ITUC OnLine, December 1, 2011
December 8, 2011
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Brussels, 1 December (ITUC OnLine): Decent Work has been included in the international development effectiveness agenda for the first time, following strong representations from the international trade union movement at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea this week. Concerns remain, however, about the risks arising from the way the conclusions of the Forum deal with the role of the private sector in development cooperation.
In the “Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation”, presented today at the Forum, donor- and partner-country governments, local authorities, multilateral institutions, civil society and other public and private actors have committed to a set of principles to make aid and development cooperation work better.
“It’s the first time decent work and trade unions are directly referred to in a document on development cooperation of this importance” said Kjeld Jakobsen, from the ITUC Regional Organisation for the Americas, TUCA, who took part in the trade union delegation. “It’s also the first time civil society organizations (CSOs) were invited to the negotiations as an equal partner”.
The unions, together with other CSOs united in the BetterAid platform, took an active part in drafting the outcome document, promoting a rights-based approach built on the hands-on experience of over a 1,000 organizations from around the world.
While the progress made on a range of issues since the prior agreements (the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action) is welcome, the way in which the role of private sector has been defined in the “Busan Partnership” remains far from satisfactory. The main shortcomings concern the absence of any reference to ILO standards and the role of social partners – both of which are crucial in development policy and practice.
“By embracing the private sector as an equal partner in development, the Busan Partnership risks disempowering the state, which is and should always be in charge of ensuring inclusive development and social protection for all,” says Frederique Lellouche from CFDT, France.
“Our work doesn’t end here. Busan sets a good base, but there is still a long way to go before labour rights and decent work are effectively implemented,” said ITUC Deputy General Seccretary Wellington Chibebe, who addressed a Forum session on rights-based approaches. “In the coming months the ITUC will follow up on the Busan process, with a particular focus on the issue of the private sector’s role in development.”
Brussels, 1 December 2011 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has supported the National Union of Somali Journalist (NUSOJ), which is affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in its strong protest against the systematic intimidation of Somali trade unionists.
According to information received by the ITUC, on Wednesday 16 November, the Somali Minister of Labour instructed the Director of his Cabinet to write to the Somali Criminal Investigations Department (CID), to report “illegal activities” of Somali trade unions, in order for criminal investigations to be initiated. This followed the armed robbery of the NUSOJ offices, against which the ITUC protested on 3 June 2011, and another raid, without a warrant, on the same offices on the morning of Sunday 13 November. Following the second raid, the NUSOJ Organising Secretary was illegally detained for 90 hours. Less than two weeks later, he was again summoned by the CID for an inquiry about the union’s members and actions, and to hand in union documents to enable the CID what to base criminal charges on.
The Somali government is trying to criminalize trade union activities,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.. “The decision to press charges had obviously been taken already, under the clear assumption that a direct cause for them can always be found in internal union documents.” “We stand in solidarity with the working people of Somalia in the face of these outrageous attacks. The Somali authorities must cease this harassment and respect fundamental workers’ rights”
For more information on the attacks, see the ITUC letter to the Prime Minister of Somalia, in which the ITUC calls on the authorities to take the necessary measures to put an immediate stop to the interference, harassment, travel bans, intimidation, threats and violence against NUSOJ leaders, and to let all Somali trade unionists exercise their legitimate activities in an environment free from intimidation and harassment.
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