable the ILO, together with its partnersin the United Nations system, to respond more effec-tively, and in a more coordinated fashion, to the glo-bal challenges of our time.

Norway has always given full political and eco-nomic support to the ILO’s efforts to combat socialinjustice and promote fundamental rights at work. Itherefore notice, with great satisfaction, the very suc-cessful ratification campaign following the adoptionof the Declaration in 1998. The ILO core Conventionsare indeed becoming universal. However, we all knowthat among the countries which have as yet failed toratify the core Conventions, the need for our supportis great. The ILO’s mandate is to assist those countriesin improving working conditions and legislation in or-der to make it possible for them to ratify the coreConventions.

Since I did not speak in yesterday’s debate on childlabour, allow me a few brief remarks on that issue.

The Norwegian Government remains stronglycommitted to the fight to abolish child labour. Childlabour in its worst forms is, in my opinion, one of themost pressing social and human rights issues of ourtime. We are outraged that millions of children aresold for prostitution and pornography, trafficked andtreated like slaves or exploited in hazardous work.

We are therefore very pleased that the progress ofratification of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Con-vention, 1999 (No. 182), has already reached the num-ber of 122. This year’s Global Report A future withoutchild labour presents us with a large number of ac-tions to deal with this cause. Still, we read that some180 million children are exploited in the worst formsof child labour. I believe that the elimination of thesemost intolerable forms of child exploitation shouldcurrently be the single most important objective ofthe ILO and its member States.

I visited the huge building of ILO headquarters forthe first time today. It is an impressive building and Iwas a bit surprised to learn that this building is not bigenough to house the Geneva-based staff of the ILObut has to be supplemented by a temporary officebuilding. In this situation, I would recommend thatthe Director-General consider the distribution of staffbetween headquarters and the field. More ILO staffshould be moved to the field rather than increasingthe staff at headquarters. It is, after all, in the fieldthat the real work is done.

The Director-General’s report on the situation ofworkers of the occupied Arab territories describes asituation where poverty, unemployment and eco-nomic decline are advancing at an alarming rate, lead-ing to a widespread humanitarian crisis. We supportthe conclusion that the ILO should immediately reas-sess existing programmes of technical cooperation inthe light of this new situation. First of all, we must allmake a true effort to encourage the parties to resumepolitical dialogue and to reach a permanent settle-ment. Only then will the rights and interests of theworkers of this region be safeguarded as they deserveto be. No one could be satisfied with the present situ-ation.

Mr. FARIDI-ARAGHI (Employers’ adviser andsubstitute delegate, Islamic Republic of Iran) — Allow

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me to start, as a member of the delegation of the IranConfederation of Employers’ Associations to thisConference, to congratulate the President on his elec-tion to chair this august gathering.

As many of you may know the Islamic Republic ofIran, with almost three thousand years of written his-tory, is a vast country with an area of more than1.6 million square kilometres and a population of ap-proximately 65 million. It is located in one of the moststrategic and politically sensitive areas of the world.Our country possess national resources and wealth,such as goldmines, gas, copper and other resources,and also has considerable and significant possibilitiesin the industrial and agricultural sector. We believethat the most valuable worth of our country remainsour human resources, which include a great numberof specialist and academic graduates, including menand women from renowned universities within ourcountry and abroad.

Despite all this potential, the country, unfortu-nately, faces at the present time the problem ofhaving approximately 3 million people unemployed,most of whom are educated and highly talented indi-viduals, with approximately a further 1 millionpeople being added to those seeking employmenteach year.

We believe, as Iranian employers, that the ILOshould concentrate its main attention on the subjectof solving the unemployment problem in the world,although the activities of the ILO aimed at eliminat-ing the various types of discrimination, especially inrespect of female employment, minorities and childlabour, are outstanding, and are promising for the fu-ture. If we do not pay real attention to real needs, thegeneral outcome and losses and damages incurredwill definitely be unpleasant and costly. There is noneed to elaborate this case to the participants in thisConference, who are experienced and specialized ineconomic and social affairs. It is sufficient to remindthem that the consequences of such unemployment,especially the unemployment of young people, couldinclude corruption and crime, and could be very detri-mental to individuals’ personalities.

Since this problem indeed exists in our country, we,the Iranian employers, expect the ILO to act on andconsider directly the labour-oriented problems andissues of concern to Iran. It should re-establish its of-fice in Teheran and furnish the necessary guidelines.

As Iranian employers, we believe that the ILO canand ought to play active, constructive and determinedroles in facilitating the access of Iranian industries andservices to the global market. Furthermore, it is advis-able and necessary that foreign investment, with theparticipation of the private sector in Iranian indus-tries and services, be expanded. This has already oc-curred in the Iranian oil, petrochemical and gas sec-tors. Such an approach could have a direct impact onlowering unemployment statistics. In this context, noone can deny the important role of the ILO in pre-senting guidelines and approaches for foreign invest-ment, with preventive measures for any possiblenegative consequences.

To conclude, I would once again like to express,ladies and gentlemen, my sincere appreciation foryour kind attention and patience, and I wish you ever-increasing success.

Original Turkish: Mr. MERAL (Workers’ delegate,Turkey) — At the outset of my address I extend my

deepest regards to all here, on behalf of all theworking people in Turkey.

The Turkish working people wholeheartedly sup-port the strategic objectives specified by the Director-General. I would like to thank the Director-Generalfor the initiatives of the ILO to eradicate child labour,for the IPEC project implemented in Turkey, andfor the Report presented to the Conference on thissubject.

Turkey showed its determination to fight childlabour by ratifying Convention No. 182 last year.

Globalization, under the control of and in line withthe interests of transnational companies, is leading tosocial unrest in Turkey, as in all developing countries.It is also seriously harming small and medium-sizedenterprises.

Because of the policies imposed on my country bythe International Monetary Fund (IMF) and theWorld Bank, which are representatives of trans-national companies, agriculture and animal hus-bandry have been seriously damaged, and millions ofpeasants are moving to the cities to further swell theranks of the army of the unemployed. Productive ca-pacity is decreasing and tens of thousands of workersare losing their jobs because of reductions in the sizeof the public sector and privatizations. The dismissalsof tens of thousands of workers and public servantsthrough compulsory retirement schemes is on theagenda. In short, unemployment and poverty are in-creasing rapidly all over the country. Decent job op-portunities are not being created, and the informalsector is growing rapidly. I urge the ILO to draw theattention of the IMF and the World Bank to the econ-omic, social and political disruption that their policieslead to in developing countries.

An important aspect in my country and for theworking people is our relationship with the EuropeanUnion. We want Turkey’s accession to the EuropeanUnion. Our Government and the Grand NationalAssembly are, with this objective in mind, taking stepsto meet the legal requirements to honour Turkey’sobligations. I hope that the European Union will notprolong the accession process by demands that cannotbe realized in the short term.

I would like to state that our politicians, our Gov-ernment and the workers’ and employers’ parties arecooperating in the endeavours to overcome the econ-omic, social and political problems of my country. OurGovernment has taken positive steps to preventunemployment in spite of the unnecessary inter-ventions of the IMF. In addition, it has been possibleto ensure the continuous employment of about100,000 temporary workers whose labour contractswere valid only for a short period of time. To promotethe organization of workers in trade unions, under arecently promulgated Act, certain employers’ pay-ments have been postponed. On the other hand, theJob Security Bill, requested fervently by workingpeople has been submitted to the Parliament, and weare expecting its enactment as soon as possible. Theworkers, employers and the Government are further-ing their cooperation to eradicate problems in labourlegislation. Within this context, I would also callfor the full exercise of trade union rights public em-ployees.

As Turkish working people, we advocate peacein the world and in our country. The first victims ofwars and terror are the working people and the wealththey have created. Wars and terror are the greatest

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enemies of human rights and democracy. As Turkishworking people, we call on all the countries whichbelieve in human rights and democracy to serve peaceand to contribute especially to the construction ofpeace in the Middle East. We reiterate emphaticallythat we want no wars in our region.

I believe that this Conference, under your compe-tent presidency, will also serve the cause of peace.

Original Arabic: Mr. EL AZALI (Workers’ del-egate, Egypt) — In the name of God, the Compassion-ate, the Merciful! Permit me to congratulate thePresident and the Vice-Presidents of this Conferenceon their election. I wish them full success and am cer-tain that under their guidance, and on the basis oftheir experience, the Conference will make a veryuseful contribution to ensuring the welfare andprogress of humanity.

This session of the Conference, like the 89th thatpreceded it, is a link in a chain aimed at laying downthe basis for a better world, a world shaped by labourin a climate of peace, freedom and social justice. Weare united around these noble objectives here today,despite our different origins, continents, religions,races and languages. We are all here, united under thebanner of sacred human values. We are particularlyproud of these values, which we uphold and which areenshrined in the Constitution of the InternationalLabour Organization, the Declaration of Philadelphiaand the Declaration of Fundamental Principles andRights at Work. This unity has now been shaken bythe terrible fate of Palestinian workers and employ-ers. We see in the media that the Israeli occupationarmy continually violates the rights of Palestinian citi-zens. We have seen that all people of honour in thisworld, even within Israel and in Jewish communities,have criticized these practices. They have been con-demned by the Rabbi Weiss and his movement,Neturei Karta We have seen massacres perpetrated inJenin, Tulkarm, Ramallah and Bethlehem, crimeswhich are against the very sacred principles of theTorah itself. In Egypt we have suffered from terror-ism, which we refuse and condemn. The President,Hosni Mubarak, launched a warning about terrorismin 1986 and called upon the international communityto combat it by convening an international conferencewith the aim of drawing up a treaty. And we wereamong the first countries to support the internationalcampaign which was launched against terrorism justafter 11 September.

We condemn terrorism in all its forms. However,we must make a clear distinction between those whouse the legitimate right to defend themselves againstan occupier and those who commit violent acts withthe aim of sowing terror in a people whose land theycontinue to occupy. The situation in the Middle East,in spite of all the destruction, does show that there is apeople defending its land and struggling to recover itsrights. Some may call this terrorism, others will call itresistance. It is nonetheless undeniable that there arePalestinians who are resisting and who are battling torecover their rights, their homeland. The dire conse-quences of these situations for the employers andworkers in Palestine include the fact that the occupa-tion forces have paralysed production, devastatedland, fields and crops, and have destroyed factories.Thousands of workers are therefore without a sourceof income and the same is true of the employers. Wecall on the international community to shoulder its

responsibility for alleviating the sufferings of the wid-ows, the orphans, and the people as a whole. It is up tothe international community represented here tocome to the aid of the Palestinian economy so that itcan recover its dynamism, create employment, andpursue its development. But this objective cannot beachieved without a just and lasting peace based ondialogue, legitimacy and respect for the rights ofothers. Recognition of the right to establish a Pales-tinian State is an absolute necessity for both partiesand for achieving peace in the region. May I refer tothe Declaration of Philadelphia, which states that “allhuman beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, havethe right to pursue both their material well-being andtheir spiritual development in conditions of freedomand dignity, of economic security and equal oppor-tunity”. This objective requires closer cooperationbetween the social partners. The wealthier must helpthe poorer. Those in a position of strength must helpthose in a position of weakness because the interna-tional community cannot accept a world where thereare islands of wealth and prosperity in an ocean ofpoverty and misery.

It is the responsibility of the major powers andwealthy countries to help the weaker countries, bymeans of the ILO’s technical cooperation pro-grammes, and this should benefit the African coun-tries in particular.

We are pleased to note that the ILO’s efforts andconcerns are in line with those of the internationalcommunity as a whole, seeking as they do to ensurethat human rights are respected and peace, securityand social justice achieved. These are all objectiveswhich require cooperation between the social part-ners and regional and international cooperation in aglobalized world.

Reinforcing the role of cooperatives is a an appro-priate solution which will contribute to the growingeconomies of the developing countries.

We must combine our efforts if we are to achieve aworld where peace, justice and security reign su-preme.

Original French: Mr. KASSEY (Minister of thePublic Services and Labour, Niger) — It is an honourfor me to take the floor to address this august assem-bly. First of all, allow me to extend my heartfelt con-gratulations to the President on his election to presideover this 90th Session of the International LabourConference. In electing him, delegates wanted notonly to pay tribute to the important work which hehas already carried out in the service of our Organiz-ation but also to ensure that the work of this Confer-ence be carried out in an efficient and effectivemanner.

The International Labour Conference gives us theopportunity, as constituents of the ILO, to examinethe way the Organization works and to seek out newpossibilities to enable us to rise to the challengefacing all humanity of how to create and maintaintrue social justice, which is the foundation of lastingsocial peace.

I am very pleased with the quality of the work car-ried out by the International Labour Office, as seen inthe Director-General’s Report , as part of the imple-mentation of the strategic objectives and efforts madeby the Organization to put a human face on globaliza-tion. I should also like to congratulate the Director-General for the results already obtained and for the

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courage which this Organization has shown in seekingto find solutions to problems in our country.

Niger adheres fully to the ideals of peace and socialjustice. It is working where possible to implement theILO strategic objectives, standards and the funda-mental principles and rights at work. I should also liketo point out, that Niger has ratified all eight of thecore Conventions adopted by the ILO to date.

As part of our efforts to overcome obstacles inimplementing the fundamental principles and rightsat work, an important forum was held in November2001 on the issue of forced labour, bringing togethertraditional chiefs in Niger, influential and respectedauthorities, particularly those in the rural areas. Theforum was a great success, and a declaration wasadopted by the traditional chiefs who made a commit-ment to implement the fundamental principles andrights at work.

Closely linked to forced labour is the issue of childlabour, which is of deep concern to our Government.Therefore, in accordance with the ILO strategies onthis issue, we have put child labour high on our list ofpriorities for specific action. To reinforce action al-ready being taken to apply labour legislation, myGovernment has also signed on to the InternationalProgramme on the Elimination of Child Labour.

