FORUM (Spotlight Weekly)

ILO in Nepal

By LEYLA TEGMO-REDDY

We are extremely honoured by the presence of the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Nepal, which demonstrates the value His Majesty's Government has continuously shown to the ILO and our work during the past three and a half decades in this beautiful country. In return, on behalf of the ILO, I can assure the Rt. Honourable Prime Minister and the people of Nepal that we will continue to dedicate our efforts towards the eradication of poverty and the promotion of social justice and decent work for all women and men in Nepal.

The ILO's global agenda is to promote the realisation of decent work for all. As highlighted by the ILO Director-General. "The goal of decent work is best expressed through the eyes of people. For workers faced with extreme poverty, decent work "is about moving from subsistence to existence" and is "the primary route out of poverty. For many others "it is about realizing personal aspirations in their daily existence and about solidarity with others." "Everywhere, and for everybody, decent work is about securing human dignity." Decent work means adequate employment opportunities, social protection, rights at work and social dialogue. But, without work, there can be no decent work*

While over two and a half million children in Nepal work, including over 120,000 in the worst forms of child labour, many adults do not have access to productive employment. Young adults, the future of the country, are unable to find jobs.

This is precisely why we arranged an interactive Round Table Discussion this morning on Employment, Poverty Reduction and Social Justice in Nepal. Eminent researchers, policy planners and our tripartite partners provided their views to guide the ILO, and the country, in facing up to the challenge of eradicating unemployment, poverty and social injustice in Nepal.

What is fundamental for development, is that efforts are targeted at job creation for poverty alleviation. An environment should be created to ensure that businesses are secure and able to grow. New enterprises should be set up and supported. Economic efficiency should be combined with social efficiency. Promoting and securing fundamental rights of workers, especially those from the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, should be an overriding principle.

The ILO, along with its tripartite partners in Nepal * government, employers and workers * has developed a series of activities to support such areas.

The ILO's partnership is a special one as you can see from my partners on the dias. We bring together - in this partnership - the key actors in the world of work. And we encourage a genuine spirit of partnership through social dialogue. The foundation of our partnership is based on mutual respect, mutual trust, transparency and accountability that we are proud of. I welcome all of our partners who are celebrating this 35th Anniversary.

This partnership is not only special - but it is essential - in this world in which all countries, even the richer ones, face very serious threats to the livelihood and security of their people in the first global world recession - and in which Nepal has also been affected.

This partnership needs to grow stronger, to move forward in developing a common vision on decent work for the people of Nepal and to pursue efforts to make it a reality, so that everyday lives of women and men in the world of work and their families and communities will improve.

As early as in 1946, the ILO Declaration of Philadelphia stated that "Poverty anywhere constitutes a threat to prosperity everywhere". I think this still stands out blatantly today.

We have been strongly encouraged by the commitment expressed by the Right Honourable Prime Minister to place employment as a priority initiative on the national agenda. We are, thus, convinced that the Tenth Five Year Plan will highlight the role of employment in poverty alleviation.

(Excerpts of a speech by Ms Leyla Tegmo-Reddy, Director, ILO-Nepal, at the 35th anniversary of ILO in Nepal)