ITUC: Doha – konferencen skal anerkende behovet for værdigt arbejde
BRUXELLES, 27 November 2008: As governments gather in Doha, Qatar, from 29 November to 2 December for the biggest UN conference on financing development since the Monterrey Conference six years ago, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has reminded them that policies to address the financial crisis and mobilize resources for development must be linked to employment creation and decent work in the real economy.
– Jumpstarting the world economy must begin by measures aimed at a fairer distribution of resources, reducing income inequality and increasing the purchasing power of workers, stated ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.
Ryder is leading a 30-strong global trade union delegation to the UN talks in Doha at the International Review Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), which is the date that governments agreed to set themselves when they met six years ago to decide on a comprehensive agenda for achieving coherence between economic, financial and trade policies in the interests of development.
– Six years on we see that governments have not honored their commitments to fair trade, substantial debt relief and effective aid. We witness incoherent policies that have led to a deepening world recession and a looming jobs crisis.
– Instead of increasing development assistance, the level of aid actually fell last year – and that was before governments became preoccupied overwhelmingly with their countries’ own economic recovery and their own political survival, stated Ryder. – Such a short-sighted vision will deliver neither development nor recovery.
– The current financial and economic crisis must not cause governments of industrialized countries to forget their commitments to development assistance and poverty eradication, Ryder concluded.
In a major policy statement entitled “Investing in Decent Work – the Key to a New Global Economy” the ITUC sets out a trade union platform for development, grouped into the six main areas for discussion in Doha:
Mobilizing Domestic Resources for Development
Mobilizing International Resources for Development
Trade as an Engine of Growth and Development
Enhancing Development Cooperation
Addressing External Debt
Addressing Systemic Issues and Policy Coherence
The full ITUC statement can be downloaded here:
http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Trade_Union_Statement_to_Doha_FfD_review_ConferenceV3-clean.pdf
Kilde: www.ituc-csi.org