In the area of employment it should be pointed outthat in cooperation with the ILO we have begun aprocess to define a national policy which shouldenable us not only to comply with the EmploymentPolicy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), but also to estab-lish a more coherent and consistent framework fordealing with these issues in our country.

The forum on employment, organized by the ILOin November 2001, has led us to hope that this issuewill be given a higher priority in the future.

I cannot conclude without acknowledging all theefforts made by the ILO on behalf of my country tofind innovative ways to address the complex yet vitalissues for developing countries such as decent work,the informal economy and cooperative organizationas an alternative in the current world context. It is mywish that these issues be resolved in a way that willhelp our countries to find a dignified role to play intoday’s globalized world.

(Mr. Rampak takes the Chair.)

Mr. MAGAYA (Minister of Labour and Adminis-trative Reform, Sudan) — Allow me to congratulatethe President on his election to preside over the90th Session of the International Labour Conference.I am sure that, with his experience, we will reach fruit-ful conclusions in our deliberations.

At the outset, I would like to commend the Direc-tor-General for his Report and his efforts to movethe ILO forward. I would like also to commendthe programme of activities of the ILO for the years2000-01 and to express my appreciation for the assis-tance rendered to African countries. Yet, a lot re-mains to be done in the areas of employment promo-tion and poverty alleviation. This can be achieved byproviding support to countries to build and streng-then their capacities in policies relevant to employ-ment and by supporting and initiating labour-inten-sive and self-employment projects.

In this context, the Sudan has accumulated goodexperience. Labour-intensive projects were imple-mented with the assistance of the ILO in different

states in the country, especially in the drought-stricken states. Through these projects, thousands ofemployment opportunities were made for the ruralpoor. Recently, the Government launched a pro-gramme for self-employment projects for universitygraduates. The Government allocated a special re-volving fund for the implementation of these projects,and the idea of these projects will be extended tocover more graduates. We have asked the ILO for as-sistance in this area.

The Ministry of Labour and AdministrativeReform in the Sudan has included in its plan for theyear 2002 a host of activities to contribute to the pro-cess of poverty alleviation. Among these are: first, thepromotion of productive employment and promotionof rights at work; second, the development of thecapacities of the vocational training institutions to re-duce unemployment among graduates and schooldrop-outs; third, improvement of quality and workingconditions; fourth, revision of wage policies to bemore equitable; and fifth, linking education policiesto society’s needs.

The fourth item on the agenda of this session isdirectly related to poverty alleviation, namely thepromotion of cooperatives. The World Summit onSocial Development, which took place in Copen-hagen in 1995, had committed Heads of State to thepossible measures likely to launch economic and so-cial development in a bid to eradicate poverty andsocial exclusion. To this end, cooperatives were for-mally identified as a tool that should enable themost underprivileged levels of society to be self-reliant.

In addition, the cooperative formula serves the fourstrategic objectives of the ILO: respect for fundamen-tal principles and rights at work, promotion of decentemployment, social protection and social dialogue.Assistance is greatly needed by African countries inthis area, and I believe the ILO can play a major rolein this respect.

Another important item on the agenda of this ses-sion of the Conference is the informal economy,which has expanded rapidly throughout the world. Inthe developing world this sector plays a great role inthe creation of job opportunities and the reduction ofunemployment.

However, a lot needs to be done to promote thissector, especially in the following areas: reliable statis-tics and information to enable drawing a solid policyregarding the sector, capacity building in suitabletechnologies, provision of funds and credits in areasonable and acceptable term, provision of simpleand cheap productive equipment with easy conditionsof payment, provision of legal and social protection.

All that I have just mentioned needs technical as-sistance and financial support.

Economic and social development in the Sudan isnegatively affected by the protracted civil war, whichdestroyed infrastructure and caused the displacementof refugees, and increased poverty. The Governmentassociated itself with a number of initiatives to put anend to the conflict. A peace agreement was concludedin 1997 between the Government and a number of thewarring factions. Since then, initiatives have beenadopted to reach peaceful settlement with the otherfactions. This year, in January, an agreement on aceasefire in the Nuba Mountains was reachedbetween the Government and the Sudan People’sLiberation Army (SPLA), Nuba, under the joint me-

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diation of the Swiss Confederation and the Govern-ment of the United States.

The ceasefire involves the cessation of hostilitiesbetween the parties, it provides for the free move-ment of civilians and goods, including humanitarianassistance and a prohibition to lay mines. I take thisopportunity to commend the efforts of the UnitedStates Government, the Swiss Government and thecountries of the European Union to realize peace inthe Sudan and thank them for the humanitarian assis-tance provided to the people in war-affected areas.The Nuba agreement is functioning very effectivelyand we are committed to a peaceful political settle-ment of the conflict.

The situation of Arab workers in Palestine is dete-riorating fast. The people are subjected to aggressivepractices by the Israeli occupation, which include theimposition of economic blockades, collective punish-ment and the destruction of civil and productive infra-structure. The result is the loss of the lives of innocentpeople, economic destruction, increasing unemploy-ment and destruction of buildings. We denounce allthis and demand the withdrawal of Israel from Pales-tine and other occupied Arab territories. We callon the ILO to provide all available assistance to thePalestinian workers.

In conclusion, I wish you all a successful Confer-ence.

Mr. LALL (Union Minister for Labour and Em-ployment, India) — It is my privilege to congratulatethe President on his unanimous election to presideover of the 90th Session of the International LabourConference. I deem it an honour to address the distin-guished participants present here today.

I would also take this opportunity to congratulatethe Director-General and his Office for the very ex-haustive Report, ILO programme implementation2000-01. It is heartening to observe that India figuresprominently in the works programme during thisperiod.

I propose to focus my attention on two of the majorissues that have been included in the agenda of thissession, namely child labour, decent work and the in-formal economy.

I congratulate the Director-General and his teamfor bringing out an excellent Global Report: A futurewithout child labour. The extent of its worst formsidentified in the Report is both revealing and alarm-ing. India is home to the world’s largest population ofchildren. As a nation we have always followed a pro-active policy in the matter of the elimination of childlabour. Our very clear constitutional and statutoryprovisions, combined with a range of developmentmeasures, have been the cornerstone of our efforts toeliminate child labour. The strategy of the Govern-ment of India has been to eliminate child labour se-quentially, beginning with the most hazardous formsand subsequently moving towards the less hazardousforms. The Government of India set aside US$50 mil-lion in the plan for the period 1997-2002. During thecurrent plan we propose to double this allocation.

The Global Report has rightly mentioned that pov-erty and child labour are closely interlinked. Largepopulation size, along with slow demographic changein the developing countries, is also making the prob-lem formidable. The Government is therefore ad-dressing the issue through the implementation of itsnational poverty eradication programmes and has had

reasonable success over the years in reducing thenumber of people below the poverty line. We thinkthat with the eradication of poverty and a simulta-neous sustained effort at providing primary educationto children, child labour could be tackled on twofronts successfully. The Government of India con-veyed the details of this strategy at the recently heldUnited Nations Special Session on Children. I am alsoproud to state that our Parliament passed the Consti-tution (93rd Amendment) Bill in May 2002 to makeeducation for all children in the age group of6-14 years a fundamental right.

I would now like to touch upon the issue of decentwork and the informal economy. The excellent studyreport reflects the range of issues. The selection ofthis subject comes not a day too soon because of thechallenges this sector is facing in the context of global-ization and its after-effects. In the developing coun-tries, particularly, globalization and liberalization alsoresult in the casualization of workers, thus adding fur-ther to the already large workforce in the informalsector.

For countries like India which have more than90 per cent of their workforce in the informal sector,we need to look at the strengths of the informal sectorand the prevailing social and economic conditions.This situation would be vastly different from that inthe developed and industrialized countries.

We look to the developed countries for interna-tional financial assistance in the immense task of up-grading the social infrastructure and workforce skillsof the developing countries. This subject mattershould not only be seen in the perspective of the rightsissue alone as, above all, the foremost need of the un-employed is work itself. Quality jobs may not imme-diately be in the offing in large numbers. Developingcountries will, therefore, need to continue with a“jobs first” approach. Disproportionate importanceto one or the other strategic objective could take awaythe resilience and flexibility which the informal sectorprovides as a source of employment and could well becounter-productive for desperate jobseekers.

In this connection, I recall the fruitful and unani-mous conclusions reached at the 13th Asian RegionalMeeting in Bangkok whereby, in order to attain de-cent work the first imperative is to ensure employ-ment for everyone, and it is only after this thatmeasures conforming to decent work conditionswould be possible.

India has always believed in the dignity of labour,which our great saints like Sriman Ravi Das and KabirDas have taught us. We deprecate those conditionswhich force men to do work below their dignity. Wesee decent work as creating decent conditions every-where.

I hope that this session of the International LabourConference and the deliberations that occur during itwill highlight the potential for action in the importantareas we have chosen for debate and bring fresh in-sight to complex issues and problems for the ultimatebetterment of the toiling masses all over the world.

Original French: Ms. KAYITESI (Minister of Pub-lic Services and Labour, Rwanda) — On behalf of theGovernment of the Republic of Rwanda, and on be-half of the Rwandan delegation to this session, Iwould like to join the previous speakers in congratu-lating the President on his election to head the presentsession of the International Labour Conference. My

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congratulations also go to the Officers of the Confer-ence. The way in which they have accomplished theirtasks up to now augurs well for the future of our Orga-nization.

I would also like to take this opportunity to repeatmy sincere congratulations to the Director-General ofthe International Labour Office on the high quality ofhis Report, which is of considerable substance.

Concerning the first objective described in thisReport, I would simply like to point out that my coun-try has just adopted a new Labour Code which isbroadly based on the provisions of ILO Conventions,including some provisions concerning the protectionof children. Like employment policy, the problems ofsocial protection and social security are a matter ofconcern for the Rwandan Government. Increasingthe possibilities for men and women to get jobs is aprime objective of our employment policy and of ourindustrial policy.

We have thus begun to make an inventory of jobopportunities in all sectors of national economic lifein order to facilitate the reclassification or retrainingof workers laid off from the public service, victims ofjob cutbacks in the private sector and of young peoplelooking for their first job.

As far as social protection is concerned, theRwandan Government recently took action on onematter of concern, when it revised the law on socialsecurity. The aim was to extend social security cover-age to a larger number of beneficiaries, particularly inthe informal sector.

Regarding the strengthening of tripartism and so-cial dialogue, my country has already entered into anundertaking to join the Promotion of Social Dialoguein French-speaking Africa (PRODIAF) programmeof activities. The studies carried out by an ILO con-sultant will serve as a reference framework on whichto build a more active form of tripartism and a perma-nent social dialogue with the social partners.

In the field of training, we wish to thank the Officefor having organized training courses on labour in-spection and several worker education seminars ontrade union rights, industrial relations and health andsafety at work.

These activities are a mark of cooperation which isstrongly desired in the areas of human resources skillsenhancement, and they promote respect for humanrights.

As far as the promotion of cooperatives is con-cerned, the Rwandan Government recognizes the co-operative as a form of private enterprise which is ca-pable of creating a large number of jobs. Thus, ourGovernment encourages the promotion and develop-ment of this type of enterprise by Rwandans, by creat-ing a favourable climate and by centring its role on thecore function of government, which is to draw uplegislation and to monitor its implementation.

We are convinced that the informal sector is quitecapable of regulating itself to a large extent, and thatfor this reason it responds very well to the genuineneeds of the population and constantly adjusts tochanges in the population’s requirements without in-tervention by the public authorities being necessary.

I would like to express the conviction that in a fast-changing world, our Organization, being faithful to itsideals, will be more able in the future to contributeeffectively to ensuring the recognition and defence offundamental rights of human beings to dignity andfreedom.

Mr. THAILUAN (Workers’ delegate, Thailand) —In my capacity as the Thai Workers’ delegate, I havegreat pleasure in delivering a report to the 90th Ses-sion of the International Labour Conference andwould like to take this opportunity to update the as-sembly on two issues pertaining to the current laboursituation in Thailand.

The year 2002 sees Thailand slowly recoveringfrom the recent global economic downturn. The Gov-ernment has resorted to an acceleration in exportswhile imposing so-called economic stimulus measuresthat support in particular small and medium-sized en-terprises (SMEs) in order to effectively reduce unem-ployment from the estimated figure of 1.6 million.This is because a considerable number of smallerbusinesses have closed down during the recent econ-omic slump. In the meantime, efforts to invigoratesmall and medium-sized enterprises in Thailand even-tually stalled after large, foreign-owned discountersinvaded the Thai retail industry and are now firmlyestablished among thriving small and medium-sizedentrepreneurs with rapidly expanding businesses, es-pecially in the retail sector. These include the discountsuperstores and convenience stores such as Tesco-Lotus, Carrefour, Big C and Seven Eleven, which, ascapital-intensive enterprises, stand to benefit bothfrom the free trade scheme and from the fact thatThailand does not yet have legislation to deal with re-tailing through large enterprises. On the positive side,their presence does create job opportunities for Thaiworkers, but this does not greatly influence the localjob situation as a whole, especially when comparedwith the enormous adverse effect they are having onour own small and medium-sized enterprises thathave gone out of business as a result. Together theyemployed a far larger number of workers than theforeign-owned retailers do.

Hence, I strongly urge the International LabourOrganization to address squarely the issue of the busi-ness expansion of these foreign-owned retailers andits impact on the Thai retail sector.

The second issue I would like to raise involves thesevere trade and non-trade barriers imposed onThailand’s food and manufacturing exports to Euro-pean countries. As it happens, more and more strin-gent and excessive conditions have recently been im-posed on our exports by the developed countrieswithin these two groups. The conditions, which areobviously trade and non-trade barriers in nature, in-clude, for instance, environmental issues, allegedchemical residues in food items and child labourabuse, despite the fact that Thailand has been takingdrastic action to curb child labour abuse and genderinequality involving women workers.

