As the global community continues to warm up for this year’s World Day of Social Justice on February 20th, the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Gilbert F. Houngbo, has urged national governments and other organisations to take action and not just commitments in formalizing work, ensuring living wages, using artificial intelligence for social progress, and implementing the Doha Declaration to build a fair and inclusive future for all.
Houngbo, in a broadcast circulated on YouTube by the ILO secretariat, reminded the global leaders of a simple truth – delivering on social justice is not an aspiration, it is a responsibility.
He recalled that last November, at the Second World Summit for Social Development, governments adopted the Doha Declaration, and sent a clear message to the world that development is sustainable, inclusive, or resilient only when it fully integrates its social dimension.
According to the labour expert, the question is no longer whether the global leaders and partners agree but it is whether they are ready to act since that is why the Global Coalition for Social Justice was established.
- Advertisement -
Houngbo maintained that today, the Coalition had brought together more than 400 partners –governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, international institutions, academia, civil society and the private sector, saying that he is particularly encouraged by the diversity and depth of the contributions.
He noted that partners were collaborating and engaging in concrete, high-impact initiatives – bringing their experience, tools and capacity to deliver change on the ground, as well as focusing on issues at the very heart of the Doha Declaration.
The Director-General of the labour organization listed the issues as first, formalization to support millions of workers who remain trapped in informal employment, second, living wages to ensure economic progress benefits everyone, and third, artificial intelligence to ensure that AI drives social progress by developing tools and supporting access to skills development.
Houngbo stressed: “These initiatives are part of a broader and collective effort to implement the Doha Declaration, so to advance agendas such as social dialogue for a just transition, encourage responsible business conduct, close the gender pay gap through the Equal Pay International Coalition and empower the youth.
“On this World Day of Social Justice, I want to thank all our partners for their commitment. Let us continue to act together, and ensure social justice shapes the future of development for everyone”, he appealed.
