New Telegraph

COVID-19: ILO seeks remedy to socio-economic fall-out

Director-General, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder, has urged the international community to close the gap between visionary statements of ambition and the collective action needed to address the social and economic fall-out of COVID-19. In his remarks at the opening of the ILO’s Global Forum for a Human-centred Recovery, Ryder highlighted the inequalities, widened by the pandemic, which have hit the weakest hardest. “The current trajectory, be it one of recovery, is prolonging and accentuating this divergence,” he said.

“We simply must act to check and reverse these dynamics, which otherwise will make our world more unfair and ultimately more dangerous. “By building new and concrete lines of joint action and cooperation in each of the areas the forum will address – inclusive growth and decent jobs, universal social protection, protecting workers and sustaining enterprises and a just transition to carbon neutrality – we can contribute importantly to a breakthrough scenario with tangible consequences,” he noted. The three-day Forum had heads of State and Government, heads of international organisations and multilateral development banks and employers’ and workers’ leaders from around the world to propose concrete actions that will strengthen the international response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking at the opening session, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, told delegates that the Forum “comes at a crucial time when our ability to recover from this pandemic – and rescue the Sustainable Development Goals – hangs in the balance. “We need a human-centred, green recovery that puts people first,” he said. “This means achieving universal social protection… the best line of defence against shocks of all kinds and critical to a just transition. It means strategic investments in decent jobs and accelerating the formalisation of jobs in the informal sector. Putting people first means true vaccine equity… reforming the global financial system so all countries can access financing to support their people, including through debt relief and fairer tax systems… climate commitments that match the scale and urgency of the crisis,” he noted.

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