All these factors have dealt a severe blow to the lo-cal employment situation, with numerous enterprisescompelled to resort to downsizing, job terminationand minimized fringe benefits to reduce export costsand boost their competitiveness in the internationalarena. Consequently, unemployment has been on therise. It is thus worth remarking here that if developedcountries genuinely wish to grant aid to the develop-ing countries, it would be extremely helpful if theywould notify the latter well in advance of any addi-tional trade conditions that are going to be imposed.In this way, the developing countries would be al-lowed enough time to make due adjustments beforethe new conditions take effect, while unemploymentin these countries — especially Thailand, where a

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large number of employees are engaged in the foodand manufacturing export industries — would be sub-stantially reduced.

I would like to appeal to the ILO on behalf of theThai workers to immediately set up a task force, par-ticularly commissioning the ILO in Thailand toaddress this issue and find a solution to narrow thegap between developed and developing countries forthe benefit of workers.

Last but not least, I would like to express my sin-cere appreciation for having been granted the oppor-tunity to deliver this report today. I have every reasonto believe that my appeals did not and will not fall ondeaf ears.

Ms. LILLEVÄLI (Government delegate, Estonia)— It is a special honour for me to participate in thediscussion of the Report of the Director-General. Theimportance of the Report to the development and fu-ture of the member States cannot be overestimated.All four strategic objectives dealt with in the Reportare of the utmost importance, but in my remarks to-day I would like to concentrate on the issue of em-ployment. More specifically, I would like to addressthe changes brought about by information and com-munication technologies.

The Government of the Republic of Estonia, in co-operation with the ILO, recently organized a tripar-tite international conference, Information and Com-munication Technologies and Decent Work: FindingSolutions in the Information Society. This event of-fered an excellent opportunity to discuss the issuesraised at the Sixth European Regional Meeting and tomark the 80th anniversary of Estonia’s membership inthe ILO and the tenth anniversary of Estonia’s rejoin-ing the Organization. The aim of the Conference wasto analyse the impact of the changing economic envi-ronment and modern technology on working life. Therapid development of means of communication haschanged the key pillars of labour law namely, the pro-visions on working time and the workplace. As a re-sult, there have been changes in the forms and natureof work, as well as labour relations. Working life to-day is considerably more diverse than it was in thepast. All this calls for a change in the rules. But thereare no easy answers, and it is reasonable to look forsolutions together. I am pleased to see that the Inter-national Labour Organization is aware and support-ive of these concerns.

Estonia, together with other countries in a similarsituation, has faced more challenges owing to thetransformation and integration processes. On the onehand, changes in ownership result in major changes inemployment and lead to the reform of labour law. Therestructuring of the economy has brought about anentirely new phenomenon: a high rate of unemploy-ment. On the other hand, this period has been markedby the rapid development of information technology,affecting both employment relations and employmentin general. As a result, we have to adjust to these twomajor changes at the same time.

The development of information technology bringswith it challenges and opportunities, but also dangersfor working life. On the one hand, the use of informa-tion technology creates jobs, but on the other handthe increased intensity of work made possible by in-formation technology tends to reduce the number ofjobs. Information technology helps to raise the levelof education of employees, but can at the same time

cause brain drain. The number of self-employed in-creases but often their social security problems re-main unsolved.

Education, especially adult education, plays a keyrole in facilitating the integration of States and inter-nal integration within society. The rapid restructuringof the economy and implementation of new technolo-gies require systematic and comprehensive trainingand in many cases, retraining. Raising levels of educa-tion and lifelong learning are important preconditionsfor reaching the “information technology highway”.

One of the main postulates of sustainable humandevelopment is that future generations should nothave fewer choices than the present generation. Whatis important here is to avoid marginalization of cer-tain groups in society.

However, one has to admit that technology is not amagic cure for society, nor is it a guarantee for a sus-tainable society. Making technology part of thevarious ways of achieving sustainability depends onthe willingness and ability of society to realize the po-tential offered by technology. Changes in the lifecycle, resulting in ageing populations and reducedwork, have made lifelong education and learning cru-cial to enabling people to cope in periods of unem-ployment. Broad-based education, communicationskills and information handling skills are assets thatare selling increasingly well on the labour market. In-creased flexibility at work and in the labour force isbecoming critical in organizing work — flexible formsof work, combining training and work, better humanresource management: these are key factors in alearning organization and knowledge management.

I believe that our common efforts in finding solu-tions are important for all countries and help createan enabling environment for decent work. I do hopethat our cooperation will yield valuable results.

To conclude, I would also like to take this opportu-nity to inform the Conference that Estonia was the100th State to ratify the Worst Forms of Child LabourConvention, 1999 (No. 182).

Original French: Mr. IVALA (Minister for Labourand Employment, Gabon) — Allow me first of all todischarge a very pleasant duty, that of addressing tothe President, and all the Officers of the Conferencethe warm congratulations of the Gabonese delegationon their election and for the excellent way in whichthey are leading our deliberations, which, I am sure,will be crowned with success.

My congratulations also go to the Director-Generalof the ILO for the quality of the reports which havebeen tabled.

The priority objective of many developing countriesis to achieve a threshold of economic growth which willpermit the harmonious development of all compo-nents of their societies. One of the strategies for at-taining that goal consists in promoting decent work.

In Gabon the problem of employment is a constantconcern of the Government. However, no matter howdetermined the Government’s action may be, it can-not alone provide all the solutions for absorbing un-employment.

That is why, while we are consolidating our action,it has become vital to involve the traditional socialpartners in the process of combating increasing pov-erty by measures such as the promotion of self-em-ployment and the promotion of existing supportstructures and mechanisms.

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This is one of our country’s commitments in termsof strategic objectives. On a wider scale and in an in-creasingly interdependent economy, we would hopethat the conclusions of the Global EmploymentForum which was held last November, will be trans-lated into action and that the “Jobs for Africa”programme will produce practical results.

I would now like to make some comments aboutcertain technical questions which are on the agenda.

Gabon, which is an immigration country, welcomesthe inclusion of the report on decent work and the in-formal economy in the agenda for this session. Thereport entitled The dilemma of the informal sector,which was examined by the International LabourConference in 1991, stressed that in Gabon, the infor-mal sector was monopolized by foreigners.

It is true that the economic crisis being experiencedby the country has made nationals jobless and hasdriven them into the informal economy, but there isno reverse trend.

The informal economy absorbs most illegal foreignworkers, including children who have been the vic-tims of cross-border trafficking and who are exploitedmainly by persons who come from the same countriesas they do, either in jobs where they are not subject tothe scrutiny of the public administration or in types ofemployment where the labour inspectorate is not veryactive. Obviously, no category of workers in the infor-mal economy receives proper social coverage.

The solution to the problem is indeed complex, par-ticularly in the case of children who have been the vic-tims of trafficking. For this reason Gabon has becomea partner in the International Programme on theElimination of Child Labour with a view to rapidlyeradicating this phenomenon.

We also believe that it is by discussion in forumslike this that we can find inspiration in the conclusiveexperiences of various other countries with this kindof question, with a view to providing protection forthose who wish for decent treatment. With regard toindustrial accidents and occupational diseases, we arecommitted, thanks to the active support of the ILO, toreorganizing the whole of our system to prevent andcompensate for occupational risks. Undoubtedly, theconclusions of this Conference will help us signifi-cantly in this respect.

As for the promotion of cooperatives, we supportthe finding that cooperatives are increasingly con-tributing to the creation of jobs, particularly jobs forthe young, and also to economic and social develop-ment.

We hope that the Conference will adopt an instru-ment which is practical and adapted to present cir-cumstances. We can assure you that in the very nearfuture this instrument will serve as a legal basis for theformulation of our national policy to promote co-operatives as a priority development objective.

Original Spanish: Mr. GURDIÁN CASTELLÓN(Minister of Labour, Nicaragua) — The delegation ofNicaragua, which I head, would like to express itspleasure at the election of the President to lead usduring the 90th Session of the International LabourConference, and extends its congratulations to theDirector-General for his role in promoting the notionof decent work, as well as for the important stridesmade in fulfilling the ILO’s strategic objectives, whichare reflected in this year’s Report. These are objec-tives that we have adopted in order to achieve har-

mony in labour relations and to face the challenges ofglobalization.

We welcome the creation of ILO InFocusprogrammes, such as the programmes on strengthen-ing social dialogue, on promoting the Declaration,and on child labour, as these have brought better co-herence and a higher degree of integration to the co-operation and technical assistance provided by theILO.

I would like to highlight the role played by the sub-regional offices in the implementation and follow-upof the international instruments that have been rati-fied in the country, and in the promotion of thoseConventions that have not yet been ratified.

I would like to highlight the support received byNicaragua concerning modernizing our labour admin-istration. Fostering employment and drawing up anemployment policy of national scope constitute stabi-lizing factors in our society. We are convinced that inproviding access and conditions conducive to full em-ployment we are allowing the poorest sectors tocreate their own development alternatives, cooperat-ing in this way in the economic, social and cultural de-velopment of our country. We also feel that one of theobjectives of our Government, headed by EnriqueBolaños, is, specifically, job creation by fostering do-mestic and foreign investment through economic andsocial strategies and policies that promote this nobleobjective.

Nicaragua is pleased to know that throughout thisprocess we will be accompanied by the InternationalLabour Organization. Specifically, it is noteworthythat we are giving new thrust to the development ofthe cooperative movement along with the skills devel-opment and training in cooperatives of every type, es-pecially in savings and credit cooperatives; and it isthe intention of our country to create an institute tofoster the growth of cooperatives.

We are involved in a longstanding, head-onstruggle to eliminate child labour, especially in itsworst forms. We cannot allow our children to con-tinue living this tragic situation. We have formulated anational policy against the commercial sexual exploi-tation of children and have set up programmes fo-cused on sectors where hazardous forms of childlabour exist.

We have made strides in this area, but we are stillnot satisfied. Our efforts continue to be directed tolaying the groundwork so that the seeds we sow todayin favour of the rights of Nicaraguan children cangrow vigorously.

It is also in our interests to defend the rights ofwomen workers, with specific attention to export pro-cessing zones in our country, an area that has been theobject of standard setting based on the principles ofequality and social justice so as not to deny fundamen-tal rights or allow discrimination.

We are endeavouring to ensure, to the best of ourability, that there are no violations of general workingconditions so that the rights that are established in thepolitical constitution, the Labour Code and interna-tional conventions are provided to all workers andemployers alike.

We believe strongly in social dialogue as a means oflevelling the differences between sectors at a nationaland subregional level. The Nicaraguan Government isincreasingly imbued with respect for freedom of asso-ciation and trade union autonomy, guaranteeing theinalienable right of workers to defend trade union or

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personal interests with employers and to signindividual and collective agreements with their em-ployers.

In conclusion, I should state that though we stillhave much to do before we set up a Ministry ofLabour that responds to the real needs of the world ofwork, we are aware that good labour relations are themain pillar on which we will build a more just world ofwork.

Original Spanish: Mr. PACHECO SALAZAR(Minister of Labour and Social Security, Costa Rica)— Over half a century ago, Costa Rica adopted aLabour Code, which together with our Constitution,which was adopted at the same time, has become thedocument that sets out the standards that guide thelives of thousands of working men and women in ourcountry.

Over the years, and throughout the changes in in-ternational labour markets, from which our smallcountry has not been spared, we have persevered inthe difficult task of implementing and adjusting ourlabour administration institutions to economic, po-litical and social realities which have been greatlychanging in today’s world. These labour administra-tion institutions ensure that all workers are guaran-teed the full enjoyment of their rights in the work-place. With a similar focus, Costa Rica has beenworking towards developing a culture of social dia-logue between the Government, employers and tradeunions. Under this policy of creating a worker-friendly labour environment, in the past year, ourcountry has taken significant steps to protect therights of unionized workers and further the right tocollective bargaining.

The Costa Rican Parliament is currently studyingconstitutional reform which will provide legitimacy, atthe highest standard-setting level, to the right tocollective bargaining in the public sector. This reformhas received the full support of trade unions and em-ployers.

In addition to what I have just said, and as a neces-sary element for a speedy and definite implementa-tion of this important constitutional reform, theExecutive has proposed a legal reform to add a clauseto the framework law of public administration whichsets out the scope of constitutional standards fully inline with the union rights and guarantees stipulated inILO Recommendation No. 143. By the same token,this text sets out the topics subject to negotiations,which include the application of disciplinary sanc-tions, income tax regimes and the drafting of job description manuals, amongst others.

The Legislative Bill intends to provide legal cer-tainty and transparency by clearly describing the pro-cedures for negotiations, the requirements for takingpart in negotiations and the specific steps to be fol-lowed in each negotiation process.

Not content with these efforts, the Executive hassubmitted a draft law to the Congress to reform thechapter on the freedom of association of our LabourCode, and to guarantee that all workers enjoy thisright without being persecuted or dismissed. At thesame time, it makes sure that unionized workers ben-efit from a series of guarantees and prerogatives forexercising their rights.

This measure gives trade unions the possibility ofdefining the criteria for shaping, implementing andmaking proposals on policy to the Government, but at

the same time gives them a leading role in the media-tion of socio-economic collective disputes.

Furthermore, the draft Bill sets out a mandatoryprocedure that every employer has to follow, prior toany dismissal for just cause, or the decision will beoverturned.

Last but not least, our country has taken very im-portant steps, with the help of the ILO and the enthu-siastic support of the Government, to strengthen so-cial dialogue, which is an area where we have begun toforge very important socio-economic agreements,within bipartite and tripartite forums.

