VZCZCXYZ0027
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #1699/01 1921139
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111139Z JUL 06
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0353
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1485
INFO RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 2927
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 4563
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 4198
RUEHC/DEPTLABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS GENEVA 001699 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR IO/EDA, IO/T; PARIS ALSO FOR OECD, ROME FOR 
USUNROME 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ELAB EAGR ETRD EFIN PHUM KUNR ECOSOC UN
SUBJECT: ECOSOC HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT ADOPTS MINISTERIAL 
DECLARATION ON DECENT WORK 
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1. The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held its High 
Level Segment in Geneva July 3-5 to discuss the linkage 
between employment and economic development.  A 40-paragraph 
Ministerial Declaration was adopted after protracted 
negotiations, drawing attention to the needs of the world's 
unemployed and working poor, and to the importance of 
creating conditions to attract private sector investment as 
well as setting up limited follow-up steps.  The Deputy 
Secretary-General, the Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Norway 
 
SIPDIS 
and Mozambique, the Tunisian Minister of Laor and Youth 
Employment, and Juan Somavia, Director-General of the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) all spoke at the 
opening session on the topic of "Working out of Poverty." 
UN, UNCTAD, WTO, World Bank and IMF representatives 
discussed developments in the world economy in relation to 
employment.  In addition to the General Debate, the High 
Level Segment also included discussion of the proposed new 
ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review and the Biennial Development 
Cooperation Forum, as well as several roundtables on issues 
related to employment such as job creation, poverty 
reduction, labor migration, and rural underemployment.  Many 
from  developing countries stressed their disappointment with 
the failure of the Doha Round of trade talks and described 
the problems created by so-called "jobless growth."  In 
general, countries acknowledged the responsibility of 
governments to take action at the national level to create an 
environment conducive to better jobs and better working 
conditions, enhance the skills of youth, empower women and 
promote small and medium-sized enterprises, all within an 
international system that would support their efforts.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
OPENING SESSION 
 
¶2. The High Level Segment of ECOSOC on the theme "Creating an 
environment at the national and international levels 
conducive to generating full and productive employment and 
decent work for all, and its impact on sustainable 
development" took place July 3-5, launching the month-long 
ECOSOC substantive session.  Deputy Secretary-General Mark 
Malloch Brown spoke first, touching on themes which were 
reiterated by others throughout the Segment.  He noted that 3 
billion people worldwide earn less than two dollars per day, 
creating a vast number of "working poor", and that half of 
the world's unemployed are young people.  Youth unemployment 
will continue to be of concern, as 1.2 billion people are 
projected to reach working age in the next decade.  A paradox 
highlighted by Malloch Brown and others, aka "jobless 
growth", is that economic growth does not necessarily lead to 
the creation of more jobs; increased productivity and 
increased employment were both vital. 
 
¶3.  Building on these themes, Prime Minister Aziz of Pakistan 
stressed the importance of "development with dignity." 
Drawing an analogy between globalization and a tidal wave, 
Aziz warned that countries can "either ride it or get swept 
away."  He pointed out that good governance and 
well-implemented economic reforms could help attract 
investment and open opportunities for entrepreneurship. 
Governments themselves, he underlined, have the primary 
responsibility for taking holistic, home-grown reform 
measures.  He encouraged movement away from "donor-client" 
relationships to "partnerships" between developed and 
developing countries, greater technology transfer, and 
greater access to markets.  Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg 
of Norway extolled the creation of the "welfare state" and 
the workers' protections it provides, as well as the 
advantages of active participation of women in the economy. 
Stoltenberg argued that social equity would in the long run 
generate growth, so that it need not be the last set of 
reforms countries consider adopting. 
 
