International Labour Office Office of the Director-General STATEMENTS 2008 Address by Juan Somavia Director-General of the International Labour Office on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Vatican 10 December 2008 Cardinal Bertone, Cardinal Martino, Eminences, Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Thank you for the opportunity to share in this significant occasion. It is a profound honour deeply meaningful as head of the ILO and to me personally. I have been strengthened by inspiring audiences with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and his esteemed predecessor Pope John Paul II, as well as Cardinal Bertone and his predecessor Cardinal Sodano. Not to mention my longstanding relationship with Cardinal Martino. I was a member of the Peace and Justice Commission in Chile, and as Ambassador of Chile at the United Nations, I personally proposed to make Centesimus Annus an official document of the United Nations. I feel at home here in this Pontifical Council and with this major event. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Vatican, the seat of the Catholic Church, has a very special meaning. There is a kinship between the Declaration, the Social Doctrine of the Church and the ILO's own Constitution. They are all founded on the promotion and protection of human dignity. And they are all, at heart, about how to transform values into policies, and policies into action, so that we can organize societies in a way that respects the dignity of people. As the Compendium of the Social Doctrine says, the essence of human rights can be found in the dignity of each human being. (153) Speaking from my own perspective and also as the head of the Organization I am honoured to lead, I want to highlight the role of decent work in this quest for dignity, which is the foundation of the ILO Constitution when it says that labour is not a commodity. Page 1
These three sources of inspiration to make our societies better acquire particular significance in these times of crisis. We are marking this 60th anniversary in the face of the biggest economic and social crisis since the Great Depression. I want to salute the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace for bringing us together. Because today, as never before, the voice of the Social Doctrine of the Church plays a fundamental role in a world seeking guidance. Also because with all the progress that we have seen, for too many of our brothers and sisters, the rights of the Declaration remain distant and unrealized. The financial crisis preceded by the rise of food costs has become a crisis of the real economy but, above all, it is a jobs crisis. That is the focus of people s preoccupations. Understandably, social tensions are brewing and they will expand. People are asking: Why do billions suddenly appear to save the financial economy and so little has been available to confront the problems of poverty, unemployment, lack of access to basic social protection? What has happened to a minimum sense of social justice? Of basic fairness in the rules of the game? Looking at the Universal Declaration, the Social Doctrine of the Church, and the ILO Constitution do we have an answer to the disquiet in people s hearts? Coming together around Decent Work At the ILO, we have synthesized the inspirational values and vision of these instruments and the hopes and aspirations of the human person for a meaningful life into the concept of Decent Work. What do people ask for? They say: Give me a fair chance at a decent job so I can prove myself and move up the ladder of opportunity. When we speak of decent work, we mean work on which women and men can raise their family and send their children to school. Work in which people are respected, can organize and have a voice. Work that will provide a reasonable pension at the end of a working life. Policies that generate quality work throughout society. We call it Decent Work because we know that labour is so much more than a labour market. Work is a source of personal dignity. Work is fundamental to family stability. As His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has said: work is of primary importance for personal "fulfilment and the development of society, and this is why it is necessary that it always be organized and developed in full respect of human dignity and at the service of the common good." Page 2
Work is linked with peace. A community that works well is a community in peace. Decent Work recognizes that you cannot have stable societies based on social inequality, as there can be no social development based on unstable economies. To realize Decent Wortk, you must activate four interrelated and mutually supportive objectives: Job creation and the enabling environment for investment and enterprise development, because you cannot have decent work without work; respect for rights at work and dignity at work; social protection within the possibilities of each economy; with gender equality and non discrimination cutting across all of the objectives; all facilitated by dialogue among governments, employers, workers; and with international solidarity and cooperation sustaining the effort. Each society must organize around its own priorities to get there. In many ways, the quality of work available defines the moral quality of a society. Understood in this way, the concept of decent work also includes the properly spiritual dimension of work. As the ILO s Philadelphia Declaration of 1944 states: All human beings irrespective of race, creed or sex have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity. Or as the Universal Declaration affirms, everyone has the right work...to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment to equal pay to just and favourable remuneration ensuring an existence worthy of human dignity and the right to form and join trade unions. As Populorum Progressivo reminds us: The development we speak of here cannot be restricted to economic growth alone. To be authentic it must be well rounded. It must foster the development of each man and of the whole man. (PP No. 14) The Decent Work message has connected with politics and people and is now a global goal backed by political statements in all regions of the world and by the whole of the United Nations system. A world out of balance But we still have a long way to go to absorb the Decent Work deficit in the world. Why? Well, we must remember that before the present crisis, there was already a crisis a growing unease with the course of globalization and the glaring inequality and imbalances that it is delivering. Page 3
