1. THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE Presentation by Gemma Adaba– ITUC Representative to the United Nations To Workstream 3, of the TUDCN Meeting Brussels, 20 May 2009

2. KEY INSTITUTIONAL ACTORS IN DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNITED NATIONS ECOSOC – Economic and Social Council And its functional Commissions:  CSocD – Commission on Social Development  CSW - Commission on the Status of Women  CSD – Commission on Sustainable Development

3. KEY INSTITUTIONAL ACTORS IN DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNITED NATIONS New Instruments for a strengthened ECOSOC  AMR – The Annual Ministerial Review  DCF – The Development Cooperation Forum

4. THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND ITS HIGH-LEVEL CONFERENCES  The World Summit on Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995  The Fourth World Women’s Conference, Beijing, 1995  The International Conference on Financing for Development, Monterrey, 2002  The World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002  The Millennium Summit, 2005

5. Trade unions have been active within the institutional framework outlined here, participating in the Commission meetings and Conferences. As actors in development, we have contributed to the evolution of the development architecture through:  Statements  Lobbying for progressive, pro-union policy outcomes  Attempting to ensure follow-up; keeping governments accountable to commitments made in outcome documents

6. SOME NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF TRADE UNION LOBBYING WORK AT THE UN:  2005 – Para 47 of the Summit Outcome Document committed Heads of State to “creating an environment at the national and international levels that is conducive to the attainment of full and productive employment and decent work as a foundation for sustainable development.”  2006 – ECOSOC adopts a Ministerial Declaration on Full and Productive Employment and Decent Work. The Declaration called for “multilateral and bilateral donor and inter-agency cooperation and coordination, in the pursuit of the goals of full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

7. MORE NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF TRADE UNION LOBBYING WORK AT THE UN:  2007 to 2008 The Commission on Social Development devotes its two-year cycle to the theme of Full and Productive Employment and Decent Work, and in 2008, adopts a Resolution on that theme.  2008 – The United Nations decides that decent work should be a sub-target under MDG1 (Millennium Development Goal) on poverty eradication.

8. MORE NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF TRADE UNION LOBBYING WORK AT THE UN:  2008 – After considerable lobbying, trade unions succeed in getting a paragraph on decent work in the Agreed Conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women, which was devoted to the theme “Financing for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.”  2008 – Trade unions succeed in getting a paragraph on decent work in the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development.

9. THE FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT (FfD) AGENDA, A BROAD FRAMEWORK WHICH LINKS DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION TO OTHER RELEVANT POLICY AREAS – The Six Thematic Areas of the FfD Agenda: 1. Mobilizing Domestic Resources for Development 2. Mobilizing International Resources for Development 3. Trade as an Engine of Growth and Development 4. Addressing External Debt 5. Official Development Assistance 6. Systemic Issues, and Reform of Global Governance

10. FOLLOW-UP OF THE DOHA CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT Para 79 of the Doha Declaration mandates the UN General Assembly to hold a Conference at highest level on the crisis and its impacts on development The Conference will be held from 1 to 3 June, 2009

11. TRADE UNIONS HAVE BEEN ACTIVE IN THE PREPARATORY PROCESS FOR THE JUNE CONFERENCE  Based on the Global unions submissions to the G20 process, trade unions have made inputs to the work of the Stiglitz Commission which was charged with producing the background document for the Conference  The ITUC has produced and circulated an assessment of the Stiglitz Commission Report  Trade unions have made inputs to the preparatory events for the June Conference, namely, the thematic interactive dialogue of 24-25 March, 2009, and the ECOSOC Meeting with the Bretton Woods Institutions, WTO and UNCTAD on 27 April, 2009

12. REFLECTING THE WORK OF THE STIGLITZ COMMISSION, THERE WILL BE FOUR ROUND-TABLES AT THE CONFERENCE, DEVOTED TO THE FOLLOWING THEMES: 1. Present and future impacts of the crisis on employment, trade, investment and development, including the internationally agreed development goals and the Millennium Development Goals 2. Coordinated and collaborative actions and appropriate measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis on development 3. The role of the United nations and its Member Staes in the ongoing international discussions on reforming and strengthening the international financial and economic system and architecture 4. Contribution of the United nations Development System in response to the crisis.

13. TRADE UNIONS WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE JUNE CONFERENCE WITH SOME KEY LOBBYING POINTS:  The increasing financialization of the global economy and the disconnect from the real economy are at the root of multiple crises, one of the most devastating being the jobs crisis.  Impacts in terms of increasing inequality, unemployment and poverty are particularly stark.

14. TRADE UNIONS WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE JUNE CONFERENCE WITH SOME KEY LOBBYING POINTS:  A new regulatory architecture must return financial markets to their primary function of financing productive investment and decent jobs in the real economy  Both fiscal packages in the short-term as well as longer term policies to restore stable growth must incorporate shifts to low carbon economies that create green and decent jobs  Governments must put in place counter-cyclical measures to mitigate the effects of the crisis

15. TRADE UNIONS WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE JUNE CONFERENCE WITH SOME KEY LOBBYING POINTS:  Active labour market policies must be central to these counter-cyclical measures. They must, inter alia: 1. Provide support for SMEs to adjust, and maintain employment 2. Focus on groups most affected by the crisis, such as temporary and part-time workers, informal economy workers, women, migrants; 3. Eliminate structured inequalities and pay inequity in the world of work; 4. Provide income support through special schemes, as well as social protection; 5. Ensure migrant workers the same rights as nationals

16. THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM: AN OPPORTUNITY TO ESTABLISH COHERENCE BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER CRITICAL AREAS IMPACTING DEVELOPMENT The Development Cooperation Forum emerged as a new instrument, one of the outcomes of the 2005 Summit. It is mandated by ECOSOC to convene a biennial Development Cooperation Forum. The first Development Cooperation Forum was held in 2008. The next Development Cooperation Forum will be held in 2010.

17. THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM AIMS TO:  Strengthen the voice of all stakeholders, including civil society, parliamentarians, private sector and local governments by supporting inclusive high-level dialogue on key development cooperation issues;  Give due consideration to the broad range of issues which affect the effectiveness of development cooperation such as climate change, food security and policy coherence;  Continue to provide independent and high-quality analysis of development cooperation issues and ensure a comprehensive and inclusive international debate on this agenda;

18. THE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FORUM FURTHER AIMS TO:  Play a key role as an international mutual accountability mechanism that will draw together analysis of progress in national and global-level mutual accountability processes, and thereby contribute to holding donors and programme countries to account; and  Focus its meeting in 2010 on playing an instrumental role in developing a more inclusive framework for guiding effective development cooperation, taking into consideration the concerns of stakeholders.