¶4.  Turning to the UN's functionality, he called for less 
duplication, more results, and more emphasis on activities in 
the field instead of at headquarters.  Prime Minister Luisa 
Dias Diogo of Mozambique underscored the importance of 
agriculture, especially in Africa.  Without improvement in 
the agricultural sector, there can be no meaningful progress 
in poverty reduction.  She cited three pillars for economic 
development:  human capital, private sector agriculture, and 
good governance.  Taking a slightly different tack, the Labor 
 
Minister of Tunisia, Chadli Laroussi, called on the UN and 
its multiple agencies to promote employment opportunities in 
developing countries, and looked towards follow-up to the 
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to bridge the 
"digital divide."  WTO Deputy Director General Rugwabiza 
shared his view that although the recent high level WTO talks 
made no progress, the situation was not hopeless. 
 
¶5.  Rounding out the opening session, Director-General of the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) Juan Somavia, pointed 
out that the world's labor force would increase by 430 
million in the next ten years, and that countries would not 
be able to provide jobs for these new workers without action. 
 He argued that the "dignity and value of work" has to be 
recognized, and that decent work is "the route out of 
poverty," a theme echoed by many others.  Noting that 
solutions would vary based on local capacities, Somavia 
called for better national policies to exploit local markets 
and greater cooperation among multilateral institutions. 
 
HIGH LEVEL POLICY DIALOGUE 
 
¶6. The World Bank, IMF and WTO presented their views on the 
opening morning, bringing attention to previously unmentioned 
topics.  World Bank senior vice president Bourguignon related 
that international migration was a win-win situation, 
benefiting both countries of origin and recipient countries, 
and noted the importance of controlling climate change for 
sustainable development.  IMF New York representative 
Munzberg pointed to the risks of high oil prices and avian 
influenza, as well as the challenge of rectifying imbalances 
brought on by globalization while maintaining robust growth. 
 
MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLES 
 
¶7. Ambassador Terry Miller, head of the US delegation, took 
part in two ministerial roundtables -- one on "Decent Work 
and International Development Cooperation" and one on 
"Expanding decent rural work opportunities: What role can 
secure land rights play?."  Other roundtables, held 
simultaneously, covered youth employment in LDCs, urban 
poverty, migrant worker remittances in Africa and LDCs, the 
role of information and communications technology (ICT) in 
employment creation and poverty reduction, and the gender 
dimensions of labor migration.  Non-ministerial roundtables 
dealt with productivity, job creation in Africa and LDCs, 
globalization and migration, and gender equality.  The 
Roundtable on job creation in Africa was noteworthy for the 
inclusion on the panel of a representative of an African 
private sector business association. 
 
GENERAL DEBATE 
 
¶8. U/SYG Ocampo began the General Debate, summarizing the 
SYG's report on full and productive employment and decent 
work for all.  He explained that the UN has moved beyond its 
historic focus on "full employment" to take account of new 
realities and trends.  Among the points Ocampo made were: 1) 
the rising rate of unemployment during the past decade, 
despite the world economy's robust growth, signaling that 
growth alone cannot ensure job creation or a reduction in 
extreme poverty.  2) Many workers in developing countries do 
not earn sufficient income from their jobs, especially in the 
agricultural sector and in the urban informal economy.  This 
"underemployment" keeps over half the world's labor force 
mired in poverty.  3) Youth are severly affected by 
unemployment.  While young people comprise one-quarter of the 
world's working population, they make up half the world's 
unemployed.  4) Income gaps between skilled/unskilled 
workers, rural/urban workers, male/female workers are 
widening, within countries, as well as between countries.  5) 
Social protection is weak or absent in many countries, 
leading to serious problems for workers who lose their jobs 
due to structural changes, globalization, etc.  6) 
International labor migration has an impact on unskilled 
laborers in receiving country which can lead to xenophobia. 
Ocampo recommended that, in keeping with their responsibility 
to create conditions for productive employment, national 
governments should adjust their monetary and fiscal policies 
to emphasize job creation, not just anti-inflationary 
policies, and spend on infrastructure and human development, 
social security systems, rural development, and promotion of 
micro and small enterprises.  He asked the IMF to put 
 
employment at "center stage", remarked on the central role of 
the ILO, and encouraged UN funds, programs and specialized 
agencies to make employment strategies and essential part of 
UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs). 
 
