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Remarks of Director-General Juan Somavia
China Employment Forum
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Great Hall of
the People
Beijing, China
28 April 2004
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Vice Premier
Huang Ju,
Minister Zheng,
Ministers and Distinguished Guests,
Friends,
It is an honour to address you in this
Great Hall and it is humbling to have a moment
in its history. The ILO is very pleased to partner
with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security
in organizing this first-ever China Employment
Forum.
We are privileged to have with us Ministers, senior
officials, business people, trade unionists, experts
and academics from many countries who are here
to share their policy and practical experience.
At the same time, we look forward to learning
from China’s approach to employment promotion
and poverty reduction.
Mr Vice Premier, thank you so much for the warmth
of your reception here, I see it not simply as
a gesture to me personally, but a reflection of
your regard for the International Labour Organization.
China was a founding member of the ILO in 1919.
Seen from the perspective of your long and noble
history, our Organization is young. But the ILO
was created to confront the challenges of an old
world torn apart and a new world in transition.
We are an institution borne
of the need to achieve stability in the midst of
great transformation, to promote a just balance
between the economic and the social, the rights
of workers and the interests of the enterprise and
to find consensus through the essential instruments
of dialogues and tripartism.
The ILO pioneered the notion that key voices
of society – employers and workers – must be part
of international and national level policy making
on issues that affect the enterprise and the workplace.
Our dialogue with China is based on enduring respect
and the simple yet profound goal of improving
people’s lives. As Premier Wen Jiabao has termed
it: “putting people first” to build a well-off,
or as you call it, xiaokang society.
In our increasingly globalized world, China has
chosen the path of modernization and engagement
with the world and the global market system. True
to its history as a great nation, China is shaping
its own destiny, setting its own goals. In the
process you are exercising important global influence.
Your people have taken up the challenge of economic
transformation—tapping the opportunities of the
global market and embracing the technology that
drives it.
The intelligence and enterprising
spirit of Chinese women and men has written a remarkable
story in this dawn of the 21st century. A story
of unprecedented economic growth, job creation and
unparalleled progress in the global effort to reduce
poverty.
The pace of change is dramatic.
For over a decade nowof growth in average output
has grown at around 10 per cent per year leading
to a sustained and rapid improvement in living standards
of many workers. According to the World Bank’s latest
estimates extreme poverty has fallen from about
360 million people surviving on $1 a day or less
in 1990 to just over 150 million by the end of last
year.
In addition, China has become the locomotive
of the economy of the East Asian region increasing
its imports by 40 per cent. In 2003 18 percent
of Korea’s, 12 per cent of Japan’s and about 7
per cent of ASEAN’s exports were to China. At
a time when Europe, North America and Japan have
had a slowdown, China’s expansion has helped to
prevent a global recession.
The many representatives
from Asia and other countries attending our conference
have come precisely because they know the future
is in the making here in China. You have invited
them to hear their ideas but they will also be listening
intently to your plans.
The ILO, sometimes called the world parliament
of labour, is designed exactly for this role.
The meeting place where the global community of
work can come together to discuss common challenges,
exchange experiences and find inspiration to develop
new ways to increase employment, improve working
conditions and raise productivity. Our agenda
is the management of change.
And change, particularly
successful change, must deal with old problems and
address new ones. And so it is with you. Large scale
restructuring has shaken the economic and social
foundations. Old forms of security and protection
are no longer there. New questions about job stability
and employment relations have emerged.
And there are growing divides-- between rural
and urban, coastal areas and interior provinces,
women and men, educated and uneducated, young
and old. All of this is having profound effects
from the highest levels of government to villages
in the farthest reaches.
We see it in statistics. The dislocation caused
by the shedding of jobs in state-owned enterprises.
More than one out of three rural workers underemployed.
Some 100 million rural migrants in precarious
jobs. And the 16 per cent increase in workplace
deaths in industry and mining reported for 2003.
We know these statistics translate into real lives
and real strain and pain on families and communities.
China is not alone in facing
such challenges. But we know that managing this
process equitably and efficiently within a stable
environment will have far reaching consequences
not only for the people of China, but for the world
economy as a whole.
Peace and world stability
will depend in great measure on the future path
of globalization. Earlier this year, the World Commission
on the Social Dimension of Globalization released
its report after two years of study. It called for
a fair globalization that creates opportunities
for all.
We were honoured that the distinguished economist,
Lu Mai, accepted our invitation to serve as a
Commission member.
The World Commission found
that, even though the potential of globalization
is enormous, the benefits have not reached enough
people. The experience of some countries is that
the pattern of growth associated with globalization
can reduce poverty, but increase inequality. At
the same time, globalization, democratisation and
the new communication and information technologies
have made people all over the world more aware of
their rights, their voice, their identities, and
these rising inequalities.