In August 2001, a tripartite agreement and an ac-tion plan to strengthen social dialogue were signed.This historic agreement sets out specific guidelines toreform the Supreme Labour Board, the National Sal-ary Board and the Council of Occupational Health,which are the main tripartite bodies for national co-ordination.

Employers and workers in Costa Rica have madeconsiderable progress in bipartite dialogue, with themain goal being that of presenting coordinated, con-crete proposals which make it possible to promoteproductive investment and the creation of good jobsin Costa Rica.

As you have seen in the issues I have just men-tioned, the Government of Costa Rica has under-taken specific and tangible efforts to comply with theRecommendations made by the various bodies of theILO, and with the firm intention of achieving socialpeace.

In conclusion, I would like to quote the words thatDr. Martin Luther King said 40 years ago: “We havelearned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea likefish but we have not learned the simple art of livingtogether as brothers”.

Mr. BARBERINI (representative of the Interna-tional Co-operative Alliance) — I am very honouredto address you today on behalf of cooperativeorganizations, in over 90 countries that are membersof the International Co-operative Alliance. As therepresentative organization of cooperatives world-wide, ICA knows that cooperatives can and do makea difference to combating poverty, promoting decentemployment and increasing social dialogue. Cooper-atives are a form of enterprise that put people first;they are member-owned; they are controlled underdemocratic principles; and they are competitive enter-prises which are at least as efficient in their businessoperations and use of capital as others in the market-place. Yet, they are not driven by profit, but rather bymember needs. Cooperatives help people meet theircommon economic, social, and cultural needs andthus secure human dignity.

Today, cooperatives promote over 100 million jobsaround the world, over 20 per cent more than thosecreated by multinational enterprises. As they arerooted in local communities, they mitigate the nega-tive consequences of globalization by maintainingjobs and thus ensuring livelihoods. These are impor-tant facts illustrating the enormous potential of theseself-help, people-centred enterprises.

The International Co-operative Alliance thereforewelcomes the second discussion of a new ILO Recom-mendation to provide guidance to governments,workers and employers on what a cooperative is andwhat constitutes an enabling environment. We havebeen heartened by the discussions between Govern-

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ment, Workers’ and Employers’ Representatives,which have recognized the important role of coopera-tives in the economy, the need for the new Recom-mendation to be universal in character and applica-tion, to be flexible in addressing the needs of all typesof cooperative organizations in all sectors of activity,and to focus on ensuring that enabling conditions ex-ist for co-operatives to function and thrive, especiallywith regard to the role of the State.

The important issue of autonomy, the special char-acteristics of cooperatives — its values are interna-tionally recognized principles — have been discussedwithin the ILO and in our view have led to clearerunderstanding of the cooperative enterprise. The es-sence of a cooperative approach is disarminglysimple: maximize the capacity of people to controltheir own destiny through institutions they own andoperate in a democratic manner. It is an approach thatcan be remarkably successful, simultaneously provid-ing economic benefit while sustaining cultural vitalityand fostering democratic practices. We know, too,that the cooperative model works in different cul-tures, building upon traditional values. When oper-ating effectively, the cooperative model can become apowerful voice for people in major economic and so-cietal discussions. It is an approach that needs moreattention from those who would search for the mostempowering and self-reliant ways to overcome pov-erty wherever it is found.

ICA is committed to working with the ILO instrengthening the potential of cooperatives to con-tribute to making people’s lives better. We look for-ward to collaborating with you to ensure that coop-eratives can truly take advantage of marketdynamism to find ways to deliver social justice as wellas economic benefits to all.

Mr. MOUSHOUTTAS (Minister of Labour andSocial Insurance, Cyprus) — On behalf of the Cyprusdelegation, I would like to congratulate, most warmly,Mr. Jean-Jacques Elmiger on his election to the presi-dency of this year’s session of the InternationalLabour Conference.

Reading the Report of the Director-General, ILOprogramme implementation 2000-01, we cannot butbe impressed with the remarkable progress achievedduring this period, in relation to the targets set undereach of the four strategic objectives of the ILO. Thishas come as no surprise to my Government. Our par-ticipation in the Governing Body during its last termgave us the opportunity to witness the tremendous in-put of the ILO towards these achievements throughits various InFocus programmes.

A staunch supporter of the ILO’s standard-settingactivities, the Government of Cyprus shares the ILO’spride in achieving near universal ratification of thecore Conventions contained in the Declaration onFundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Cyprusis currently examining the possibility of ratifyingthe new Maternity Protection Convention, 2000(No. 183). Drawing on this Convention and the Euro-pean Acquis, we have recently improved existing ma-ternity legislation to cover all aspects of the protec-tion of expectant and nursing mothers. We do hopethat this year’s Conference will result in updating thelist of occupational diseases, annexed to the Employ-ment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 (No. 121), soas to reflect today’s realities, and that a mechanismwill be adopted for its regular review.

Coming to the second strategic objective on em-ployment, we would like to congratulate the ILO onits draft Global Employment Agenda, which is a truemilestone. We endorse the view that employmentshould be a prime goal of economic policy, and that asound strategy should integrate macroeconomic de-velopment and labour market policies. The overallobjective of employment and labour market policiesin Cyprus is to maintain conditions of full employ-ment through policy responses that will lead to a highand sustainable rate of growth of the economy, and toprevent labour market constraints on overall econ-omic growth emerging and intensifying. Within theframework of the latter, our labour market policiesfocus on increasing labour market flexibility and im-proving the quality of the labour supply, as well aspromoting gender equality. Existing gaps in our legis-lative framework are being filled by the introductionof two pieces of legislation, currently before Parlia-ment, guaranteeing the principle of equal treatmentof men and women in the fields of employment andpay.

We take the opportunity to thank the ILO for thetechnical assistance offered to us in connection withequal pay. Moreover, more active employment ser-vices and labour market programmes aim to improveaccess to employment and training for important tar-get groups, particularly women.

We have noted with particular satisfaction thestatement in the Director-General’s Report that un-der the strategic objective of social protection, 80 percent of the targets established were fully met or ex-ceeded. We are pleased that the ILO is following upthe conclusions adopted last year by the Conferenceon social security, which gave it a clear mandate toextend social security coverage.

We took part in a tripartite ILO working group lastmonth that explored the idea of a global social trust.The trust would ask people in the rich countries tosupport voluntarily the development of social protec-tion schemes to meet the basic needs of families in thepoorest developing countries.

My Government would like to congratulate theDirector-General on being entrepreneurial in thefight against poverty and social insecurity faced byfamilies. We believe that if that idea is rigorously pur-sued and a tripartite alliance between government,workers and employers in all rich countries is con-structed, we could together make a real contributionwithin a decade to reducing poverty and hence toachieving the ambitious millennium goals. I can as-sure you of my Government’s commitment to assist-ing the implementation of this innovative idea in anyway it can. We hope that this year’s general discussionon decent work and the informal economy will have asuccessful outcome.

At the national level, we have put an even greateremphasis, during the last two to three years, onenhancing the coverage and effectiveness of socialprotection for all. Not only have we complementedthe legislative framework with a series of new lawsand regulations — particularly as regards terms andconditions of employment, and safety and health atthe workplace — but we have also boosted thecapacity of the implementation mechanism bystrengthening our labour inspection services.

The Government of Cyprus has been jointly orga-nizing with the ILO for more than 15 years, seminars ontopical issues for the benefit of ILO constituents. Rec-

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ognizing the importance of social protection in the newenvironment of globalization and trade liberalization,we have proposed that next year’s seminar be devotedto social protection financing. This year’s seminar dealtwith pension reform in transition countries.

Coming to the fourth strategic objective on socialdialogue, I would like to emphasize, on the basis ofthe Cyprus experience, that this should be an ongoingprocess. Labour and social policies cannot be success-ful unless formulated and implemented in close co-operation with the social partners through genuinedialogue.

Within the framework of its longstanding, well-established practice of social dialogue, the Govern-ment of Cyprus has involved the social partnersthroughout the preparatory work for the legislativeharmonization with the European Acquis in thelabour and social field. We feel optimistic that, withtheir support and constructive cooperation, we will beable to meet successfully the challenges that lie aheadof us, in view of our forthcoming accession to theEuropean Union. We are also counting on a pro-nounced sense of responsibility and cooperation fromour social partners in making the necessary reforms toour social insurance legislation, given the challengesimposed by an ageing population and changing labourmarket patterns.

By way of conclusion, I would like to express theconviction that this Conference will meet the aspira-tions of the ILO and its constituents.

Mr. OBBO (Minister of Labour and IndustrialRelations, Uganda) — Permit me to join the other dis-tinguished speakers in congratulating the Presidenton his deserved election to preside over this sessionof the International Labour Conference. I also con-gratulate the other Officers of the Conference. I wishto thank the Director-General for his progress reporton ILO programme implementation during the pe-riod 2000-01.

Today’s world of work is faced with many chal-lenges, such as globalization, unemployment, theworldwide spread of poverty, the HIV/AIDS pan-demic, unfair international competition and the debtburden. These conditions have affected my country aswell. I therefore reaffirm my Government’s commit-ment to the promotion and realization of interna-tional labour standards and fundamental principlesand rights at work. These are enshrined in our Consti-tution and in the various legislations enacted there-from governing trade unions and industrial relationssystems in the country. We are committed to creatingopportunities for women and men to secure decentemployment and income.

Another aspect we are working on is in thestrengthening of dialogue and tripartism with the aimof effectively dealing with social and economic issues.We recognize that social dialogue is an importantmeans of achieving social integration and growth, soas to foster efficiency in general.

In order to meet the challenges of unemploymentand poverty, Uganda has adopted the following strat-egies: the poverty eradication action plan, the plan forthe modernization of agriculture, educational reformsincluding the introduction of universal primary edu-cation, continuation of the structural adjustmentprogramme. As a result of these efforts, the percent-age of people in absolute poverty dropped to 35 percent in the year 2000, from 44 per cent in 1996.

Gender mainstreaming has been identified as onemeans of ensuring that poverty does not retain itshold in the country. Uganda’s gender policy has theoverall goal of mainstreaming gender concerns in thenational development process in order to improve thesocial, legal, civic, political, economic and culturalconditions of our people.

I now wish to express my Government’s apprecia-tion to the ILO for the commendable work beingdone towards the progressive elimination of childlabour in my country. I appeal for further extensionand widening of this programme to allow a wider out-reach, and for capacity-building and sustainability tobe developed.

Let me comment now on the informal sector. Over80 per cent of Uganda’s production units fall into thissector. However, it is under-served, unorganized andunsupervised. We therefore hold the view that pov-erty reduction strategies should be formulated, withthe help of our friends, to target the informal sector aswell.

The problem of HIV/AIDS in the world of workrequires serious attention because of its crippling im-pact. Over 80 per cent of HIV/AIDS infections inUganda are among people aged between 15 and0 years. It has affected agricultural production, whichforms the backbone of my country’s economy. It hasled to the loss of skilled and experienced workers andthis, in turn, affects production, reduces incomes forworkers and profits for employers. It has caused in-creased labour costs in terms of recruitment, trainingand retraining. Moreover, it has rendered large por-tions of our nation orphaned and widowed.

Uganda has tackled the HIV/AIDS pandemic vig-orously. We have managed to reduce the infectionrate of this pandemic from over 25 per cent to the cur-rent 6 per cent in ten years. Yet there is the threat thatthe infection rate can easily jump up again. In order tomaintain this momentum of tackling HIV/AIDS, Iwish to re-echo the appeal for assistance which wehave made elsewhere, to enable the resultant com-bined action of our social partners and ourselves toeliminate the damage caused by this disease in thecountry.

Mr. AHMED (Workers’ delegate, Pakistan) — Onbehalf of the Workers’ delegation of Pakistan andmyself, I feel it appropriate to convey our sincere con-gratulations on the occasion of the President’s elec-tion and the election of the other Officers, includingthe election of my countryman and friend, Mr. FarhatHussain, as Vice-President. I take this opportunity toconvey sincere good wishes and fraternal greetings toall the distinguished participants of this historic Con-ference. I also take this opportunity to convey ourdeep appreciation of the Report of the Director-General on ILO programme implementation, as wellas the report on the activities of the ILO GoverningBody.

The International Labour Office and the Govern-ing Body, under the able leadership of Mr. JuanSomavia, have accomplished various good worksduring the year. These include the holding of theGlobal Employment Forum, strategic budgeting, thepromotion of the concept of decent work in the ILOInFocus programme, the Asian Regional Meeting,the work of various branches of the ILO, includingthose devoted to standards, IPEC, ACTRAV, socialprotection, health and safety, employment and educa-

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tion, training, gender issues, technical cooperation,the work of the Turin Centre, industrial relations, andactivities related to the Declaration on FundamentalPrinciples and Rights at Work. Also of note are thesetting up of the World Commission on the SocialDimension of Globalization and the successes of thecampaign for the ratification of core labour standards,which included the ratification of ILO ConventionNo. 182 by my own country. The good work being per-formed by the Asian Regional Office, helped byMr. Nodera, and that done by the ILO Area Office inIslamabad are also to be mentioned.

We also convey our deep appreciation for the con-tributions of the Workers’ group in the Conferenceand the Governing Body, ably led by Lord Brett.

The Director-General of the ILO, in his Report,advocates for the promotion of decent work amongthe member States. This requires strong political will,both at the national and international level. I submitthat we have a world which has 1 billion people whoare either unemployed or have no sustainable level ofwork, or who suffer from abject poverty, and almost 1billion people who have an income of one dollar perday. The number of unemployed will further increasethemselves in the next decade. There are almost250 million children engaged in child labour, while al-most 186 million are victims of the worst forms ofchild labour. Almost 60 per cent are in Asia. We havea world where 5,000 workers die every day due to un-safe working conditions. Almost 120 million workersleave their homes in the hope of finding jobs else-where because of mass unemployment in their owncountry.

