Little has changed in the numbers of the unemployed and in conditions of work worldwide since governments underwrote the Declaration of the 1995 World Social Summit. Some 1.4 billion people continue to work for less than $2 a day. Nearly 200 million workers are on the dole. Hundreds of millions go without social benefits and are denied the right to organize. The informal economy is still rampant. Insecurity among the fully employed and relatively well paid workers in industrialized countries is growing.
 |
That was the picture that emerged from the Commission for Social Development of the United Nations that met last February in New York. Focused on the theme of "full employment and decent work for all", the Commission saw the presence of a group of parliamentarians amidst national delegations. The group, consisting of 25 MPs from a dozen countries, had been invited by the IPU to learn first hand about the state of play in the global employment situation and identify the best policy options that exist to address it. The MPs’ visit would also feed into a debate on "job creation and employment security in the era of globalization" that will take place at the 116th Assembly (Indonesia) at the end of April.
To help the MPs grasp the broader context of the employment agenda, the IPU organized a briefing for them in cooperation with the New York office of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The briefing helped trace the evolution of the concept of "decent work" as part of the official UN agenda (it was acknowledged for the first time only in the 2005 Millennium Summit Declaration). It also afforded a moment for parliamentarians to enquire about the work of the IPU in cooperation with the ILO (a plan is in the making), as well as about the ways and means in which the ILO can assist parliaments with technical know-how and policy advice. One idea that was retained by the ILO representative, Mr. Djankou Ndjonkou, was that the ILO should produce a brochure for MPs to better explain what it does and how it can support their work in parliament.
Speaking before the UN Commission on behalf of the IPU, Mr. Patrice Martin-Lalande, MP (France), First Vice President of the IPU Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade, noted that parliamentarians have many reasons to worry about labour issues. As he put it, "because of our proximity to our constituents we are constantly confronted with the distress of the unemployed, the underemployed, and those who, increasingly, fear for their jobs. For us, employment creation is not only a social and economic issue but also a key political one. It brings to the fore the tension between the haves and the have-nots. It forces tough debates in parliament and is often used as an electoral litmus test."
