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• Speech to the Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Trade Union Council

Speech to the Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Trade Union Council

Date: 16 Jun 2002
Speaker: Secretary-General Donald McKinnon
Location: Commonwealth Trade Union Council, Geneva

Conference Chairperson Mr Le Roy Trotman

CTUC Director Ms Annie Watson,

Distinguished delegates and guests,

I am very pleased to be with you today.


I was asked by a British radio reporter from the Midlands the other day: "What would happen if the Commonwealth disappeared tomorrow?" Well (quite apart from the fact that I would be out of a job!) there would be no Commonwealth Games.

It would be a great shame for the people of Manchester, who will be hosting, in 39 days' time, the biggest multi-sport event ever held in Britain. It would hit hard the 5,250 athletes who will be competing in the Games. And it would spoil the fun of 1 billion viewers worldwide. You can't have the Commonwealth Games without the Commonwealth.

But there are other, less well-known ways in which the Commonwealth benefits its members. For example, people are usually surprised when I tell them that it pays to trade within the Commonwealth family. In fact, Commonwealth businesses that choose to trade within the Commonwealth enjoy a 15-20% cost benefit. This is mainly due to the fact that Commonwealth countries share the same business culture: common legal systems, common accounting and auditing structures, common customs procedures.

As a global trading network, the Commonwealth represents one third of the world population and 15% of the world's GDP. Some 20% of global trading takes place among Commonwealth countries. So does about 15% of world investment.

But this should not make us forget that in the Commonwealth, as in the rest of the world, the benefits of international trade are not equally distributed.

The benefits of globalisation have only touched a minority of people. The majority of humanity still have poor living standards and work conditions, few opportunities for development and remain excluded from the spoils of global trade.

This is where trade unions come in. The unions can play a crucial role in addressing some of the deep-rooted inequalities in the world today. In areas such as pay equity, labour standards and workers' fundamental rights, trade unions can help bring about change. Above all, they have a major role, in the developed world, to spread the message that protectionism is a lose-lose option.

Providing developing countries with less inequitable and more just trading opportunities, on the other hand, has win-win outcomes. Trade is the most important engine for combating poverty in the developing world. Trade liberalisation, accompanied by concerted training programmes, brings about shared prosperity and a more stable and safe world for everyone.

As the largest membership-based organisation in the Commonwealth, the CTUC also has the clout to raise international awareness of such issues as child labour and gender discrimination. The work achieved by the CTUC helps advance values shared by all Commonwealth citizens. These values-democracy, human rights, the rule of law-are also at the heart of the Commonwealth Secretariat's outlook.

The activities of the CTUC and of other NGOs are very important to us. At their meeting in Coolum, Heads of Government recognised the crucial role played by the Commonwealth civil society and recommended that even stronger links and partnerships be established between the official and unofficial Commonwealth.

The High Level Review Group Report adopted by Heads also recommends stronger and more effective co-ordination of programmes between the official Commonwealth and Commonwealth NGOs.

I would like to focus on three areas where the CTUC and the Secretariat share similar concerns:

1. Making globalisation work for the many, not the few
2. Tackling world poverty
3. Strengthening human rights and democratic practices

Like you, we are an organisation that tries to help its less well-off members.


1. Inclusive globalisation

For most people today, globalisation is something they can see, but can't touch. They see the glamorous ads, the lifestyle of the "rich and famous", the shop windows displaying the mobile phones, computers and cameras most will never be able to afford. "Billboard globalisation" is everywhere. But real, life-changing globalisation is still the preserve of the few.

If we want to achieve progress, we must make globalisation more inclusive.

In his Theory of Justice, John Rawls, the famous American political scientist, argues that in a social democracy, profits made by the better off are justified provided that the lives of the worse off are improved in the process. He calls this the "difference principle".

Making globalisation more inclusive means replicating this principle at the level of the global community. If we want globalisation to work, we need to ensure that it helps improve the lives of the worse off everywhere in the world.

This is why our priority should be to spread the benefits of global trade. I am glad to see that, on this point, as on many others, our position meets yours: indeed, the CTUC submission to CHOGM urged the Commonwealth to promote the principle of "globalisation with social justice for all".