I submit that this Organization’s Declaration ofPhiladelphia strongly upholds the principle that pov-erty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperityeverywhere. We are in a world where the gap betweenthe rich and poor countries, instead of lessening, hasbeen increasing. For example, in 1960 per capita in-come and GDP in the North was 18 times that of theThird World, and it is nearly 40 times greater now.The income of the Third World, in exporting com-modities in the world market, has shown a sharp de-cline, from 43 per cent in 1980 to 24 per cent in 1996.

The financial crisis in Argentina and South-EastAsia demonstrated the urgent need for a reform ofthe international financial system and for a BrettonWoods policy with a social dimension. Similarly, wemust address the burden of heavy debt of Third Worldcountries. Currently, some 47 nations in Africa, Asiaand Latin America are considered poor or heavilyindebted.

It is the duty of the international community to as-sist the people of the Third World through debt relief,fair international trade and an increase in official de-velopment assistance to 0.7 per cent of GDP, transferof technology, the establishment of a special fund likethe Marshall Plan, the reduction of the digital divideand the promotion of peace and security in the world.

In this context we welcome the statement adoptedby the Workers’ group calling upon the leaders ofboth India and Pakistan to avoid confrontation andenter into a meaningful dialogue to settle their basicdispute peacefully and in the interests of the peoplesof both countries and the region for the promotionof peace, security and development. At the nationallevel, strong political will with an effective actionplan is required for the promotion of decent work,including the pursuit of a policy of national econ-

omic self-reliance, the development of human re-sources, the introduction of agrarian reform and re-spect for core labour standards. This should involvepositive industrial relations, a team spirit betweenworkers and management, the defence of the dignityof labour, special measures for children, women andthe working class, and a transparent, democratic po-litical system with multiple political parties. InPakistan, there has been a policy of developmentthat includes the concerted struggle of the workingclass with the holding of tripartite discussions. Wecommend the report of the Director-General on thesituation of workers in the occupied Arab territories,and demand the withdrawal of Israeli forces fromthe territories. We support the establishment of aspecial fund by the Director-General, and hope thatthis historic Conference will prove a landmark in thepromotion and defence of the basic ideals of the ILO— the promotion of social justice and a world ofpeace, dignity, and freedom.

Original Spanish: Mr. LEITZELAR VIDAU-RRETA (Secretary of State for Labour and SocialSecurity, Honduras) — The Republic of Honduras, asignatory to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 andhence a founding member of the InternationalLabour Organization, once again stands before thisworld parliament, as a testimony to our confidence,gratitude and support for the persistent efforts ofthis Organization in the areas of information, train-ing and cooperation, particularly during the periodunder review.

The labour administrations of the countries of theCentral American and Caribbean subregion havebeen beneficiaries of this excellent work, as well asemployers’ organizations, workers’ organizations andour societies as a whole in their efforts to achieve so-cial justice.

It is appropriate to mention here a transcendentalevent that recently occurred in the city of SantoDomingo, Dominican Republic, where, on the occa-sion of the subregional tripartite meeting on labourrelations, social dialogue and democratic governance,the Santo Domingo agreement was signed with a viewto adopting a subregional tripartite labour agendawhich emerged from the social dialogue among thestakeholders.

This agreement includes an important list of basictopics aimed at the effective performance of the tasksand functions of our labour administrations, includingmechanisms to generate decent work, the adoptionof national and regional policies on the informaleconomy, respect for fundamental rights and prin-ciples, and strengthening social dialogue in bipartiteand/or tripartite bodies in order to consolidate sus-tainable human development in our societies.

Following on from this tripartite agreement, thesocial partners that are parties to this agreement re-quest the ILO, through its multidisciplinary team inSan José, Costa Rica, and through its technical assis-tance programmes and projects, to provide the neces-sary assistance for the implementation of the sub-regional labour agenda through the national tripartitebodies, existing regional forums such as the Councilof Ministers, the subregional employers’ forum, andthe workers’ forum which is currently being set up.

In my country, Honduras, the body in question willbe the recently established Economic and SocialCouncil, which represents all the social partners, and

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we hope that we will achieve positive results with thistripartite social dialogue.

We welcome the fact that the agenda of the Confer-ence includes topics such as those contained in itemsIV, V and VI. We hope that the second discussion ofthe promotion of cooperatives will result in a new ef-fective international instrument. The updating of thelist of occupational diseases (item V) is critically im-portant for the adoption of a Convention or a Recom-mendation in this area. The general discussion on theinformal economy is of prime importance for our de-veloping countries, since the growth of this sectormeans that there is a pressing need to adopt policiesand mechanisms to deal with it.

I would not wish to conclude my speech withoutexpressing our concern on the following problemswhich are emerging in the world of work. First, theHIV/AIDS epidemic is, as pointed out in a publica-tion of this Organization, a global crisis and one of themost serious challenges facing development and so-cial progress. In order to combat this scourge, we sup-port the ILO code of practice on HIV/AIDS and theworld of work adopted at the Tripartite Meeting ofExperts on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work held inthis city in May 2000, and we recommend that it beused for dissemination and awareness-raising pur-poses.

As a token of our willingness to combat thisscourge, our Government, having obtained a consen-sus in civil society and the private sector, has prepareda project proposal and sent it to the Global Fund toFight AIDS, and we hope that it will be approved.

The second social and labour issue relates to theprotection of seafarers in cases where their vessels areseized or immobilized in any other way, and the sea-farers are abandoned and deprived of their freedom.

The third concern has to do with the negotiation offree trade agreements and the subordination of otheragreements within them providing for mechanismsrelating to labour standards. On this point it is impor-tant to reaffirm that the International Labour Organi-zation is recognized worldwide as the only UnitedNations specialized agency competent in the labourfield to supervise and apply international labour stan-dards.

To conclude, on behalf of the Government of theRepublic of Honduras, I would like to reaffirm oursupport of and confidence in all the policies andactions carried out in the area of monitoring and de-fending fundamental labour rights by the Interna-tional Labour Organization, under the skilful man-agement of our Director-General and the GoverningBody and, particularly, our gratitude to the area officeand its multidisciplinary team in San José, Costa Rica,for their efficient support and solidarity in our sub-region.

Original French: Mr. GJINUSHI (Deputy PrimeMinister, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Alba-nia) — It is a great pleasure for me to take part in thework of this Conference, and in Albania we are par-ticularly interested in eradicating the worst forms ofchild labour.

Child labour is quite a recent phenomenon in Alba-nia, as a result of the socio-economic and demo-graphic changes since the 1990s which brought unem-ployment, emigration, abandonment of schooling, thegrowth of poverty and the emergence of an informaleconomic sector.

According to some studies, approximately onequarter of Albanian families live below the officialpoverty line. Consequently, for three years now wehave been applying a national anti-poverty strategy toreduce the level of poverty, and unemployment in thecountry. Poverty has led to migration of the popula-tion within and outside the country. In most cases,people have difficulty in finding new employment andchildren are often viewed as a source of revenue fortheir families. They work largely in the informal sec-tor or in family economic activities.

One serious concern is the emigration of minorsunaccompanied who often end up becoming involvedin crime. The Albanian Government is making effortsto eliminate child labour, notably through a memo-randum of understanding concluded with the ILO andIPEC which has made it possible to set up a nationalprogramme to combat child labour. We have drawnup a national strategy for children and a nationalstrategy to combat trafficking in human beings bothof which are now being applied. The objective ofthese strategies is to develop policies in order to takeappropriate measures to eliminate child labour, tocreate the necessary legislative framework and lawenforcement agencies and set up an infrastructure,firstly to prevent trafficking and secondly to counsel,rehabilitate and reintegrate the victims of such traf-ficking.

The Albanian Government has ratified the Mini-mum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), and the WorstForms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).To bring our labour legislation into line with interna-tional norms, we have recently drawn up a LabourCode, the first revised draft of which places great im-portance on protecting women and children.

We are now also drawing up strategies for employ-ment and the distribution of social services. The mainobjective is to improve policy on employment andprofessional training, and provide a wider diversity ofimproved social services in the community.

Cooperation with social partners is increasing, inorder to coordinate efforts to minimize the informaleconomy, which in the last two years has been reducedby 7 percent to 23 per cent.

In presenting the efforts and steps taken by theAlbanian Government to eliminate trafficking in hu-man beings, I would like to emphasize the need for yetmore intensive cooperation between the countries inthe region with the same objectives. We feel thatestablishing possibilities for the free circulation ofhuman beings would considerably reduce this traf-ficking, as well as unemployment levels, and hencepoverty.

Noting the serious commitment of the ILO underthe stability Pact we are very interested in pursuingand developing such initiatives, which we consider tobe a significant contribution to promoting under-standing, particularly in south-eastern Europe.

Finally, I would like once again to express my bestwishes for the success of this Conference and empha-size my country’s commitment to implementing itsconclusions.

Original French: Mr. CAMBUS (representative ofthe International Confederation of Executive Staff) —First of all, on behalf of the International Confedera-tion of Executive Staff whom I have the honour torepresent today, I congratulate the President andVice-Presidents on their election to the presidency of

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the 90th Session of the International Labour Confer-ence and wish them success in their work.

I would like, first of all, to commend the work car-ried out by the ILO to insure that the changing worldeconomy will see women and men benefiting fromgrowth rather than being adversely affected in thename of competitiveness, flexibility, and other adjec-tives which characterize the effects of capitalismseeking responsibility and ethics.

I truly believe that our Organization is currentlyexperiencing both a historic and particularly difficultperiod of new strategic constraints associated withlasting development and the shift from an economicsystem which had consumed and degraded withoutrestraint many national resources, towards a capital-ism which I dare to qualify as responsible. More spe-cifically, with respect to the programme of this ses-sion, I would like first of all to congratulate theDirector-General and his staff for the quality, clarityand concision of the 2000-01 activities report basedaround the four strategic objectives. We particularlyappreciate the objectives/results approach, with theincreased involvement of the ILO constituents indefining the objectives of the biennium, and the in-creased involvement of beneficiaries of technical as-sistance of the ILO in the definition and implementa-tion of solutions adapted to economic and socialrealities.

Secondly, I would like to commend the Director-General for the success of the campaign led by theILO for the ratification of the Worst Forms of ChildLabour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), since, in threeyears, virtually two-thirds of the member States havealready ratified this Convention to eliminate theworst forms of child labour. This exceptional result isthanks to the Organization’s mobilization to convincegovernments that child labour is not a lasting inevita-bility, and must be approached as a major obstacle tothe economic and social progress of a country asa whole and to its development. This success is alsothat of governments which, by ratifying ConventionNo. 182, have undertaken the commitment to protectand educate those who constitute their future.

Allow me, thirdly, to emphasize the importance inthis general discussion of at least identifying the foun-dations of the informal economy, if not of reaching aconsensual definition of it. Contrary to the widelyheld belief, the informal economy does not only existin developing countries or countries with emergingeconomies — industrialized countries are also af-fected to different degrees and in different ways. If itis true that the industrial sector is losing importanceto the services sector, in exchange, inter alia, we havethe growth of employment under precarious contractsif not purely and simply informal contracts, as issometimes the case in the hotel, restaurant andseasonal tourism sector.

Finally, a fourth point, speaking on behalf of theexecutives I represent as spokesperson of the Interna-tional Confederation of Executive Staff, our workersdemonstrate a high level of skills, responsibilities, in-volvement and the capacity to anticipate. They are thelocomotives of progress and they are aware of theirsocial responsibility.

How can we not be surprised, and that is putting itmildly, to note that their need and their right to or-ganize within trade unions, or in specific associations,and to participate in collective bargaining is not met inmany member States. In many countries, for example

the United States, Canada, some Member States ofthe European Union — notably Belgium, Austria andSpain — the two fundamental principles of ourOrganization, the two essential rights for men andwomen at work — freedom of association and theright to collective bargaining — are not applicable toexecutives. This is a matter that we will have to raise,and that we do raise unceasingly, in the Organizationuntil a suitable solution has been found.

Thank you very much for enabling me to speak be-fore the plenary of our Organization to underscorethis particular point. Once again, I wish you full suc-cess. I thank all of my colleagues who, at this very latehour, have paid attention to my statement.

Mr. ZHARIKOV (representative of the World Fed-eration of Trade Unions) — We welcome efforts to in-troduce new working methods if they are more cost-effective and can enhance the capacity of theOrganization to deal with emerging problems and de-liver solutions.

We recall the statement made by the Director-Gen-eral two years ago that “democratizing globalizationis the role of the ILO”. The question is, how far havethe ILO programmes advanced in this direction?How far has the ILO taken into account the presentconcerns of the global movement of trade unions andother democratic organizations against the colossal,negative economic and social consequences of the on-going neoliberal version of globalization, whichbrings more unemployment and more poverty everyday?

Recently, there were nationwide strikes and massdemonstrations in India, Italy, Germany and othercountries and continents protesting against the plansof governments to reverse the major social gainsachieved by the workers and the trade union move-ment over a whole century and more.

In recent years, there have been such trade unionprotests ranging from the trade union actions againstthe consequences of financial crises in Asia and otherregions and leading up to the recent people’s protestsin Argentina, Peru and other countries, which led tothe fall of the governments.

These massive protest actions drew attention tothe havoc caused to the working people because ofthe neoliberal economic policies which are imposedthrough the IMF, World Bank and WTO, as wellas the plans to impose a Free Trade Agreement ofthe Americas against the interests of peoples andcountries. There are big protests every day againstthe policies of liberalization, privatization andglobalization.

