ILO was established in 1919 together with the League of Nations.  It is therefore an international organization with 90 years of history and tradition.  ILO aims to bring peace through realizing social justice, and carries out such activities as developing international labour standards and monitoring their application as well as technical cooperation activities in the field of labour.  At present, ILO is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, and back in 1969, ILO was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for its activities.

After global financial and economic crisis, employment situation has seriously been deteriorated.  Work is at the heart of human life, and economic policies must give primary consideration on employment security. You will see the importance of employment issues in recovery and reconstruction efforts in the affected areas of the Great East Japan Earthquakes as well.

There are still many challenges in the field of employment and labour worldwide.  Especially in developing countries, employment opportunities are insufficient, and there exist a number of working poor who cannot obtain sufficient income from their jobs, and workers in the informal economy to whom social security nor labour laws are applied.  Also, you will find human rights issues as well including child labour and forced labour, workers faced with discrimination, interference in trade union activities.  We wish Japanese people will have more interests in and be aware of these issues in the world of work.

Japan is a founding member of the ILO, and she is a very important partner for the ILO with her representatives of Government, Employers and Workers playing active parts as members of its Governing Body.  Also, Japan continues to provide financial support to various technical cooperation activities of the ILO, including projects such as “Promotion of Decent Work for Young Women and Men through Enhancement of Employment Possibilities in Sri Lanka”, “Greener Business Asia” and “Inter-agency Programme to Nurture Peace, Security and Decent Work through Local Development in Conflict Areas of the Philippines (Bondoc Peninsula)”.

Further to financial support, Japan’s active provision of information, involvement and commitment are much needed in working out solutions for employment and labour issues at the global level with her rich knowledge and experience as an industrialized country.

“Poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere” is a phrase in the Declaration of Philadelphia adopted in 1944.  In order to realize the objection of achieving peace and social justice, we want to make progress towards realizing decent work for all, together with all of you.