¶9. Subsequent speakers picked up on the themes Ocampo 
enumerated.  U.S. Head of Delegation Ambassador Miller 
stressed the need for countries to create a climate conducive 
to private sector investment as the key to increasing job 
creation.  He noted that the U.S. Millennium Challenge 
Corporation assesses the bureaucratic obstacles to small 
business as a criterion for providing assistance to 
countries.  Ambassador Miller drew attention to the need to 
respect fundamental principles such as freedom of association 
and the right to bargain collectively, and to avoid 
exploitative child labor and forced labor.  The EU 
representative, Finnish Foreign Ministry Deputy Director 
General Anneli Vuorinen, described the "Lisbon Strategy" for 
investment in human capital and social protection within the 
EU, and underlined the extent of poverty among rural women in 
Africa. 
 
¶10. South African Labor Minister Mdladlana, on behalf of the 
G77, harshly criticized the failure of the WTO Doha Round and 
"trade distortions" brought on by "unfair agricultural 
subsidies."  He derided "flexibility" of the labor market as 
a misguided goal, and accused globalization of favoring the 
developed world and enlarging the gap between rich and poor. 
Mdladlana characterized migration as a brain drain of skilled 
workers from the developing world, without any mention of the 
benefits of remittances which some other speakers noted.  He 
voiced the G-77's call for a "universal rules-based, open, 
non-discriinatory and equitable multilateral trading system." 
 All subsequent G-77 members who spoke associated themselves 
with Mdladlana's statement, but none were as vehemently 
critical of or singlemindedly focused on the global trading 
system.  Most developing countries referred to the impact of 
the problems Ocampo cited on their national conditions. 
Countries in transition, such as the Czech Republic, 
Azerbaijan, and Bulgaria, gave examples of dislocations and 
adjustments in employment from their own national 
experiences.  UAE noted that 90 percent of their work force 
is foreign, but they have no migrants.  Venezuela focused on 
microcredit, cooperatives, and jobs for youth, and concluded 
with the suggestion that men, as well as women, should be 
able to take time from their jobs to help raise their 
families. 
 
MINISTERIAL DECLARATION 
 
¶11. Agreement on the Ministerial Declaration text 
(E/2006/L.8, sent to IO/T and IO/EDA) was reached late July 5 
after intervention by ECOSOC President Hachani to close the 
remaining paragraphs.  The Declaration was adopted at 8:00 
pm, a few hours after the High Level Segment would normally 
have ended.  Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and the EU gave 
Explanations of Position noting specific problem areas with 
the final text -- in the case of Venezuela the paragraphs on 
good governance were problematic.  Cuba's Deputy Foreign 
Minister supported this position.  Mexico complained loudly 
that its views on migration-related workers' rights issues 
were ignored (Mexico had earlier disrupted several informal 
sessions over this issue).  The EU noted its displeasure that 
the final language on the subject of "corporate social 
responsibility," something the Finnish EU Presidency had 
promoted agressively, was not stronger.  The negotiations on 
this declaration suffered from five major problems. 
Initially the work was poorly timed -- almost in parallel 
with the last weeks of negotiations in New York on the GA 
Development follow-up resolution.  This complicated all 
phases of the New York negotiations on the declaration as 
delegations were uncertain of the outcome on development 
policy issues until June 30.  In the end, a number of 
paragraphs were imported from that text.  The four 
substantive disputes which delayed closure over three days of 
negotiations in Geneva dealt with trade policy, corporate 
social responsibility, good governance concerns and Mexico's 
insistence on inserting specific language to cover their 
national perspective on migration issues.  Regarding 
outcomes, ECOSOC will use its subsidiary bodies to keep 
implementation under review, and ECOSOC also requests the ILO 
to follow-up on implementation of commitments for the 
promotion of full employment and decent work for all. 
 
Initial requests to proclaim a "decade for full and 
productive employment," supported strongly by the ILO and 
some delegations throughout this negotiation, were deleted 
after sustained effort. 
CASSEL