The trade unions are engaged in big struggles, hor-rified by the fact that such key issues as job securityand labour protection laws could be eliminated fromthe social agenda on the grounds that they allegedlyhinder implementation of “globalization” policies.

If the present offensive of neoliberal globalizationcontinues, it is understood that all the efforts of theILO to formulate and promote international labourstandards would be neutralized. The trade unionsstrongly feel that the principles upheld by the Decla-ration of Philadelphia and summed up by the well-known statement that “labour is not a commodity”are being thrown overboard by the protagonists ofneoliberal globalization.

The kind of globalization imposed by theneoliberal ruling circles is now seen more like at-

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tempts to reinforce financial imperialism and neoco-lonialism, as it has been pointed out here by the distin-guished Prime Minister of Malaysia. The United Na-tions Charter and international law are underminedand the sovereignty and rights of nations and peoplesgrossly violated. Such policies have resulted in a fur-ther increase in poverty and destitution, a further risein unemployment and underemployment, and a fur-ther worsening of the global economic and social de-velopment crises.

The global oligarchies are taking control of the in-formation media and using it to confuse and dividethe people while the anti-social forces intensify theirattacks on basic human rights. Trade unions the worldover are greatly concerned about the efforts beingmade to turn the ILO itself into just anotherneoliberal tool like the IMF, World Bank and WTO.

The WFTU strongly condemns the fact that, whilesocial programmes are not being implemented due toan alleged lack of financial resources, huge sums arewasted on arms budgets and for the pursuit of militaryadventures which threaten peace and security for allpeoples on our planet.

We believe that the ILO programmes should takeinto account these concerns of the trade unions andsocial organizations as highlighted by the World So-cial Forum in Porto Alegre and the call for democraticinternational development strategies in order tocreate more and better jobs, decent work standardsand safe working conditions.

Against this background, we are constrained to re-mark that the composition of the ILO World Com-mission on Globalization is weak when it comes toparticipation by the world trade union movement, es-pecially its representation of the millions of workingpeople who are opposing neoliberal globalization.

In the same spirit, we also hope that all concernedwill make efforts to ensure that social dialogue at theILO includes all trends at the international and re-gional level, and the Workers’ group of the ILO Gov-erning Body becomes fully democratic, representingall elements and structures of the world trade unionmovement.

There are principles and practices which are invogue in all UN agencies, keeping in mind the need toensure that all regions and interests are adequatelyrepresented.

We call your attention to the fact that it is also logi-cal that such considerations also apply to the composi-tion of the Workers’ Relations Department and otherbodies of the ILO.

It is difficult to avoid saying that, while making loudnoises about human rights and democratic liberties,militarized regimes like the present Israeli rulingcircles are implementing a policy of genocide in orderto consolidate their illegal occupation of Arab landsin Palestine, Syrian Golan and parts of Lebanon.

In conclusion, I would like the say that the ILOshould concentrate its efforts on promoting imple-mentation of the ten commitments and programme ofaction adopted by the World Summit on Social Devel-opment. The WFTU believes that the main thrust ofglobalization in the present day world should be theimplementation of agreements from that and theother UN world summits. In this, you can rely on thesupport of the World Federation of Trade Unions.

Original Spanish: Mr. ARTHUR ERRAZURIZ(Employers’ delegate, Chile) — On analysing the

Director-General’s Report, it is clear that there is con-cern over the implementation of the ILO’s basic aimsin respect of employment and social protection. Wecan only applaud the efforts described, but we alsofeel that it is necessary to share with you some of ourexperience in this area, and above all, our ideas forthe future.

Chile is said to be one of the Latin American coun-tries with the most efficient macroeconomic indica-tors in the region, yet along with the rest of the conti-nent, we have to cope with unemployment rates whichupset our social harmony. Our current unemploymentrate is 8.8 per cent. This means that 521,000 Chileansdo not have a steady job.

This is certainly one of the most pressing socio-economic problems affecting our country on accountof the ensuing and all too familiar bitterness and senseof insecurity about the future.

All the labour aspects analysed in this Conferenceare of supreme importance, but I think the most ur-gent is employment. In this context we must try to in-novate and to generate legal norms which provide in-centives to take on workers, while at the same timedoing away with initiatives which ostensibly helpworkers but which in fact are detrimental to them.

Unemployment is something which should prefer-ably be at the centre of our deliberations. The right towork should lead to the formulation of laws on incen-tives for employers and employees. The term “incen-tive” implies motivating the creation of jobs on thebasis of granting certain benefits to employers whichhave no permanent effects on workers.

In our country, some norms of this kind haveproved to be efficient. World economies depend onthese sort of incentives and they would give the rightsort of balance to labour relations.

In this context, we need to create temporary incen-tives at times of high levels of unemployment, whichwould make it possible to take on the long-term job-less. Our obligation is not only to represent the laboursectors and employers, but to interpret employers’desires, but sometimes this is not done for politicalreasons or for reasons of advisability.

I should point out that recent labour reforms intro-duced in Chile produce the opposite result. They didnot act as incentives to employment and put thosewho opted for them at a severe disadvantage.

The ILO has enough experience to differentiatebetween labour laws which protect workers and thosewhich have an adverse effect on them, despite appear-ances and their initial popularity. There is tripartiteresponsibility to take suitable action. In the case ofChile this is of particular importance, since our coun-try has recently decided to become a trading partnerof the European Economic Community with all therisks and advantage that this entails. This is a demon-stration of trust in our economy and should bring usbenefits in the medium term. We should therefore in-troduce domestic laws allowing us to compete onequal terms.

One of the aims of this Organization is to provideand increase the efficiency of social protection and tothat end it has been suggested that there is a need foraction to secure better funding and governance ofpresent pension schemes.

Faced with a crisis in this sector caused by far-reaching demographic changes, 21 years ago my coun-try replaced the old system with one based on indi-vidual savings and the privatization of pensions.

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After 21 years, we can say that the system has func-tioned well not only in terms of improving pensions, asuccess which speaks for itself, but also in terms ofcontributing to the economic development of thecountry, in that savings are channelled into activitieswith the highest economic potential in our country.

These results enable us to meet one of the chal-lenges facing the ILO, that of contending with econ-omic and social insecurity. It is certainly a reliablepensions system, since the funds belong to theworkers investing in them and those funds are in-vested safely at a high yield. This is a guaranteeagainst the insecurity that development sometimesbrings.

More than 20 countries in America, Asia andEurope have carried out similar reforms and we aretalking about over 100 billion dollars which are beingadministered by these funds.

I would conclude by repeating my conviction that itis vital to protect employment; but first it has to becreated. For this we need imagination and a respon-sible social dialogue so that we can promote employ-ment and those that that harm employment, despitethe names given to laws.

Ms. DELAP (representative of the InternationalSave the Children Alliance) — On behalf of the Inter-national Save the Children Alliance I thank youfor the opportunity to speak here today. We work inover 100 countries across the world and form thelargest independent movement aimed at promotingchildren’s rights.

Save the Children would like to commend the ILOon its success in achieving many of its targets regard-ing child labour in the reporting period.

Especially impressive is the large number of mem-ber States that have ratified the Worst Forms of ChildLabour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). We were de-lighted to read in the Director-General’s Report ofthe increased donor support to the IPEC programmeand the research carried out on child labour issues bymany member States. We feel that this, and the wide-spread ratification of Convention No. 182, reflects thetrue importance of effectively tackling harmful andexploitative child work. However, we were disap-pointed to read of difficulties in gaining memberStates’ commitment towards time-bound program-mes. We hope that the commitments expressed bymany delegates in yesterday’s debate to addressingchild labour will be followed up with rapid and effec-tive action. We also hope that this commitment ex-tends to ensuring that child labour concerns are re-flected in national and international economicpolicies.

In commenting on the issues of child labour in theDirector-General’s Report, we also feel that it is rel-evant to make reference to the Global Report, Afuture without child labour, tabled earlier in the ILCand cited in the Director-General’s Report.

We made some comments on the Global Reportyesterday, but would like to use this opportunity toelaborate on two further points.

Firstly, we welcome references made in the GlobalReport to the importance of civil society engagementand feel that there are significant opportunities forfurther engagement between the ILO and the NGOcommunity on the issue of child labour. We believethat there are opportunities for the NGOs and theILO to engage on all three pillars of action outlined in

the Report. For example, we feel that we can help re-inforce the work of IPEC and, at the same time,develop our own work, by sharing lessons learntin areas such as participatory research, involvingworking children.

We can engage with the ILO in mainstreamingchild labour issues into the Decent Work Agenda. Forexample, we can share our knowledge and our exper-ience of the links between children’s work and dis-crimination issues.

We can also engage with the ILO in forging closerpartnerships in the fight against harmful and exploit-ative child work. We believe that we have much toshare on effective ways for achieving the participationof communities and children in the child labourdebate.

Secondly, we would like to emphasize further theimportance of children’s participation in respondingto children’s work. We congratulate the ILO’s recog-nition in the Report of the importance of children’sparticipation, but feel that there is much that we canall do to ensure that this participation is achieved.Children’s involvement in decisions that affect them isa fundamental principle of the United Nations Con-vention on the Rights of the Child. We believe thatchildren should be involved in all stages of the pro-cess, from determining which forms of work are worstforms to the monitoring and evaluation of project ac-tivities. We are pleased to hear about the new childlabour research initiatives, outlined in the Director-General’s Report, and would like to ensure thatthese initiatives include participatory research withworking children.

We understand that the concept of children’s par-ticipation is new and challenging to many. However,from over 80 years of experience in working with chil-dren, we know that children offer unique insights intotheir own lives that often differ fundamentally fromadults. Children’s participation is therefore crucial forensuring that the way we act is in the best interests ofchildren.

We welcome the participation of some workingchildren in yesterday’s debate; we see this as an impor-tant first step in ensuring that children are fully andmeaningfully involved in debates on child labour inthe International Labour Conference in the future.

Mr. SUPARWANTO (Employers’ delegate, Indo-nesia) — First of all, on behalf of all employers of theRepublic of Indonesia, I would like to congratulatethe President on his election to preside over this ses-sion of the Conference. I have every faith that his ex-perience and proficiency will enable us to accomplishthe objective of this session of the Conference. Iwould like also to congratulate the two elected Vice-Presidents.

Before I join in the discussion of the Director-General’s Report, I would like to thank the ILO Of-fice in Jakarta, which has made great efforts tostrengthen the Indonesian Employers’ Association.I greatly appreciate its hard work.

In response to the excellent Report prepared by theDirector-General, I would like to draw the attentionof the Conference to the following points.

First, the ILO’s main objective of promoting decentwork has brought employers together through theOrganization’s tripartite structure. To bring the de-cent work concept into action, it is necessary to pro-mote and realize the shared values of the stake-

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holders, which has indirectly involved employers incertain activities. Hence, the Indonesian employers’delegation attending this session of the Conferencewill search for a better method for implementation atthe national level, particularly at the plant level.

With the ratification of all eight of the core ILOConventions on the fundamental principles and rightsat work, all parties in the tripartite body are commit-ted to their application in law and practice. One of theforms of partnership is labour reform law, which re-sulted in the trade union law of the Act No. 21 of 2000.

In the meantime, employers are also involved indrawing up two draft bills on manpower protectionand development, and labour dispute settlement.These draft bills are now in the last phase of delibera-tions in Parliament and should be adopted by the endof September 2002.

Secondly, the financial crisis that hit Indonesia inmid-1997 had a severe impact on employment. Today,there are approximately 36.9 million unemployedpeople and 40 million people live in poverty, and thiscondition has a tendency to rise. This condition hasled to the growth of the informal sectors which havenotably helped the survival of the Indonesianeconomy since the collapse of the formal sectors. Thesymbiotic relationship between formal and informalsectors is highlighted in the ILO Report VI, Decentwork and the informal economy, which shows that aclose correlation between the two sectors will make apositive contribution to the economy. As regards thismatter, employers will support efforts to developoperational and technical programmes for informalsectors, in order to make a conducive environment forjob creation in the formal sectors afterwards.

The Indonesian Employers’ Association stronglybelieves that in order to reduce the problems of indus-trial relations in Indonesia, the first priority should beconsidered to be that of building bipartism. Workersand employers should sit down together to seek waysto overcome all of our problems. Both partnersshould have a common understanding of how to in-crease industrial peace.

Thirdly, the main priority for conducting social dia-logue is that of establishing regular dialogue betweenworkers or trade unions and employers at national,provincial and plant level. This is necessary in order tohave a common platform as a medium to discussissues arising from the application of industrial rela-tions.

According to the Global Report, Indonesian em-ployers were involved in and supported the nationallaunch of the Global Report, A future without childlabour, on 20 May 2002. We have also built a partner-ship with IPEC to support the activities of the ILO,which acts as a social partner for eliminating childlabour in order to improve the future situation in ourcountry.

Before concluding my remarks, I would also like toexpress my deepest sympathy for the situation inPalestine. I hope the situation will soon improve withthe support of the ILO.

Mr. SIMEONOV (Employers’ delegate, Bulgaria)— I would like first of all to congratulate the Presi-dent and the Vice-Presidents on their election andwish them, on behalf of the Bulgarian employers, suc-cess in guiding the Conference.

The Report of the Director-General and the reportof the Governing Body show a clear identification of

aims and a concentration on the most important tasksof the mission lying before the Organization. The ac-tivity of the ILO, as reflected in the Report, is veryimpressive. I have to point out that the presence of theILO has been even more significant in Bulgaria sincethe previous session of the International Labour Con-ference. At the same time, considerable efforts weremade so that the ILO would feel the tide of reformsand direct itself even more effectively.

Since the 89th Session of the International LabourConference, the activities of the Bulgarian employers’association have received a further impetus, withregular consultations among members and the devel-opment of joint proposals which have been submittedto the Parliament, the Government, and other institu-tions in order to defend employers’ interests.

