Geneva (ILO News) - In a speech delivered from the rostrum of the International Labour Conference this morning in Geneva, Mr. Henri Konan Bédié, President of the Republic of the Côte d'Ivoire, launched an appeal for a new vision of development shared by human societies with an ethic linking democracy, globalization, solidarity and justice.
Addressing government delegates and the employers' and workers' organizations of the 174 member States of the ILO, "on behalf of the developing countries and of my country, the Côte d'Ivoire, on behalf of this Africa which is working, progressing," at a special sitting of the 87 th session of the Conference, President Bédié welcomed Mr. Juan Somavia, the new Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), "a representative of the southern hemisphere who knows very well the problems of developing countries", underlining "that the advent of men from poor continents, aware of the special situation of traditional societies brutally confronted with the requirements of international economic competition, can help in the implementation of innovative solutions to free them from these difficulties".
However, he recalled, "if it is true that a number of African countries are facing serious crises, even civil wars, it is also a good idea to recognize and to make known to the international community that most African nations, some three-quarters of them, live in peace with the will to improving their living conditions".
For decades, the Côte d'Ivoire has known a remarkable development in this setting, "a high level of protection and regulation benefitting the entire working population has constituted an important factor in social cohesion". But different developments are changing the future "social structure of nations".
"Labour law so dearly acquired is becoming a right to work", the President stated. "But confronted with the massive under-employment of millions of people, the absolute priority of governments, in whatever region of the world, is to further the creation of jobs before seeking to protect them."
He deplored the fact that "in developing countries structural adjustment policies for reducing the debt sometimes set back public sector employment, not compensated for by job creation in the private sector."
In addition, "flexibility in production and in work", as well as "the irreversible and invasive phenomenon of globalization, abandons more and more to market forces alone social rights and labour law; in particular, the system of collective protection and the mechanisms of the fight against inequalities". Moreover, there has been "a growing separation between globalized economic power and political power limited to national borders, so much so that the principal actors in development escape more and more from democratic control".
"This Conference must, I believe, clearly affirm that certain areas must be maintained under the authority of rules decreed by public authorities, national or international, without which the entire range of social life will escape all collective control and will find itself seriously damaged", he warned.
The new directions of economic and social policy must "place the human being at its centre" and aim towards the elaboration of "models of sustainable development". To this end, African countries must "strengthen their cohesion in the dialogue and negotiations with the Bretton Woods institutions which, moreover, must be more open and democratized in order to understand better the living realities on different and varied terrains."
In Africa as elsewhere, "employment is moving towards small enterprises", President Bédié noted. "He who doesn't know the formidable entrepreneurship of Africans, doesn't know Africa." But to multiply the number of microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises requires the completion of the provisions of the labour code, in order, he hoped, to "elaborate regulations which guarantee quality social protection for the self-employed. Your Conference must be the discoverer of unexplored zones of labour law outside of the traditional sites of salaried work."
"This approach in favour of personal enterprises", implies "a new vision of development shared by human societies with an ethic which links democracy, globalization, solidarity and justice in an ideal of progress for all and happiness for each and everyone."
A necessary condition for the stimulation of employment, economic growth must rest on five fundamental conditions, declared the President: to be non-inflationary, favour consumption, realize social investments, safeguard ecological equilibrium and rely on a true social contract.
It is those countries which have sufficiently invested in education which have enjoyed the highest rates of expansion. "All progress in education is, in the long term, a factor in accelerating development." But industrial transformation requires "a constant upgrading of training. The expansion of services such as the rising complexity of social organization, tend to develop a need for qualifications based more on the ability to master human relations within increasing activities in the fields of information, reception, organization, services. New job creation activities emerge and should be promoted".
To this end, however, it is necessary to understand what is changing and avoid deadlocks. "Resistance to change and to reform, through unending, hard-line strikes, marked by violence, property damage and looting is the worst enemy of employment and workers."
Regional economic unions in Africa bring hope, but cannot "expect to exist by liberal logic alone and the building of Africa cannot be summed up by promises of the market. It is necessary to build regional integration, giving importance to growth, jobs, and social and human development". Efforts should be made in particular to "find solutions to the effects of one-way migratory populations, towards coastal countries".
The fight against poverty, and a policy of public investment which would create jobs, together with "a real participation of the population in the realization of individual and community projects", would enable "democracy to progress towards reducing social inequalities and regional disparities".
"It should be recalled that the identity of our young democratic nations resides first in the strength of the importance they attach to universal values. End the exploitation of man by man at the national and international level. Encourage the development of liberties and social rights. Ensure equality between men and women. Protect the child. All these hopes take root in universal values. These values are more than ever values of our times", declared the President.
"Eradicating poverty in Africa, supporting its efforts for sustainable quality development, delivering it of its crushing debt, these projects, if supported by the international community, will enable the creation of new wealth and new jobs, both in industrialized nations and in developing countries like ours, and favour the emergence of new forms of solidarity in a world where all destinies are linked", he concluded.