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ILO and Japan (in Japanese)

Symposium commemorating the 50th Anniversary of reopening of the ILO Office in Japan
(formerly named "Tokyo Branch Office")

Summary of the Symposium

All the participants in the discussion have made very useful inputs for the ILO so that we know their expectations.

Particularly the remarks made by Mr. Tsunekawa, Mr. Nakajima and Mr. Yano reflected the discussions we have had in the Governing Body. They have summarized well the trends and debates concerning future challenges and orientations of the ILO, including the debate on how the International Labour Conference and the Governing Body might be restructured and be improved.

In the discussion on human security and the role of the ILO, very complimentary statements were made about the ILO. It seemed to me that while we may use different concepts, we are talking about the same thing. When Mr. Shinyo spoke about human dignity, he came very close to the idea of "decent work". In fact, the different concepts we are using are not contradictory at all; they are mutually reinforcing concepts. Good ideas have several parents. The ILO provides one method for human security, which is built on tripartite cooperation and the gaining of ownership over what is being done. It complements the others, and this experience of the ILO can be used. It is important to see which issues can be efficiently treated by the ILO - questions such as core labour standards, child labour and trafficking are areas where we can bring in added value from our debates and action.

Now, which way forward will the ILO go? Improving gender equality, certainly, but unfortunately the Conference this summer had a lower share of women than before. It is not enough to complain and blame our member States and employers' organizations and trade unions for it. There are things we have to do.

• We have to safeguard standard-setting role of the ILO while opening to new issues - we have to adapt to the changing environment.
• We need to have ownership of decent work programmes at home and promote tripartite cooperation.
• We need to strengthen the identity of the ILO and disseminate more information, both to the general public and to different groups who want to know more about the ILO.
• We need to find a right balance between different ILO methods of work and approaches. The media may focus on individual issues where actually we may have large stories which go beyond that sphere.
• Finally, we need to listen more closely to different voices. The IPEC, child labour programme, is a good example that tripartite structures can find ways of opening to others, and the role of committed NGOs is very crucial on the whole questions of child labour.

Somebody has once said that the ILO is actually a well-kept secret, and we don't talk enough about it. My general conclusion would be that we need to share our secrets more. This symposium has been an effort to open up, and we need to continue to do that. The ILO is not the solution to all the world's ills and problems, but it is part of the response. We should use it better.

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