ILO hails UN Declaration on decent work

New Delhi, July 7: International Labour Organization (ILO) today hailed the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration by the United Nations on full and productive employment and decent work saying it would help efforts to create jobs, cut poverty and provide new hope for the world's 1.4 billion poor workers.

The Declaration was adopted on Wednesday by the UN Economic and Social Council after three days of intense discussions on national and international policies needed to generate decent work for all so that the number of people living in extreme poverty could be cut by half by 2015.

''This move presents the extraordinary opportunity to mainstream the goal of full and productive employment and decent work for all into the regular activities of all relevant UN organizations,'' said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.

In a wide ranging agreement, the Ministers from around the world reaffirmed that opportunities for men and women to obtain productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity are essential to ensure the eradication of hunger and poverty.

The Declaration also maps out a series of initiatives with governments and other institutions to consider the employment impact of policies and to ensure coherence of policies.

The agreement was urgently needed in the face of a growing decent work deficit that has seen an increase of more than 20 per cent in official unemployment in the past decade, said Mr Somavia.

At least 40 million new jobs each are needed over the next ten years to prevent it rising still further.

UNI