Furthermore, the association maintains close con-tact with other employers’ organizations which cannotmeet the criteria for national representation. The mostimportant issues are coordinated with them or arebrought directly to a single new body which defendsemployers’ interests — the newly established Councilfor Economic Growth, under the Bulgarian Council ofMinisters. The Bulgarian employers take an active partin the social dialogue, in the work of tripartite bodiesand in the management of the social funds.

On the whole, there has been an improvement insocial dialogue. However, the dialogue still requiresmore opportunity for feedback and needs more justi-fied and well-founded answers from the Government,especially when the employers’ proposals are not ac-cepted.

The Bulgarian employers are convinced that theBulgarian economy should be further liberalized byreducing regulation regimes, eliminating the need forcertain permits and licences and replacing them with aregistration regime. This will also decrease the shareof the shadow economy and its consequences, such asthe avoidance of labour contracts, non-payment ofsocial security contributions and non-observance forthe minimum wage.

It must be recognized that if a requirement cannotbe complied with by the majority of employers, then itis on excessive requirement and has to be amended.

The legislation has to take into account also theconditions of the transition period. It must not pushcompanies into the shadow economy.

These difficulties, as well as some others which re-sult from the crisis in the Balkans, from a delay in theprocess of structural reform process and high tax andsocial security payments imposed on employers, havebrought about increased unemployment.

Furthermore, flexible forms of employment haveto be introduced to make way for greater competitive-ness and efficiency of invested funds. The Bulgarianemployers are united in their willingness and effortsto make the business environment in Bulgaria moreattractive. The introduction of preferences for spe-cific categories of companies and sectors is not benefi-cial to the economy. Therefore, we are going to workin the direction of improving the entire economic en-vironment, which will affect all companies, big andsmall, and both Bulgarian and foreign investors. Afavourable economic climate and tolerable taxes arethe best means to fight the shadow economy. Thoseare the conditions that do not hamper companiesfrom investing in innovation and engineering and thatallow them to provide incentives and sufficient moti-vation to their workers.

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In recent years we have been working more ac-tively on occupational safety and health. Projects inthis area have been carried out successfully. This is tothe credit of the last two governments. We shall haveto direct our efforts towards preventive activities, be-cause we are still dealing with this problem in a cura-tive rather than preventive manner. In this sense thereis still an enormous work to be done in Bulgaria. Weexpect the ILO to provide us assistance in this area.

Original Arabic: Mr. AL DEBSS (Employers’delegate, Syrian Arab Republic) — I am very pleasedto be with you this evening and to represent theSyrian employers at the 90th Session of the Interna-tional Labour Conference. The Syrian Arab Republiccontinues to promote labour and working conditionsin conformity with the policies of our President,Bashir Al Assad, and in the framework of moderniza-tion, with close collaboration between the Govern-ment, the employers and the workers. A number oflaws and decrees have been promulgated, including alaw on private banks, one on social insurance, andLaw 10 on investment, all of which are intended toreinforce the private sector in The Syrian Arab Re-public and encourage investment. The interest shownby international companies and banks in investing inThe Syrian Arab Republic proves the confidence ofthe international community in investment opportu-nities in The Syrian Arab Republic, and in its politi-cal, economic and social stability, particularly follow-ing the conclusion of free trade agreements with anumber of Arab countries. Partnership negotiationsbetween The Syrian Arab Republic and Europe areclose to completion. The situation in our region hasdeteriorated considerably, particularly since the be-ginning of the year, due to assaults by the Israeli occu-pation authorities, which have spared no-one, chil-dren or old people in Palestine or the other occupiedArab territories. This aggression is sapping thechances for the just and comprehensive peace towhich we aspire, and the situation in the region hasbecome explosive.

We have read carefully the annex to the Report ofthe Director-General and are surprised and confusedto see on page 22 of the Arabic text the term “TheArab population of the Golan”. The correct term is“citizens, Syrian Arab citizens of the occupied SyrianGolan”. The information presented is general and re-quires further detail in order to give a clearer pictureof the reality of the violations perpetrated by the Is-raeli occupational forces in the Golan. Moreover,footnote 2 on the same page, quoting the Israeli occu-pational forces, is unacceptable, as it totally contra-dicts resolutions by the UN General Assembly andthe Security Council, notably Security Council resolu-tion 499 of 1981, which states, inter alia, that Israel’sdecision to impose its laws and authority on the occu-pied Syrian Golan was null and void.

The Syrian employers refuse to accept the situationprevailing in Iraq and the unjust and unjustifiedblockade, particularly since Iraq has fulfilled theconditions required for international legitimacy, ablockade imposed on Iraq on the pretext that itwas necessary to destroy biological and chemicalweapons, at a time when another country in the re-gion has an arsenal of such weapons and is actingrecklessly and irresponsibly.

We hope that this Conference will distinguishbetween the just and the unjust, and we also hope that

this Conference will adopt Recommendations andresolutions which match reality and which meet theexpectations of all social partners.

We also hope that they will condemn that aggres-sion and restore the legitimate rights of oppressedpeoples, and that Israel will return their occupied ter-ritories to the Arabs.

Finally, we wish to confirm that the Syrian delega-tion calls on the ILO to contribute in an efficient man-ner to the creation of a special fund to promote em-ployment and social protection in Palestine, ensurethe protection of Palestinian workers and guaranteetheir right to decent work.

Mr. MUSENGE (representative of the InternationalSocial Security Association) — It is my very greatpleasure to extend to this International Labour Con-ference the greetings of its close associate, the Inter-national Social Security Association.

This is a particularly noteworthy year for the Inter-national Social Security Association, known to manyof you simply by the abbreviation ISSA. The ISSA isindeed celebrating this year its 75th anniversary. TheILO was, of course, present on the occasion of thefounding of the ISSA in 1927 in Brussels, when a smallgroup of sickness insurance institutions met to lay thefoundations of the International Social Security Asso-ciation. One could even say that the ILO was, fromthe very beginning, a parent of the Association, en-couraging and facilitating the development of theISSA over the course of the subsequent decades. I amvery pleased to inform you that this very special rela-tionship continues up to the present day.

Why did the ILO foster the growth of the ISSA,beginning in 1927? The simple, but historically accu-rate, explanation is that the ILO realized at a veryearly date that the administrative bodies of nationalsocial security systems would, in many instances,operate outside the oversight of the national minis-tries of labour. In fact, in many countries the socialsecurity institutions would become autonomous pub-lic institutions, administered by representatives of thesocial partners, the workers and the employers along-side the representatives of government.

The ILO therefore felt it necessary to bring to-gether these social security institutions at the interna-tional level both to promote the development of so-cial security protection and to gain support for theratification of the growing number of ILO Conven-tions and Recommendations dealing with the socialsecurity field. This ILO policy proved to be very far-sighted indeed, since today the ISSA has become aworldwide organization, counting among its membersnearly 400 social security institutions in close to150 countries. These ISSA members work togetherto extend and improve social security protection forworkers and their families everywhere.

I would like to invite all of you, whether you re-present your government or the social partners, totake part in an important event to be held at the invi-tation of the Government of Canada in Vancouver on10-12 September of this year. This international con-ference will focus on an issue of critical importance toboth the ILO and the ISSA: how to strengthen the se-curity in social security. This conference followsclosely the important work carried out by the Interna-tional Labour Conference at its session last year whenit adopted a consensus document on the ILO’s socialsecurity policy. The Vancouver conference is thus an

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important occasion to bring the ILO’s message to thehundreds of social security policy-makers, directorsand managers who will be present on that occasion.

The Vancouver conference is an opportunity to re-flect together on how social security coverage can beextended to the vast majority of the world’s workerswho presently do not benefit from any formal systemof social security protection. This issue of social secu-rity coverage is, of course, one of the major preoccu-pations of both the ILO and the ISSA, since there is agrowing realization around the world that we cannotassume that the growth of social security protectionwill follow the historical course witnessed in many ofthe industrialized countries of Western Europe andNorth America. In these industrialized countries,which today enjoy high levels of social security cover-age of their populations, the extension of coveragewas gradual but steady, stretching over many decadesuntil nearly universal coverage was achieved duringrecent decades.

Clearly, this historical pattern is not being repeatedin many developing countries. The world itself is verydifferent from the one in which the older national so-cial security programmes were introduced and devel-oped. Today’s world is more globalized with respect tomarkets and financial transactions. The predominanteconomic model is that of the market economy, whichbrings along with it strong pressures to privatize andto reduce the size and the role of government in manysectors of public policy, including social security. And,it is well known and documented that, in many coun-tries of the world, the new jobs being created by therestructured national economies are in fact in the in-formal sector, where there exists virtually no socialsecurity protection outside of the traditional forms offamily and community support.

It is therefore not surprising that, in the wake ofeconomic downswings and national economic restruc-turing policies, there are a number of countries in theworld where social security coverage is today actuallydeclining rather than growing.

What I have just said about the crisis of socialsecurity coverage in the world is therefore a realitythat we cannot and should not ignore. The ISSAVancouver conference this year, as well as the exten-sive programme of technical activities, will focus onthis issue of the coverage gap. We are confidentthat we will be able to count on the close cooper-ation of the ILO and particularly its technical staff inthe Social Protection Sector to analyse and to findpractical solutions to address this major social pro-tection challenge.

I have placed particular stress on the close coopera-tion between the ILO and the ISSA in addressing thesocial security coverage gap. There are, of course,other important areas where such cooperation is on-going and where it can be even further reinforced inthe future. For lack of time, I will make mention hereof only two additional examples: firstly, training forsocial security officials, and secondly, the develop-ment of international social security information andstatistical databases.

I look forward to coming back to you next year withan update on how we are improving ISSA-ILO co-operation in these two areas, as well as in the othersmentioned previously. The 25 years of ISSA-ILO co-operation is an achievement but, as in any family, ittakes work to get on well together. We are committedon the ISSA side to rendering this special relationship

ever more beneficial to the member States, to theworld’s social security institutions and to the millionsof persons they protect around the world.

Original Spanish: Mr. MIRELES (Workers’ adviserand substitute delegate, Mexico) — We would like togreet the representatives of the ILO, especially theDirector-General, Juan Somavia, trade union del-egates, government officials and entrepreneurs fromvarious countries who are participating in this greatevent, where strategic subjects are under discussionwith a view to developing the international workers’movement.

We have to contribute our experiences gained inthe trade union movement, share our achievements,recognize our limitations and promote projects thatstrengthen relations between workers, employers andgovernments. We will continue fighting in order tohave the demands of the worker movement met,which contributes to the production of goods and ser-vices under a new development model imposed bymodern society on the world’s economies.

As a result of globalization, the influence of whichextends beyond any geographical border, competitionis becoming more and more aggressive. Modern so-ciety is committed to making free trade easier andachieving productivity and profit. However, this freetrade structure has not solved the situation of devel-oping countries where there is access to a larger quan-tity of goods at lower prices but substantial sections ofsociety are excluded from these markets because oftheir poverty.

We are feeling the effects of a deterioration in theworld economy as a result of international terrorism,with the closure of businesses and heavy job losses. Bythe same token the informal economy has grown aswell, helping to generate income and avoid a majorcrisis in society.

Globalization has caused an enormous increase inthe informal economy in the last 20 years. At the 1991session of the International Labour Conference, theinformal sector was defined as having little invest-ment capital, rudimentary technology and unqualifiedlabour. Employment in this sector is unstable andpeople are excluded from social protection. However,according to official figures from August 2000,12.7 per cent of the GDP was generated by the infor-mal economy.

This has allowed us to become members of theWorkers’ Congress and to participate in making col-lective requests to the Government. We have alsosigned agreements with the Mexican Social SecurityInstitute and with entities dealing with housing, thusbeing able to offer our members the advantages oftrade unionism. It should be emphasized that workersin the informal economy in the state of Nuevo Leónare protected by a new law.

In this era of globalization workers in the informaleconomy are able to organize themselves, and thechallenge for trade unions in all countries is to try andbring them under the social security umbrella and in-volve them in increased trade union activity at an in-ternational level.

The ILO was founded in 1919 after the First WorldWar, the objective being to establish internationallabour standards in order to protect employment anduphold justice, freedom and social security. We there-fore hope that our trade union proposal is in line withthese lofty goals.

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The biggest trade unions in Mexico, CROC andCTM, under the leadership of Alberto Juarez Blancasand Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine, are preparing tomarch on towards their destiny and continue thestruggle to improve conditions for the workers. Thechallenge is to achieve unity, which is the only way for-ward for workers and employers.

Mr. PEET (Minister of Labour and Immigration,Bahamas) — The Government of the Commonwealthof the Bahamas joins in congratulating the Presidentin his election and the Director-General for hisReport ILO programme implementation 2000-01.

The Report reflects the tremendous work under-taken on behalf of the ILO and its constituents.Thanks to the enormous efforts undertaken, the ma-chinery of the Governing Body has moved theInFocus Programmes, initiated two years ago by theDirector-General, forward; and the achievements inratifications of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Con-vention, 1999 (No. 182), demonstrate the value oftripartism and social dialogue in decision-making,which impact the working and living conditions ofmen, women and children throughout the world.

My Government is committed to strengthening ourapproach to participative democracy by consultationand dialogue. My Government, the ProgressiveLiberal Party, having the overwhelming support of theelectorate, was returned to power after an absence ofsome ten years during the general elections held in theBahamas on 2 May 2002.

My Government reaffirms its strong and historicties with workers and organized labour in the Baha-mas. My Government has pledged to the people ofthe Bahamas that we will create a true tripartite rela-tionship between Government, workers and employ-ers, so that public policies on labour will reflect whatis best and reasonable for our democratic society. Weare committed to improving labour relations in thepublic sector, improving labour legislation by incre-mental changes after proper consultation with em-ployers and unions.

