OESO-richtlijnen MVO voorwaarde voor ontwikkelingsgelden
6 oktober---
Speech by the Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation, Ben Knapen, at the World Day for Decent Work, 7 October 2011, Amsterdam
Ladies and gentlemen,
A few years ago, when I was a newspaper correspondent in Indonesia, I met a woman named Arum Rumiyati. In a narrow alley in a compound in Jakarta, she ran a little employment agency for domestic workers.
Arum told me frankly how hard life is for nannies and housekeepers in Indonesia.
These women, or often very young girls, get up at six in the morning and work until seven or eight in the evening.
Even if they are lucky enough to get a day off every week or every two weeks, they don’t have any money to spend, so they stay at home and work anyway.
When a family travels, it is not unusual for the nanny or the housekeeper to be the only one who has to sleep on the floor at night.
And, Arum told me, rape and unwanted pregnancy are more the rule than the exception.
Obviously, nannies and housekeepers are crucial for the rise of a middle class in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia. But the rise of a middle class should not depend on trampling domestic workers underfoot.
Just recently, there was a fierce and angry outcry when a 54-year-old Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia was beheaded after stabbing her allegedly abusive employer. But in general the misery of domestic workers gets too little attention. I know that trade unions and NGOs in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries work hard to change that.
I would very much like to use this occasion to urge you all to give this issue more attention. It is a daily tragedy for hundreds of thousands poor dedicated people.
I met too many of these women not to appouled by what I heard. For me personally it is a very emotional reason to support the ILO Decent Work Agenda and to back its four Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: freedom of association, non-discrimination, and the abolition of both child labour and forced labour.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me to make an aside.
Recently, I received a report on sustainable business for development. It was written by the Dutch Social and Economic Council, made up of representatives of unions and employers’ organisations. An official response will follow in a few weeks, but I would like to share some initial thoughts with you today.
My government agrees with the Social and Economic Council that sustainable growth is about people, planet and profit. Growth should lead to productive employment in decent jobs, with decent wages and a decent social security system. My government also agrees with the Council’s definition of sustainable growth and its emphasis on the ILO Decent Work Agenda. And my government agrees with the Council’s three major conclusions.
Yes, we should improve the investment climate in developing countries, including market access.
Yes, governments, social partners and the private sector should work together. That is why my government supports peer to peer programmes by Dutch unions and employers’ organisations, and will continue to do so in years to come.
And yes, we should insist on corporate social responsibility. To that end, companies that do not comply with the new OECD guidelines for multinationals will have no access to Dutch development funds.
In short, my government and the Social and Economic Council fully agree that private sector development is key to sustainable growth and full employment in developing countries. In this field cooperation with the private sector is indeed crucial, provided that the principles of corporate social responsibility are respected.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In Indonesia I witnessed a dramatic economic lift-off. And other countries are doing better and better as well. China is prospering. The Indian economy has taken off. Brazil has a rapidly rising middle class. Africa, the eternal lost continent, has average growth rates that are beginning to attract investors. Eastern Europe is more or less democratic. And now even the Arab world is making its voice heard.
Isn’t this the direction we always wanted the world to move in? Yes it is. The Third World is gone; poverty is decreasing. We are witnessing progress on an astonishing scale. But we should not forget to look behind us. In the words of the German writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger, it is difficult to talk about the loser, and stupid not to.
Many people – especially women, children, adolescents and workers in the informal economy – are not benefiting from progress.
That is unacceptable.
Only work can help people in developing countries to help themselves. A living wage will allow them to pay for basic needs like housing, education, health care and drinking water. For this excellent reason Millennium Development Goal 1, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, was supplemented five years ago with a call for full and productive employment and decent work.
To guarantee the protection of fundamental labour rights, my government supports the efforts of the Dutch unions FNV and CNV to help their fellow unionists in developing countries. I feel that strong and independent unions are crucial for sustainable development. Because for sustainable growth, countries need a fair balance between government, the private sector and civil society. Besides being a godsend for individual workers, unions in developing countries can contribute to a better socioeconomic environment.
Unions are crucial in the fight against child labour, for example. The world has no fewer than 215 million child workers; 115 million of them do dangerous work. Unions are also important for the future of shoemakers in India, street sellers in Tanzania and domestic workers in Indonesia, who are now living without rights, without a regular income and without social security.
Ladies and gentlemen, although I cannot give any details now, I am proud to confirm that after the current programme ends next year, my government will continue to support Dutch unions’ efforts to help unionistsabroad. The new programme will strongly focus on improving the social dialogue in developing countries.
Unions leaders are just as important to this dialogue as politicians, employers, donor countries and government representatives are. Indeed, unions are invaluable for a strong civil society − here and in developing countries
Thank you.
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Washington Post, ‘Beheading fuels backlash in Indonesia’, 9 augustus 2011