Too many women and men working in the formal and informal economy are deprived of opportunities for decent work and sustainable livelihoods. And vulnerable social groups, including migrant workers and indigenous and tribal peoples, continue to face discrimination and exclusion. All of this is particularly acute in Africa. It makes the Church's preferential option for the poor so important. Many see the present course of globalization evolving in an ethical vacuum. We have to remember that markets should operate in a context guided by fundamental values that centre on human beings, on human rights, on people and families, on the common good. It is not happening today. Six years ago, the Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization established by the ILO described the direction of the global economy as morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable. The financial crisis has certainly made this evident. I remember in the 1990s some referred to international financial rules as fostering a global casino or the sobering comment of Pius XI in Quadregisimo Anno when he warned us of the imperialism of money. I think that it is essential that we counter a certain feeling of powerlessness we sometimes hear. People saying, there does not seem to be anything we can do about it. These are powerful forces that are moving on their own. Well, they are not. These are the results of conscious policies put in place in the late 1970s and these policies can be changed and must be changed. The way to fix it is not by rolling back the opening of markets and stifling the potential gains from increased international trade and investment, but by finding balanced solutions with a strong eye on what happens to people, families and communities. The positive message is that this can be done. We can have open economies and open societies that foster respect for economic, social and cultural rights. To do so, it is imperative that we establish balance. First, overall balance between the public policy and the regulatory function of the state: the wealth creation and innovative capacities of markets; the democratic voice of society; and the needs of individuals, families and communities. Instead, we have overvalued markets that undervalued the state and devalued the dignity of work. Second, balance between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of life a sustainable development approach. Third, balance between the financial economy and the real economy. Page 4
The financial system must go back to its core business lending for productive investment, facilitating trade and underwriting reasonable consumption needs. And fourth, balance between capital and labour. The share of labour relative to capital in GDP has been declining over the past two decades. As Pope John Paul reminded us at the Jubilee of Workers Mass in 2000, All must work so that the economic system in which we live does not upset the fundamental order of the priority of work over capital, of the common good over the private interest. In searching for balance, we draw strength from the spirit of Rerum Novarum which took up the responsibility of providing a moral compass to guide behaviour with a commitment to justice. And as we do so, we need to reinforce our belief in dialogue: in listening to the other, in accommodating our legitimate differences, in respecting our multicultural dimensions. In the ILO, we believe in dialogue for results, for action, for problem solving. This dialogue produced this year the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization unanimously approved by governments, employers and workers defining the mission of the institution in today's world. Trust in people Sometimes it seems as though things are not getting better that we are forced to fight the same battles over and over again. Let us never forget all that has been accomplished to strengthen us to do what still needs to be done. There has been progress. Slow, difficult, insufficient. But in many ways we have advanced in the last 60 years. And yet, do we have the policy instruments and the institutions for a global response to a global crisis? I will be frank. We have a multilateral system that is underperforming. It is not delivering the type of policy coherence we need today. There is a profound need in different institutions for a new form of global governance that moves from an international community of government which has created parallel centres of decision making and sometimes contradictory decisions to a global community of multiple actors including, but going beyond governments. In many ways, it will mirror the transition that is already underway in many countries from purely representative democracies to a much richer process of participatory democracies. Again, it can be done. The make-up of the ILO which includes government, but also representatives of workers and employers organizations the actors of the real economy shows it is possible. And here today, as a response to the crisis, I encourage governments to urgently agree on a major policy coherence initiative bringing together the international organizations dealing with finance, trade, development, and labour issues to jointly reinforce policies and programmes for job creation, social protection, targetted safety nets, and other relevant issues. Page 5
Also on this solemn occasion, I call on the leaders of the G20 to address the social implications of the financial crisis. We need to keep reaching out because social movements are an essential part of the dynamic of change. Just eight years ago, Pope John Paul made an appeal for a worldwide coalition for decent work. That movement is taking shape. This year on 7 October trade unions and non-governmental organizations organized a decent work day celebrated in over 100 countries. As the women's movement, the environmental movement, the human rights movement have shown, civil society activism is essential. That is why speaking on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights here at the Vatican is so meaningful. Permit me a final personal comment. My attachment to the Declaration is nurtured by the memory of my father-in-law Hernan Santa Cruz the first Ambassador of Chile to the United Nations and one of the drafters of the Declaration and promoter of the provisions on economic, social and cultural rights. The time has come to again raise our voices, to speak the truth to problems we are facing. The worst would be not to dare to defend our values. The voice of the Social Doctrine of the Church of all people of good will must be listened to with the respect that emerges from the Human Rights Declaration. That Declaration that we celebrate in this august hall is founded, above all, on trust. Trust in humanity through the respect of human dignity. Let us hear and heed that message. And let us empower leaders and build institutions that trust in people to invent their future and truly be artisans of their destiny. * * * Page 6