The International Labour Organization (ILO) will play a leading role in ensuring that the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD2), scheduled to hold in Qatar from 4 to 6 November 2025, strengthens a new multilateralism that delivers concrete progress on decent work and social justice for all.
Building on the outcome of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development held in Seville in July 2025, which called for greater investment in social policies and in the expansion of social protection coverage by at least two percentage points annually, the ILO aims to turn these global pledges into tangible results at the (WSSD2) in Qatar.
A Press Release from the ILO indicated that the Summit would be a defining moment to renew the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and to advance a global social contract that places people at the centre of sustainable progress, underscoring the continued relevance of its three interrelated pillars: poverty eradication, decent work for all, and social inclusion.
In its recent report titled “The State of Social Justice: A Work in Progress”, the ILO highlighted that while the world is wealthier, healthier and better educated than in 1995, progress has been uneven and inequality reduction has stalled.
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According to the report, child labour among 5- to 14-year-olds has fallen from 20 to 10 per cent, extreme poverty from 39 to 10 per cent, and social protection now covers over half the world’s population, yet 58 per cent of workers remain in informal jobs, women’s labour force participation is still 24 percentage points lower than men’s, and at the current pace it will take a century to close the global gender pay gap.
The global labour organization maintained that as reaffirmed in the Resolution adopted by the International Labour Conference held in June this year, as the main custodian agency for Goal 8 on decent work and economic growth it will work with governments, employers and workers to implement the Summit’s outcomes through its tripartite structure, ensuring that policies deliver fair, sustainable and inclusive results.
The ILO’s objectives for the World Summit scheduled to kick off within the next few days in Qatar include Ending poverty in all its forms remains the greatest global challenge by working with its constituents to ensure that decent work and social protection are at the heart of efforts to reduce poverty and strengthen resilience in every country; Full and productive employment and decent work are essential to social development and sustainable growth by helping countries strengthen labour institutions and policies that deliver fair wages, safe workplaces and equal opportunities for all workers.
In addition, the ILO seeks to achieve Social inclusion as key to reducing inequalities and building more cohesive and peaceful societies. The ILO works to ensure that all people – especially those in vulnerable situations – have equal rights, opportunities and access to decent work.
It stated that through the Global Coalition for Social Justice, which brings together governments, employers, workers and international partners to promote fairness and inclusion, and the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transition, which supports countries in creating decent jobs and expanding social protection, it will continue to help turn the Doha commitments into action.
