Employment and poverty reduction in developing countries

FR - DE

The European Commission and the International Labour Organisation have today agreed on a strategic partnership to reinforce their joint efforts to reduce poverty and improve labour conditions in developing countries. The partnership will also foster closer collaboration towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Decent Work for All Agenda and other internationally agreed development targets. The aim is to make the greatest possible contribution to strengthening the social dimension of development cooperation. The Commission has been working closely together with the ILO since 1958.

On signing the partnership European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Poul Nielson, said "Our efforts to fight poverty will be greatly enhanced by adding the labour and employment dimension. As a world leader in that field the ILO is uniquely placed to do just this. They will provide valuable assistance to developing countries in their efforts to put in place a preliminary set of effective labour and employment policies."

Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, said. "The recent report by the World Commission highlighted the importance of a social dimension to globalisation. We are looking forward to working with the ILO to put this approach at the forefront of our development co-operation. This partnership is an important first step in that process."

Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, said: "This agreement seals an ILO/European Commission partnership to shape a fair globalization by creating opportunities for all. It is based on common values and objectives that provide a foundation for action to enable women and men to work out of poverty. Europe is putting its money behind building a social dimension to global development with the mechanisms of dialogue that characterize the ILO's approach to poverty reduction. This agreement takes an already fruitful relationship onto a new level of collaboration that holds enormous promise."

This new partnership in the field of development signals a tightening of co-operation between the Commission and the ILO. It will be implemented within the existing cooperation framework. The Commission will support the ILO's integrated and development-oriented approach towards promoting decent work for all.

Furthermore, the Partnership is intended to help increase the ability of the ILO to engage more positively at country level, using its tripartite identity (government, employers and trade unions), and in national development processes, in particular Poverty Reduction Strategies. This in turn should enhance the effectiveness of the Commission's development assistance.

The overall goal of the partnership is to accelerate the fight against poverty and work towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The partnership is particularly expected to deliver, in the first instance, on: the establishment of a regional strategy for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to promote core labour standards and to link the fight against child labour with basic education. Other areas of cooperation in the field of development will be: corporate social responsibility; social dialogue, poverty reduction and employment, migration. Gender equality will be fully integrated into all the major areas of interest.

The selection of ILO as one of the strategic partners in the field of development underlines the EC's commitment to the MDG's and recognises the critical role that must be played by the UN's specialised agencies in achieving them.

Background

Relations between the EU and the United Nations have developed into a diverse network of co-operation and interaction, spanning virtually the entire range of EU external relations. Total EC support to the UN family in 2002 reached €364 million. The UN, with its universal mandate and legitimacy, is uniquely placed to advance global solutions to our common challenges. Strengthening co-operation with the UN and with the specialized agencies is thus an important priority for the EU as a whole, as was underlined by recent Commission Communications on 'Building an Effective Partnership with the UN in the field of Development and Humanitarian Affairs (May 2001)' and on "the European Union and the United Nations: The choice of multilateralism" (September 2003), and European Council Conclusions (December 2003). In this specific case this partnership refines one aspect of the longstanding collaboration between the ILO and the European Commission. The overall relations between the two are governed by an exchange of letters from 2001.

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