In fact, globalisation, if well managed, can be part of the solution to world poverty. Poor countries need more globalisation, not less. The more poor countries open their economies, the more likely they are to grow rich. During the 1990s, developing countries with open economies grew at an annual rate of 5% per capita, while those with closed economies grew at only 1.4%. Moreover, developing countries have increased their share of world trade by more than one fifth since 1990.

As Amartya Sen, the Nobel prize laureate, once argued, "the predicament of the poor across the world cannot be reversed by withholding from them the great advantages of contemporary technology, international trade and exchange-and the social as well as economic merits of living in open societies. What is needed is a fair distribution of the fruits of globalisation."


2. Tackling world poverty

Last week, world leaders met in Rome to try to generate a solution to world hunger. The previous World Food Summit, held in 1996, pledged to halve the number of hungry people by 2015, from 840 million to 400 million. Five years later the number has dipped only to 815 million.

This failure is all the more tragic in light of the looming famine in Southern Africa, where four million lives are at risk. It is a scandal that while the world is growing more food than ever before, 24,000 people die from hunger every day. We have the resources to prevent those deaths. It is the will to end this tragedy that has often been lacking.

As many leaders have pointed out, the way to tackle the problem of hunger in the world is not to focus on increasing food production, but on reducing poverty and improving trade access for developing countries. Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni, made this point very convincingly when he said: "The main causes of food shortages in the world are really three: wars, protectionism in agricultural products in Europe, the USA, China, India and Japan, and protectionism in value-added products on the part of the same countries."

So the message to advanced nations is quite simple: if you really want to help developing countries, give them access to your markets. In the long run, rich countries stand to benefit too: as poor nations are allowed to export to developing countries, they will grow wealthier and will themselves become new markets for the developed world's manufactured products.

Like trade barriers, agricultural subsidies have a distorting effect on the economy. These amount to US$ 1 bn per day in the developed world, 7 times the current level of global aid. Imagine how many schools could be built with that kind of money. Imagine how many children could be saved from hunger. Imagine how many women and men could be lifted out of poverty.

Significant progress could be achieved if OECD countries substantially reduced subsidies in sectors where developing nations have a competitive advantage. This would also reduce the real cost of certain products to consumers in the developed world and release resources for more productive purposes, thereby increasing the growth potential of developed economies.

These are difficult decisions for developed nations-decisions which, on the face of it, may appear to go against their national interests. But this is a blinkered view-in a world of growing interdependence, the best way for countries to defend their national interests is to act for the benefit of the world community as a whole. Attaining the Millennium Development Goals is in the enlightened self-interest of everyone on the planet.

This is why, at the UN Conference on Financing for Development, in Monterrey last March, I again urged developed countries to make a sustained effort to reduce their own trade barriers and give developing countries increased access to their markets. There were encouraging signs coming out of the Monterrey meeting, with talks of a "New Deal" for developing countries and many leaders calling for a lowering of trade barriers and subsidies in wealthy countries.

But the increase in agricultural subsidies announced recently by the United States flies in the face of these statements. If the message to developing countries is: "open your markets while we protect ours", then the "New Deal" they are getting is in fact a raw deal. It need not be this way, though. If developed countries accept to do their share today, they-and all the other nations in the world-will reap the benefits tomorrow.

Reducing poverty can also be achieved by addressing the debt burden of poor countries. Since the mid-1980s, the Commonwealth has been at the forefront of the initiative to reduce the debt of Highly Indebted Poor Countries and continues to maintain pressure on the IMF and the World Bank to provide even greater debt reduction to these countries.

We are also supporting the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Developed by African leaders, its aim is to help the African continent realise its true economic potential by improving its governance and accelerating its integration into the global economy.

Increasingly, the links between poverty and ill health are being recognised. Scourges such as HIV/AIDS and malaria have devastating effects in many poor countries. The costs are not only human; they are also economic. When you are sick, you spend less time at work and more money on medical treatment. In the words of Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation: "A healthy population is a prerequisite for growth as much as a result of it."

Our efforts in the fight against AIDS have concentrated on education. The Commonwealth runs a "Young Ambassadors of Positive Living" programme which enables young people living with HIV to share their experience and help other HIV-infected young people make the most of their lives.

