Trade unions and civil society organisations call for a firm commitment to decent work in the development agenda.

Today – on the World Day for Decent Work - trade unions and civil society organisations ask for strong commitments at an upcoming High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness for development policies that will ensure decent work for all.

Even though it is a part of the Millennium Development Goals, the decent work dimension is missing to a large extent from development cooperation policies at national and international level. Decent work has been completely omitted in such key agreements as the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra Agenda for Action (2008).

“Now, with the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea, less than two months away, there is finally a chance to give this crucial element the space it deserves in the international development agenda,” says Jan Dereymaeker, the coordinator of the Trade Union Development Cooperation Network, which represents the trade unions in the BetterAid platform.

Decent work is essential for socially inclusive and sustainable development. It means creating productive employment that respects human dignity and security. Through guaranteeing rights at work and extending social protection it promotes inclusion and sustainable livelihoods for the workers and their families. By supporting social dialogue, it not only allows workers to defend their rights, but also helps building cohesive, inclusive societies.

In India the ILO’s Workers’ Education Project aiming at supporting workers in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh has proven to significantly improve workers’ access to social protection as well as contribute to the reduction of poverty by encouraging income and employment-generating activities and community development projects.

The Decent Work Agenda was initiated in 1999 by Juan Somavia, the Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and developed by the ILO constituents: governments, employers and workers. The final outcome statement was delivered at the UN World Summit in 2005 with 150 world leaders committing to put the decent work and productive employment at the centre of their national and international policies.

World Day for Decent Work has been organized since 2008 by the International Trade Union Confederation with trade unions, support organisations and individuals contributing with their actions all around the world. This year over 234 actions in 44 countries were pledged to take on the issue of precarious work.

BetterAid unites nearly one thousand development organizations from civil society worldwide, and has been working on development cooperation and challenging the aid effectiveness agenda since January 2007. BetterAid is leading many of the civil society activities including in-country consultations, studies and monitoring, in the lead up to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in Busan in November 2011.