The present model of globalization
faces a crisis of legitimacy because it is failing
to deliver on the basic hopes and aspirations of
the many countries and people who are currently
excluded from its benefits. I see this all over
the world. The women and men who feel that they
are not heard and their rights and needs are not
always recognized. The dignity of people affected
in so many ways by a lack of opportunities. All
this leads to frustration and pent up social tensions.
It is essential we address
these questions which arise from the problems and
successes of globalization. But as the Commission
concluded, a Fair Globalization that creates opportunities
for all is possible if we make it our goal.
China has a central role
to play. China is home to one-quarter of the world’s
labour force and you are experiencing the impact
of rapid transformation. What happens here touches
every corner of the world.
These are the challenges
of globalization and addressing them is at the heart
of the ILO’s decent work agenda, unanimously approved
by all constituents of the ILO, governments, employer’s
and worker’s organizations. Decent work links strategies
for economic growth in open economies with people’s
daily lives and aspirations.
Our agenda is built around work and employment—protection
when people cannot work, safety and health where
they do. Decent work is also about dialogue, rights
and common values recognized by the UN charter,
the ILO Constitution and the ILO Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work as basic
guidance to the lives of people everywhere.
Decent work allows individuals and groups to seize
the opportunities of change as well as to deal
with the stresses and tensions that accompany
change. We see it as a mechanism of social stability—of
channelling conflict into dialogue and consensus.
Above all, decent work is a key political objective
because it responds to the most widespread demand
of people everywhere, and in all countries. It
is truly a global goal.
Three years ago, I was privileged to come to Beijing
to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between
China and the ILO based on this decent work agenda.
The Memorandum was a clear signal of China’s desire
to move in that direction in a Chinese context.
The China Employment Forum is one of the activities
that has developed out of our cooperation. To
echo the words of Chinese leaders, it is part
of our overall effort to achieve “social progress
while striving for a comprehensive, harmonious
and sustainable development.”
Since then China and the ILO, with the support
of many development partners, some of them here
today, have started activities in more than a
dozen programmes. On the ground studies in several
cities and regions are identifying how to improve
the environment for micro and small businesses.
Human resource development in the special economic
zones is another focus.
New laws on health and safety at work and their
implementation is a further area of collaboration.
A new programme using the ILO’s global code of
practice on HIV/AIDS and the workplace is underway.
Pioneering efforts are being made to combat trafficking
in women and children through an ambitious project
with neighbouring countries of the Mekong river
basin. And a series of workshops are investigating
how ILO standards can help China’s efforts to
tackle discrimination and forced labour.
Over the course of the next three days, we will
explore these issues in detail in terms of practical
solutions. I would mention three areas.
First, and fundamentally,
the employment challenge is at the heart of this
Forum. We will focus on issues such as accelerating
the rate of the creation of decent jobs with productivity
growth. Developing an efficient, equitable and unified
labour market to ensure continued economic stability
and sustainable economic growth.
Promoting skills and the growth of the private
sector, especially entrepreneurship and small
enterprise development, which would serve as the
major engine of job creation in both the rural
and urban economies. Increasing productivity,
incomes and living standards in rural areas.
Second, we will also view the employment challenge
through the lens of social protection. Finding
ways to effectively and efficiently enlarge social
security protection. And on this World Safety
Day with activities in all continents, I am pleased
that this Forum will also focus on the vital challenge
of safety and health in the workplace.
Third, we will explore
employment through an orientation of social dialogue
and rights. This includes
· promoting equality of opportunity between women
and men and for vulnerable groups, including ethnic
minorities
· Strengthening a unified labour market and making
full use of the positive relationship between
core labour standards and sustainable economic
growth.
· And also ways of solving
labour conflicts through methods based on dialogue
and full participation of those directly concerned.
China has already acted strongly to put employment
at the heart of policy within a market driven
economy. This China Employment Forum can be a
catalyst for examining how to maximize the potential
of the domestic market and globalization.
It offers China and the ILO an opportunity to
review and strengthen our cooperation under the
Memorandum of Understanding, focusing our efforts,
deepening our dialogue, and achieving even greater
impact. I must say that our work together has
advanced through a positive path of mutual understanding
and cooperation.
Of course, one Forum cannot deliver decent work
to a whole people, a whole country. We can show
what can be done. We can be advocates. We can
build partnerships. We can exchange experiences.
But the choices are China’s to make.
For our part, let me assure
you that the ILO wishes to play a constructive role
as you move forward on a challenging path of promoting
sustainable development, equity and stability.
We will be with you as you seek to balance economic
dynamism with social stability, flexibility with
security and cohesion while listening to and accommodating
the many voices of the world of work.
China has decided to put people first, we will
accompany you in that quest.
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