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| Monday, 13 September 2004 |
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"There are deep-seated and persistent imbalances in the current workings of the global economy, which are ethically unacceptable and politically unsustainable... Seen through the eyes of the vast majority of men and women, globalisation has not met their simple and legitimate aspirations for decent jobs and a better future for their children." States the ILO initiated global report - A Fair Globalisation: Creating Opportunities for All, and calls for an "urgent rethink of current policies and institutions of global governance. The report has come as a response to the increasing rejection of globalisation. It starts from the premise that globalisation has enormous potential, but that a new ethical framework is needed to ensure that its benefits are reaped by many," says Claudia Coenjaerts, Country Director for the ILO. "It is becoming increasingly evident that if only a few benefit, the many will protest." The report was issued by the World Commission on the social dimension of globalisation and present to the International Labour Organisation in Geneva on February 24, 2004. Having been translated into Sinhalese and Tamil, the report will be launched in Sri Lanka on September 10 at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo. Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Dr. P. B. Jayasundera will review the publication at the launch. "The commission started with the simple but powerful idea that if we want globalisation to work for more people, we need to see it through the eyes of women and men in their daily lives. So the Commission viewed the challenge through a human lens - widening the scope, listening to the opinions, perceptions and hopes of people," states the Director General of the ILO, Juan Somavia. Some of the salient points of the report are that the income gap between the richest and poorest countries is creating a world in which 22 industrialised countries representing only 14 per cent of the world's population that dominate about half the world's trade and more than half of its foreign direct investment (FDI). That, global unemployment continued to increase in 2003, reaching more than 185 million, or about 6.2 per cent of the total labour force, the highest unemployment figure ever recorded by the ILO. And at the same time, the number of 'working poor' - or persons living on the equivalent of US $ 1 per day or less - held steady in 2003, at an estimated 550 million. Following a two-year and wide consultation process, the Commission's report charts from a new way forward. Among its prescriptions for achieving a fair and inclusive globalisation, the Commission proposes a series of coordinated measures across a broad front to improve governance and accountability at both national and international levels. These include fairer rules for international trade, investment, finance and migration, which take account of all interests, rights and responsibilities; measures to promote core labour standards and a minimum level of social protection. |
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