I am pleased to see that the fight against HIV/AIDS also forms an important part of the CTUC's mandate and that trade unionists in the Commonwealth are addressing the issue through education programmes, negotiations with employers and national lobbying.


3. Strengthening human rights and democratic practices

Another important tool in the fight against poverty is the promotion of democracy and human rights. Democracy does not only empower people or bring peace and social justice; it can also help create the conditions for economic growth.

Long-term growth is more likely to be achieved in a stable political environment that recognises the value of the individual and empowers all citizens to achieve their full potential. Business people will only invest in countries where there is political stability, in other words, where government is open, honest and respectful of the rights of the citizen. Multi-party systems, freedom of speech, civil rights are important tools of economic development.

The Commonwealth's commitment to democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights is embodied in the 1991 Harare Declaration. In 1995, Commonwealth Heads of Government set up a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to deal with serious or persistent violations of the Harare principles. We are still the only international organisation where such a group exists. We are still the only international organisation that can penalise those that fall foul of the rules.

We also work actively behind the scenes, using "discreet diplomacy" to resolve or to prevent internal political crises, providing Election Observers, promoting democracy workshops or strengthening electoral institutions in member countries. By its very nature, some of this valuable work takes place away from the glare of publicity - and thus remains unsung. We don't win every time, but we win more often than we lose.

One of the cornerstones of democracy is the respect for human rights. We must take human rights seriously not only because they can play an important part in social and economic development, but first and foremost because any violation of human rights diminishes our own human dignity. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said: "What dehumanises you inexorably dehumanises me."

Last Wednesday was World Day Against Child Labour. Today, more than 350 million children around the world are engaged in work of some kind. Half of them are engaged in hazardous work: in construction, quarrying, mining, or in jobs exposing them to chemicals or other conditions likely to harm their health. Some 8.4 million children are trapped in appalling kinds of labour, likely to lead to irreversible physical and psychological damage: these include slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour.

I know that child labour is a matter of grave concern to the CTUC, as it is to the Commonwealth community as a whole. At their meeting in Durban in 1999, Heads of Government welcomed the adoption by the ILO of the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and urged its ratification by member governments.

As we wage our campaign against child labour, we must also emphasise the cause of the problem: the abject poverty of these children's families. It is unlikely that we will be able to tackle this issue effectively without making significant headway on the Millennium Development Goals.

The CTUC also seeks to ensure that the interests of women are reflected in all government policies. It is precisely to achieve this that the Commonwealth Secretariat has developed a Gender Management System, designed to assist governments, civil society and the private sector in integrating gender concerns into their policies and programmes.

I was interested to note that, in many Commonwealth countries, trade unions have contributed significantly to the political empowerment of women, as several women politicians (in Guyana, the Seychelles, Dominica and my own New Zealand, for example), have a trade union background.

Finally, I would like to point out that our commitment to human rights is now reflected more adequately in the structure and work of the Secretariat. Before the last CHOGM, the CTUC called for the Human Rights Unit within the Secretariat to be strengthened. You will be pleased to know that we have heeded your advice: following a decision by Heads of Government at their meeting in Coolum, the Human Rights Unit has been given higher status and its director now reports directly to the Deputy Secretary-General.

One of the main tasks of the Unit is to mainstream human rights throughout the range of activities of the Secretariat, highlighting the fact that the promotion of human rights is central to the role of the Commonwealth.


Conclusion

If I were asked to sum up, in ten words or less, what the Commonwealth does, I would say that it tries to improve the lives of all Commonwealth citizens. We do this by promoting democratic practices, strengthening human rights and attempting to provide economic opportunities to all our people.

But this is an enormous task for a relatively small organisation. Thankfully, we can count on the invaluable support of a wide network of non-governmental organisations. The CTUC is part of this "People's Commonwealth" and plays a crucial role in advancing the values the Commonwealth stands for.

But this is not a one-way street. I am also very interested to know how we, at the Secretariat, can help you achieve your goals and I welcome your ideas and suggestions about how we can add value and make our actions more effective.

I wish you all a very fruitful meeting and I look forward to the outcomes of your deliberations.

 

 

Geneva, 16 June 2002