GENEVA (ILO News) – The President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, today told the plenary session of the 96th annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) that economic and social development must be based on Decent Work.
“Decent work is the only way to attain the objective of economic and social development”, the President told some 3,000 government, employer and worker delegates from around the world attending the ILO’s International Labour Conference.
“Economic development cannot happen at the expense of social welfare”, he said. “The social dimension depends on the economy which in turn cannot thrive without the social dimension.”
The President said decent work meant having a job which guarantees an acceptable income, social protection for the worker and his family, good working conditions and access to health services and social security, a decent pension for retirement, and respect for safety and security standards at work, adding, “We wish to offer to as many Senegalese as possible a decent job compatible with human dignity.”
“The time has come to redefine poverty”, he added, as a “cluster of shortages” of fundamental human needs. He said there was a need “to launch strategies at different levels to tackle all the problems at the same time, to lift the disadvantaged social categories living at the bottom of society and offer them decent living conditions”.
Welcoming the President of Senegal to the Conference, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia underlined his exceptional career as a “man of freedom and commitment, an independent thinker” referring to his numerous publications on human rights, the role of consensus, the future of Africa, and the role of women in development.
Referring to the origins of the ILO, the President of Senegal noted that the nature of challenges had changed since 1919, but that “the ideals of peace, progress, equity and social justice … remain more than ever objectives to be attained to realize better living conditions for all”.
“We do not choose globalization, we live it as it imposes itself on us”, he said underlining that “within a responsible globalization respecting the rules imposed by equity and justice … Africa has the mandate and capacity to create the preconditions for its economic and social development and to face the realities of globalization optimistically”.
According to President Wade, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and African unity can respond to the challenges of globalization.
“Africa is not poor, it has been rendered poor”, he said noting that Africa’s share in world trade was under 2 per cent.
Mr. Somavia said “We are on your side when you say that it is time to redefine the word ‘global’ to include Africa as an equal partner, to prepare this interdependent world you evoke, to replace narrow interests with shared interests for the future”.
Mr. Somavia also referred to the recent statement by the President that despite the challenges of poverty and conflict, Africa had forcefully taken the road of democracy, growth and social justice, adding that this was behind his strong support for decent work at the Ouagadougou Summit in 2004.