Trade Union meeting ahead of the 3rd meeting of the High Level Panel on Post 2015 Development, 28-30 January, Monrovia, Liberia.

Civil Society Organizations met from 28-30 January in Monrovia, Liberia ahead of the 3rd meeting of the High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development (HLP). The ITUC was part of a small trade union delegation, which included representatives from the East African Trade Union Confederation (EATUC), the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Education International (EI).

The meeting overall convened more than seventy civil society representatives from across the global, including substantial participation from Liberian civil society.

The three-day meeting consisted of preparatory activities and outreach events where CSOs were able to interact formally and informally with members of the HLP on the priority theme for the meeting—National Building Blocks for Sustained Prosperity (with a particular focus on economic transformation). Members of the trade union delegation were keen to highlight the challenges facing workers around the world, addressing in particular persistent jobless-growth, continued violation of workers’ rights and the deficit in education, skills and training. To overcome these challenges the delegation championed the decent work agenda, universal social protection and quality education, skills and education.

The ITUC was also co-organizer of a roundtable on economic transformation with Farmers, Trade Unions, Small Business and the Informal Sector. The roundtable included representatives from civil society from these constituencies and several HLP members, including in particular Jean Michel Severino (from France), Ambassador Tekhiro Kagawa (Japan), Fulbert Gero Amoussouga (Benin), and Betty Maina (Kenya). During the roundtable Dennis Sinyolo (EI) introduced the trade union priorities as above mentioned, with a particular emphasis on national level implementation. Davids Etyang (EATUC) was able to elaborate the four pillars of the decent work agenda and emphasize its importance in his regional and national work, while Bornface Phiri (ZCTU) shared his experience with the social dialogue. The trade union interventions were well received by the members of the HLP.

The next meeting of the HLP and the corresponding CSO activities will take place in Bali, Indonesia from 24-27 March.

Article by Matt Simonds, TUAC / ITUC.

- Outcome Document of the CSOs Monrovia Consultation for the Post-2015 Development Agenda below:

CSO communique Monrovia
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- Final Communique of the meeting of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 development agenda in Monrovia, Liberia below:

Final Communique Monrovia
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