The ILO - 90 years of hope

There is a widespread desire to correct some of the failures of globalisation and to ensure that the benefits it brings are shared more fairly, in a way that focuses not on the greed of the few but the well-being of the many.

Here in Asia and the Pacific region, while the bonuses paid to Wall Street bankers are an irritant, people are more concerned about providing for their families and finding and keeping decent work - employment that not only fills their basic needs today but offers some hope of social and economic progress. Employers and governments in this region are equally fearful about the rapid decline in orders, as consumers worldwide tighten their purse strings. The links that bind the interests of these three groups - governments, employers and workers - are clear for all to see; the challenges they face will only be met by working together.

It is no coincidence that there is a renewed call for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - the United Nations agency that deals with work and workplace issues - to support countries and help them respond to the current crisis, using the strength created by this unique three-part organisational structure. This challenge comes at a significant moment for the ILO, as it marks its 90th anniversary.

Asian cultures recognise the value that comes through age and experience, and in nine decades of work, the ILO has experienced much: the 1930s financial and employment crisis (which is often compared with what we face today), the Great Depression, a World War, recessions, human and natural disasters.

A product of the massive upheavals of the First World War, the ILO is the oldest UN agency, pre-dating that body itself by more than a quarter of a century.

From those difficult and sometimes dark years, the ILO has built a bedrock of knowledge and experience and offers a unique forum where governments, workers and employers can and do come together on the issues that concern them all, equally. I believe that this is an achievement from which we can all benefit, and which should give us all hope for the future as we mark this 90th anniversary.

Ninety years is a long time. But, in my view, the crisis we face today shows - should there ever have been any doubt - that the ILO's mandate is as fresh, relevant and universal today as it has ever been.  Just consider how, as times have changed, the ILO's mandate has adapted to and incorporated changes in the world of work.

The ILO's conventions - more than 180 since 1919 - have set the internationally recognised standards that most of us now take for granted, including the eight-hour work day, basic workplace safety standards, maternity protection, an end to child and forced labour, equality, and the right to organise and speak out.

Founded at the end of the First World War, the ILO's members came together once again in 1944, during the final days of World War Two, to re-dedicate themselves to its principles. The Declaration of Philadelphia made clear that work should not be categorised as a mere commodity. This clarion call for the rights of workers and the dignity of work still resonates today.

In 1998 a second Declaration was adopted, on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This codified the commitment of the ILO's growing membership to those core human rights and values that are vital for social and economic progress: freedom of association, collective bargaining, the ending of forced and child labour and the elimination of discrimination related to employment. This Declaration also paved the way for the ILO to adopt the concept of decent work, creating a contemporary expression of its historical mandate.

In June 2008 the mandate was once again refreshed. The Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation was crafted to face those new issues raised by the accelerating trend of globalisation.

These declarations are more than just words - taken together they form a pattern of progress and a recognition of the common needs and aspirations that bind us together in seeking to attain the kind of work that is more than just a job, that gives us purpose and offers a path to a better life.

On the ILO's 90th birthday it is right that we should feel pride in the achievements of the past nine decades. But what is more important is the future. We must use this occasion to look ahead and renew our support for the fundamental principles the ILO stands for and - in these testing times - plan how we can work, together, to further social justice and decent work.

So, the message of the ILO's 90th birthday is one of hope - a better world can start here, if we choose.

Sachiko Yamamoto is the ILO regional director for Asia and the Pacific.