THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE

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THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
ARCHITECTURE

• Presentation by Gemma Adaba
• ITUC Representative to the United Nations
• To Workstream 3, of the TUDCN Meeting

Brussels, 20 May 2009
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KEY INSTITUTIONAL ACTORS IN DEVELOPMENT AT THE
UNITED NATIONS

• ECOSOC Economic and Social Council
• And its functional Commissions
• CSocD Commission on Social Development
• CSW - Commission on the Status of Women
• CSD Commission on Sustainable Development

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KEY INSTITUTIONAL ACTORS IN DEVELOPMENT AT THE
UNITED NATIONS

• New Instruments for a strengthened ECOSOC
• AMR The Annual Ministerial Review
• DCF The Development Cooperation
• Forum

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THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND ITS
HIGH-LEVEL CONFERENCES

• The World Summit on Social Development,
  Copenhagen, 1995
• The Fourth World Womens Conference, Beijing,
  1995
• The International Conference on Financing for
  Development, Monterrey, 2002
• The World Summit on Sustainable Development,
  Johannesburg, 2002
• The Millennium Summit, 2005

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Trade unions have been active within the
institutional framework outlined here,
participating in the Commission meetings and
Conferences. As actors in development, we have
contributed to the evolution of the development
architecture through

• Statements
• Lobbying for progressive, pro-union policy
  outcomes
• Attempting to ensure follow-up keeping
  governments accountable to commitments made in
  outcome documents

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SOME NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF TRADE UNION
LOBBYING WORK AT THE UN

• 2005 Para 47 of the Summit Outcome Document
  committed Heads of State to creating an
  environment at the national and international
  levels that is conducive to the attainment of
  full and productive employment and decent work as
  a foundation for sustainable development.
• 2006 ECOSOC adopts a Ministerial Declaration on
  Full and Productive Employment and Decent Work.
  The Declaration called for multilateral and
  bilateral donor and inter-agency cooperation and
  coordination, in the pursuit of the goals of full
  and productive employment and decent work for
  all.

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MORE NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OFTRADE UNION LOBBYING
WORK AT THE UN

• 2007 to 2008 The Commission on Social Development
  devotes its two-year cycle to the theme of Full
  and Productive Employment and Decent Work, and in
  2008, adopts a Resolution on that theme.
• 2008 The United Nations decides that decent
  work should be a sub-target under MDG1
  (Millennium Development Goal) on poverty
  eradication.

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MORE NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF TRADE UNION
LOBBYING WORK AT THE UN

• 2008 After considerable lobbying, trade unions
  succeed in getting a paragraph on decent work in
  the Agreed Conclusions of the Commission on the
  Status of Women, which was devoted to the theme
  Financing for Gender Equality and Womens
  Empowerment.
• 2008 Trade unions succeed in getting a
  paragraph on decent work in the Doha Declaration
  on Financing for Development.

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THE FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT (FfD) AGENDA, A
BROAD FRAMEWORK WHICH LINKS DEVELOPMENT
COOPERATION TO OTHER RELEVANT POLICY AREAS

• The Six Thematic Areas of the FfD Agenda
• Mobilizing Domestic Resources for Development
• Mobilizing International Resources for
  Development
• Trade as an Engine of Growth and Development
• Addressing External Debt
• Official Development Assistance
• Systemic Issues, and Reform of Global Governance

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FOLLOW-UP OF THE DOHA CONFERENCE ON FINANCING
FOR DEVELOPMENT

• Para 79 of the Doha Declaration mandates the
  UN General Assembly to hold a Conference at
  highest level on the crisis and its impacts on
  development
• The Conference will be held from 1 to 3 June,
  2009

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TRADE UNIONS HAVE BEEN ACTIVE IN THE PREPARATORY
PROCESS FOR THE JUNE CONFERENCE

• Based on the Global unions submissions to the G20
  process, trade unions have made inputs to the
  work of the Stiglitz Commission which was charged
  with producing the background document for the
  Conference
• The ITUC has produced and circulated an
  assessment of the Stiglitz Commission Report
• Trade unions have made inputs to the preparatory
  events for the June Conference, namely, the
  thematic interactive dialogue of 24-25 March,
  2009, and the ECOSOC Meeting with the Bretton
  Woods Institutions, WTO and UNCTAD on 27 April,
  2009

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REFLECTING THE WORK OF THE STIGLITZ COMMISSION,
THERE WILL BE FOUR ROUND-TABLES AT THE
CONFERENCE, DEVOTED TO THE FOLLOWING THEMES

• Present and future impacts of the crisis on
  employment, trade, investment and development,
  including the internationally agreed development
  goals and the Millennium Development Goals
• Coordinated and collaborative actions and
  appropriate measures to mitigate the impact of
  the crisis on development
• The role of the United nations and its Member
  Staes in the ongoing international discussions on
  reforming and strengthening the international
  financial and economic system and architecture
• Contribution of the United nations Development
  System in response to the crisis.

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TRADE UNIONS WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE JUNE
CONFERENCE WITH SOME KEY LOBBYING POINTS

• The increasing financialization of the global
  economy and the disconnect from the real economy
  are at the root of multiple crises, one of the
  most devastating being the jobs crisis.
• Impacts in terms of increasing inequality,
  unemployment and poverty are particularly stark.

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TRADE UNIONS WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE JUNE
CONFERENCE WITH SOME KEY LOBBYING POINTS

• A new regulatory architecture must return
  financial markets to their primary function of
  financing productive investment and decent jobs
  in the real economy
• Both fiscal packages in the short-term as well as
  longer term policies to restore stable growth
  must incorporate shifts to low carbon economies
  that create green and decent jobs
• Governments must put in place counter-cyclical
  measures to mitigate the effects of the crisis

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TRADE UNIONS WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE JUNE
CONFERENCE WITH SOME KEY LOBBYING POINTS

• Active labour market policies must be central to
  these counter-cyclical measures. They must, inter
  alia
• Provide support for SMEs to adjust, and maintain
  employment
• Focus on groups most affected by the crisis, such
  as temporary and part-time workers, informal
  economy workers, women, migrants
• Eliminate structured inequalities and pay
  inequity in the world of work
• Provide income support through special schemes,
  as well as social protection
• Ensure migrant workers the same rights as
  nationals

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THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM AN
OPPORTUNITY TO ESTABLISH COHERENCE BETWEEN
DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER CRITICAL AREAS IMPACTING
DEVELOPMENT

• The Development Cooperation Forum emerged as a
  new instrument, one of the outcomes of the 2005
  Summit. It is mandated by ECOSOC to convene a
  biennial Development Cooperation Forum.
• The first Development Cooperation Forum was
  held in 2008. The next Development Cooperation
  Forum will be held in 2010.

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THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM AIMS TO

• Strengthen the voice of all stakeholders,
  including civil society, parliamentarians,
  private sector and local governments by
  supporting inclusive high-level dialogue on key
  development cooperation issues
• Give due consideration to the broad range of
  issues which affect the effectiveness of
  development cooperation such as climate change,
  food security and policy coherence
• Continue to provide independent and high-quality
  analysis of development cooperation issues and
  ensure a comprehensive and inclusive
  international debate on this agenda

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THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM FURTHER AIMS TO

• Play a key role as an international mutual
  accountability mechanism that will draw together
  analysis of progress in national and global-level
  mutual accountability processes, and thereby
  contribute to holding donors and programme
  countries to account and
• Focus its meeting in 2010 on playing an
  instrumental role in developing a more inclusive
  framework for guiding effective development
  cooperation, taking into consideration the
  concerns of stakeholders.