Permanent Mission of India

Geneva

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Statement made by India on the zero draft of the ILO centenary declaration during the tripartite informal consultations - Delivered by Dr. Sadre Alam, First Secretary (Geneva, 30 April 2019)

    We thank the office for organizing these useful informal consultations.

2. We are examining the draft declaration closely including in the light of the valuable and rich views expressed by the ILO constituents. We fully align ourselves with the statement made by China on behalf of the ASPAG.

3. At this stage we have few remarks and specific suggestions to streamline and strengthen the text of the zero draft.

4. Broadly speaking, the centenary declaration, in terms of scope, should go beyond the issue of the future of work and the related report of the commission. Needless to reiterate that the centenary year provides us all an unprecedented opportunity to take stock of things more comprehensively and accordingly chart a course for the future.

5. Speaking on the text, it may be worth underlining that the text of the declaration should use already established and agreed language to the extent possible to avoid prolonged deliberations and for the sake of consensus.

6. The text should be fully aligned with the clear mandate of the ILO as provided by its constituents through its governing bodies and reflected in its basic documents. This should naturally exclude anything that falls within the mandate of other related international organizations. Any proposed working relation of ILO with and within the UN system should be guided by this overarching principle and the specifics of the institutional arrangements determined by their respective governing bodies.

7. The Part 3 and 4 of the declaration which deal with the priorities and the means of implementation should be actionable and substantive respectively. The role of the various stakeholders including the ILO and its constituents should be specific and clear. In the context of the future of work, the support and assistance of ILO in ensuring a smooth transition of especially the economically developing countries who are faced with greater challenges will be vital and critical.

8. The declaration should envision a human-centered future of work agenda to be fully supported by a ‘fit for purpose’ ILO and aligned with national contexts and priorities, so that together we can harness all technological progress and advancement to build a knowledge society where the workplaces everywhere seamlessly provide opportunities for realizing the full potential of labour in an environment free of discrimination of any kind and where benefits are guaranteed, maximized and shared equitably by everyone, both in productive youth as well as old age.

9. Any follow up arrangement of the declaration whether through the programme and budget or otherwise should be robust and ensure a substantive role for the ILO governing bodies particularly the International Labour Conference. We would like greater clarity on this as this would be most crucial for the effective implementation of the declaration.

10. These are some of the important issues which need to find adequate and appropriate reflection in the draft declaration. For this, we have proposed specific textual amendments to the draft which have also been presented as part of suggestions made by the ASPAG. For ease of reference and incorporation in the revised version by the office, we could provide it with a copy of the same. Our additional inputs will follow depending on how the text evolves in the days ahead.

11. On the working methods of the committee of the whole, the preference of our delegation is for the proposed possible outcome mentioned in Para 2(2) and the modalities for discussions and negotiation on the declaration mentioned in Para 3(2) a of the document prepared by the office. Needless to mention that the Committee of the Whole is the competent body to take a final decision in this regard unless by consensus during these informal consultations a clear preference is expressed by the ILO constituents.

12. Lastly, we look forward to a constructive engagement during these consultations and subsequent formal process during the ILC to develop a concise yet meaningful, substantive, futuristic, ambitious and an actionable historic centenary declaration to serve as a compass to construct and progressively realise a just, humane, equitable and sustainable world of work for all.

Thank you.