Saturday, March 02, 2013

Human rights and the post-2015 agenda: The role of decent work


Introductory remarks delivered by ILO's Director-General to the Human Rights Council at the High level Panel discussion on human rights mainstreaming held in Geneva, on 1 March 2013.

Mr Secretary-General, Madame High-Commissioner, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The target date set for the unfinished task of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, is almost upon us.

So what does the world look like as we move toward 2015? Over 200 million people around the world will be unemployed this year – and this is expected to rise by another 3 million in 2014. This means that some 30 million more people are unemployed since the crisis struck, while 40 million have lost hope and left the job market. As for young people, many have never had any hope to lose, with almost 74 million young people unemployed globally.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the first thematic consultation on the post-2015 agenda, organized by ILO and UNDP, and hosted by the Government of Japan, dealt with employment.

See full Press Release: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/who-we-are/ilo-director-general/statements-and-speeches/WCMS_206013/lang--en/index.htm