The global trade union movement is bitterly disappointed at the draft Declaration presented to world leaders at the Rio+20 Summit on Wednesday, and is calling on governments to use the remaining two days of the summit to map out a pathway to avoid environmental and social destruction.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, "World leaders have been presented with a draft which lacks the concrete direction needed to end senseless environmental destruction, drive investment into the green economy and guarantee social protection for all. They now have 48 hours to show the ambition and commitment needed to get the Rio Summit back on the right track and ensure that future generations inherit a sustainable economic and environmental future."
INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION (ITUC)
Rio Summit Draft Bitterly Disappointing
Governments Have 48 Hours to Avoid Debacle
Brussels, 21 June 2012 (ITUC OnLine): The global trade union movement is bitterly disappointed at the draft Declaration presented to world leaders at the Rio+20 Summit on Wednesday, and is calling on governments to use the remaining two days of the summit to map out a pathway to avoid environmental and social destruction.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, "World leaders have been presented with a draft which lacks the concrete direction needed to end senseless environmental destruction, drive investment into the green economy and guarantee social protection for all. They now have 48 hours to show the ambition and commitment needed to get the Rio Summit back on the right track and ensure that future generations inherit a sustainable economic and environmental future."
Unions are demanding that the Summit agree to integrated action on the social, environmental and economic fronts, with concrete commitments for green job creation, social protection and environmental regulation, currently absent from the proposed Summit outcomes.
"The proposals which have been tabled will not drive real change to the current economic model, which is based on the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and inequality. They represent a step back on environmental regulation and women's rights, and fail to bind governments to do what is needed to build an equitable and sustainable future for the planet, including concrete measures for technology transfer to poorer nations," said Burrow. "We are pressing the leaders assembled in Rio to use the final two days of the Summit to show real leadership and avoid yet another failure of global governance."
The draft document avoids commitments to generate social and environmental investment such as through a financial transactions tax, and replaces earlier commitments on protection of natural resources, poverty eradication and renewable energy into vague aspirations. It also fails to make any commitment to establish an international agency to drive forward sustainable development.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) organizes the International Labour Conference (ILC) annually. Among other agenda items, general discussion at the 102nd session will take place on "Sustainable development, decent work and green jobs
The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food called for the post-2015 development agenda to be urgently refocused on equality, social protection and accountability, as the efforts of the UN Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals to draft post-2015 targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) entered a crucial phase.
Many of the major companies file their sustainability reports without conscience. And their approach to the workers whose labour fuels their profits is criminal.Ask any CEO if they would like their sons or daughters to work in the textile factories in Pakistan, the mines in the Congo, manufacturing plants in Central America, or as beer women in Cambodia, and they shudder.
The decision was adopted in response to EU Commission consultation on unconventional fossil fuels in Europe