My Government will pursue a new approach, basedon tripartite consensus on decent work. We fully sup-port minimum wage laws without reducing existingbenefits. Our commitment to fundamental principlesand rights at work will be strengthened through tri-partite cooperation. Through these practices, we willstrengthen employers’ and workers’ organizationsand labour administration, and reinforce social dia-logue.

We are committed to training and improving thewell-being of our citizenry. Undoubtedly, this willcreate greater opportunities for men and women, andsecure decent employment and income. We are sup-porting these commitments by providing budgetaryallocations for improved educational levels andtraining opportunities through skill-training develop-ment and investment in health and safety at work toimprove productivity.

My Government is committed to improving theemployability and adaptability of the Bahamianlabour force through active labour market policies,including the fight against all forms of discriminationand targeted programmes for low-income workers,particularly in the informal economy. Social safetynets are being instituted to provide assistance andsupport to displaced workers, retirees and the indi-gent.

The InFocus Programme on Social Security hasbrought focused attention to the need to promote ac-tivities strengthening social issues in occupationalsafety and health, HIV/AIDS and social security.

The Government of the Commonwealth of the Ba-hamas has ratified the eight core Conventions, and isactively considering the ratification of others, uponthe recommendation of the social partners. We arecommitted to promoting ILO standards and policiesat a national level, thus giving effect to practices ofdecent work. Our greatest challenge is to develop andimplement strategies that give young people a realchance to find decent and productive work.

Our economy, like that of the other CARICOMmember States, is still rebounding from the interna-tional impact of the events of 11 September. Nonethe-less, we are moving “our plan” forward for a strongerBahamas and a brighter future for all workers there.

Finally, as the newly elected member of the Gov-erning Body for the Caribbean, I would like to thankthe CARICOM governments, and other govern-ments, for supporting the Bahamas.

Ms. ROMCHATTHONG (Employers’ delegate,Thailand) — Let me first congratulate the Presidenton his election and convey to him, the Director-General and all of you, the good wishes of the em-ployers of Thailand. It is a privilege to be addressingyou on this occasion, at a time when there are greatthreats to stability in the same way that there were in1919, when the ILO was first created to combat pov-erty. At this Conference there is a discussion takingplace on the informal sector. We need to bear in mindthat many people are in this sector because they haveno hope of obtaining secure employment, or have lostsecure employment due to economic recession, suchas that which we experienced in Thailand not longago. We need to have an in-depth understanding ofthe issues related to the informal sector which couldvary from country to country. Generalizations couldbe dangerous.

I would like, on behalf of my organization, to stressthe need for employment creation which, in turn, re-quires the appropriate infrastructure and skills. Thereis a need for the social partners to work together tocreate jobs and also to help sustain jobs through com-petitiveness.

As employers we face a challenge, to show that it isthe free enterprise system which will see us throughthese difficult times. This creates an onus on us to beresponsible to society, and this is the reason why theEmployers’ Confederation of Thailand (ECOT) hasgiven highest priority to the Global Compact. We areproud that ECOT has taken a leading position in theregion in promoting the Global Compact. We recentlyorganized a high-profile conference to mark the firstanniversary of our involvement with the Global Com-pact. We have established links with the academicworld, and have influenced their thinking, as it is vitalthat we are not only relevant to the needs of society,but that we start reaching out to future generations ofleaders. What we need is harmony in our workplaces,and it is time to put aside our differences and worktogether as one group of concerned people, whetherwe represent government, employers or workers.

Competitiveness is the key to enterprise success,and we need to focus attention on workplace cooper-ation as a means of ensuring that enterprises can com-pete successfully at a global level. Competitiveness

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can be achieved by having appropriate policies in theworkplace, where employees are encouraged to con-tribute their knowledge and skills to support manage-ment through the adoption of a “win-win” approach.

Governments should to not only provide infrastruc-ture but also be responsible for ensuring that there aresufficient opportunities and desire for learning andongoing training. What contribution do we requirefrom the ILO? We need support to provide up-to-dateskills for our young people and senior workers, whoneed their skills upgrading. We need capacity-buildingfor employers’ and workers’ organizations, so that theycan be self-sufficient in the provision of the servicesrequired by their constituents.

In some of our countries there is a fragmentation ofemployers’ and workers’ interests, which is unhealthy,and as much as we respect the freedom of persons toassociate in any manner they think proper, we are alsoaware of the dangers of fragmentation. This makes anorganization weak and unable to respond to the realneeds of employers and workers. The ILO shouldlaunch a programme to encourage greater unity,which would in turn improve tripartite activity at na-tional level.

Thank you, Chairperson, for the opportunityto speak, and I wish you all every success for the Con-ference.

Original Spanish: Mr. HERRERA ROA (Em-ployers’ delegate, Dominican Republic) — On behalfof the Employers’ delegation of the DominicanRepublic, may I take this opportunity to congratulatethe President on his election. I would also like to con-gratulate the Director-General, Mr. Juan Somavia, onhis very important Report, in which he gives us theresults to date of the implementation of the strategicobjectives and cross-sectoral activities, which is an in-novative step because it has allowed us to monitor theeffects of the policies approved by this Organization.

The Report of the Director-General motivates usto work to expand decent work in our countries.

The Dominican Republic has enjoyed harmoniouslabour relations for the past few years, thanks to thesocial dialogue that the social partners have promotedin order to achieve a balanced solution to our con-flicts. This climate of peace has resulted from theratification and implementation of the core labourConventions that have provided the framework topromote freedom of association and the effectiverecognition of the right to collective bargaining.

Tripartism, the fundamental corner stone of thisOrganization, is respected in all the decisions and ac-tivities in the labour sphere, and it is also a model thatis repeated in other sectors of the country’s economicand political life, emphasizing solutions based on con-sensus and not on conflict or confrontation.

It is a pleasure for us to be able to say that, in theDominican Republic, workers’ and employers’ orga-nizations are always consulted in matters of adoptinglaws and regulations that are compatible with thehighest national objectives. As an example, we canquote a law adopted recently, which has created theDominican system of social security, with the activeparticipation of social stakeholders for an equitableand fair implementation, without excluding a singleDominican citizen.

We are committed to rejecting the worst forms ofchild labour, although we realize that in our countriesmany children unfortunately are heads of households.

However, we are against exploiting children and weare doing everything we can in order to oppose moststrongly these practices.

We are encouraging the creation of new and betterjobs that are well paid and with protection against un-justified dismissals and occupational hazards and weare at present developing a campaign to prevent theseand also to prevent problems that might arise fromHIV/AIDS.

Another activity that we consider to be very impor-tant is that of training the labour force. This is a ge-nuine investment, especially when globalization isforcing us to constantly retrain and adapt to techno-logical changes.

In this domain, international cooperation, espe-cially that provided by the ILO, is extremely impor-tant and relevant for fully recognizing the effortsmade by women workers, who must be acknowledgedand protected.

This session of the Conference is taking place at animportant moment for world peace and for protectingthe way of life that as a civilized community, we havealways promoted. For this reason, we deplore and re-ject all types of terrorism because we believe in ademocratic system based on participation and the ruleof law as a guarantor of social and human rights.

To conclude, we appreciate the efforts made by theILO which has adopted standard-setting policies tothe new global realities, and we hope that this shallcontinue as a necessary basis for establishing moreand better decent work.

Original Spanish: Mr. ORTEGA (Workers’ del-egate, Venezuela) — May I congratulate the Presidentand the other Officers of the Conference on behalf ofthe Venezuelan Workers’ delegation. The very suc-cessful manner in which the Conference has been pro-ceeding confirms how appropriate their election was.We would also like to congratulate the Director-General on the Report that he has presented to us.We can see, with satisfaction, in this Report thatprogress and achievements have been made towardsstrengthening the four strategic objectives which de-fine decent work and the ILO Declaration on Funda-mental Principles and Rights at Work.

It is with regret that we must denounce here, in thisOrganization which defends freedom, democracy andsocial justice, that coinciding with the application ofthe Declaration, in Venezuela we are experiencing aprocess which is undermining all these principles,which is the work of a Government that does not rec-ognize its international commitments in the laboursphere and that with systematic violence is undermin-ing the most elementary rights of workers and theirorganizations on a daily basis.

In Venezuela the Government has banished socialdialogue. The violation of Convention No. 87 was ce-mented at the Constitutional level when it was estab-lished that the State may intervene in trade unionelections and when steps were taken to dissolve thetrade union movement. Attempts were made to in-timidate trade union leaders through controls onlyapplicable to public officials and they tried to imposea referendum which was illegal and spurious from ev-ery point of view with the aim of dissolving the wholemovement. Based on ILO Conventions and prin-ciples, the Venezuelan Workers’ Confederation(CTV) called for abstention at this referendum and 97per cent of people obliged. As a result, there was no

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mandate for supervised elections. However, the Statecontinued to manoeuvre matters in such a way thattrade union elections were imposed. Workers andtheir leaders undermined this manoeuvre by the Gov-ernment and now we have 70,000 men and womenwho have been elected by universal and secret ballotby over a million workers and that gives our tradeunions a strength they have not had in the past.

As the supervisory bodies of the ILO have estab-lished — the Committee of Experts, the Committeeon the Application of Standards, the Committee onFreedom of Association — in Venezuela freedom ofassociation and the right to collective bargaining areconstantly being violated and this in a climate of econ-omic deterioration, exclusion, growing unemploy-ment and constant threats to freedom. This Govern-ment tried to violate the ILO Constitution and theStanding Orders of the Conference by trying to pre-vent the legitimate participation of the Workers’ del-egate. It was only by decision of the highest court ofthe land, handed down just a week ago, that this viola-tion was prevented.

The stifling level of labour unrest prompted by theGovernment, affecting even the oil industry, led theCTV to call a 24-hour general strike on 9 April last.The obstinacy of the Government in attending to ourcalls for negotiation and its failure to recognize themovement forced us to extend this action. This led tous holding a march on 11 April in which the CTV,SEDECAMARAS, political parties and civil societyorganizations expressed their solidarity with workersin the oil industry. They were asking for PresidentChavez to resign and for a return to the rule of law. Itwas a peaceful demonstration involving a millionpeople which as it approached the PresidentialPalace, in the regime’s most repressive action, wascrushed by the Government’s paramilitary bands

leaving a lamentable 17 compatriots dead and hun-dreds of people injured. It is with pain that we de-nounce these facts and call for those responsible to bepunished.

Fortunately, we have not been alone in trying tocombat the Government’s aggressions and its authori-tarian aspirations. To the internal solidarity of othersectors of society we have been able to add interna-tional solidarity. We would like to mention the actionsof the ICFTU, the ORIT and trade union confedera-tions on the continent and throughout the world.Many of their actions have played a determining rolein our struggle.

It is with immense gratitude that we note the firmand transparent approach taken by the ILO in help-ing us to defend the values and principles that arethe duty of this Organization. The various missionsand officials that have visited the country have ourdeepest respect and appreciation. ACTRAV, themultidisciplinary teams and the ILO regional officehave always given us the technical support wewanted.

Venezuela’s future is full of uncertainty. The work-ers will do everything they can to defend democracy.Totalitarianism is a real threat. There is no genuinerule of law, and we are being asked to accept an econ-omic package that is incomplete and badly planned,which will lead to more poverty and exclusion. Ourinstitutions are unstable and the current levels of cor-ruption are unprecedented.

We hope that we can continue to count on the effec-tiveness, vigilance and solidarity of the ILO and onsupport from the world’s workers and all of the demo-cratic powers represented at this session of the Inter-national Labour Conference.

(The Conference adjourned at 7.50 p.m.)

No. 16 – Friday, 14 June 2002

PRINTED IN SWITZERLAND

CONTENTS

Page

Eleventh Session:

Ratification of two international conventionsfor Sweden and Burundi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Reports of the Chairperson of the GoverningBody and of the Director-General: Discus-sion (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Speakers: Ms. Tokarska-Biernacik, Ms. Neffati,

Mr. Muhesen, Mr. Tunhammar, Mr. Nagiyev,Mr. Smith, Mr. Djilani, Mr. Vermeend, Mr. McKen-nirey, Mr. Díaz Guerra, Ms. Quintin, Mr. Al-Natsheh Mr. Funes de Rioja, Mr. Herczog,Ms. Shouleva, Mr. Hussain, Mr. Soodhun, Mr. JobimFilho, Mr. Levy

Twelfth Session:

Reports of the Chairperson of the GoverningBody and of the Director-General: Discus-sion (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Speakers: Mr. Ray Guevara, Mr. Ito, Mr. Sweeney,

Mr. El Fassi, Mr. Pais Antunes, Ms. Bannerman,Mr. Villaran de la Puente, Mr. Al-Faisaly, Mr. Sa-khan, Mr. Shmakov, Mr. Thys, Mr. Al-Juma,Mr. Khan, Mr. Nuwa Wea, Mr. Sulkowski, Mr. Ryss-dal, Mr. Faridi-Araghi, Mr. Meral, Mr. El Azali,Mr. Kassey, Mr. Magaya, Mr. Lall, Ms. Kayitesi,Mr. Thailuan, Ms. Lilleväli, Mr. Ivala, Mr. GurdiánCastellón, Mr. Pacheco Salazar, Mr. Barberini,Mr. Moushouttas, Mr. Obbo, Mr. Ahmed, Mr. Leit-zelar Vidaurreta, Mr. Gjinushi, Mr. Cambus,Mr. Zharikov, Mr. Arthur Errazuriz, Ms. Delap,Mr. Suparwanto, Mr. Simeonov, Mr. Al Debss,Mr. Musenge, Mr. Mireles, Mr. Peet, Ms. Romchat-thong, Mr. Herrera Roa, Mr. Ortega