Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the International Labour Conference in Geneva on 7 June 2004

It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to speak at the 92nd session of the International Labour Conference. The ILO and the International Labour Conference are a unique part of the multilateral international system. Workers' and employers' representatives participate in international cooperation as equals alongside governments' representatives. This is the ILO's special strength and provides an exceptionally strong justification for the organization's decisions and activities.

I owe great thanks to the ILO: the International Labour Conference, the Governing Body and Director-General Somavia. Thank you for having the courage and foresight to appoint the independent World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization. And thank you for inviting me to co-chair this Commission together with President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania.

Two years at the head of the World Commission is definitely one of the most significant experiences and greatest high points in my professional life. This is an experience that I will never forget. At this point I would like to thank President Mkapa and all the members of the Commission for their excellent cooperation.

Our Commission began work in February 2002 and our report was published on 24 February 2004. Our work was not always easy. Commissions are often composed of people who are like-minded, but ours was largely one of "not like-minded" people: 26 people who come from different backgrounds, have different political views, are from different parts of the world and have their own strong opinions. The Commission was nevertheless able to publish a unanimous joint report. This is proof of a new attitude and desire to find common answers to common challenges. Our report is proof of the power of discussion and dialogue.

Each one of us would have written a different report and would have emphasized different things. What is important is that ours is a joint report. Everyone had to make compromises but no one had to abandon basic views.

The Commission also arranged an extensive series of consultations around the world. I had the opportunity to attend regional dialogues in Asia, Africa and Europe as well as national dialogues in China and Finland. These consultations were invaluable in helping us to understand how people experience globalization in different parts of the world.

The World Commission's report has been given a good reception by governments, international organizations and civil society. Work is only getting started, however. We do not intend for the report to be just one more publication. We intend for it to be part of a process that will give globalization a more human face. All of us are needed in this work.

Director-General Juan Somavia has prepared an excellent report on our Commission's work for this conference. His report outlines the role of the ILO in advancing the World Commission's work. It is of key importance to make decent work a global goal and to promote a policy coherence initiative on growth, investment and employment.

Both of these suit the ILO quite well. I hope that this conference will discuss the Director-General's report carefully and will give the ILO and its secretariat a clear mandate to promote the recommendations in the World Commission's report.

The recommendations in the World Commission's report cover a much broader field than the ILO's direct scope, however. One section consists of recommendations to nation-states and civil society, including businesses and employers' and labour organizations. Another clear whole is formed by matters that come within the sphere of international organizations.

Particularly employment and cross border movement of people are issues, which have got most attention in the public discourse. New kind of cross border movement of people is especially important for developing countries. Millions of people move for a short or longer time from both developing countries to industrial countries as well to other developing countries.

With regard to the international system, the main emphasis in promoting the work and recommendations of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization has been the UN as well as the ILO. In April I attended the joint meeting of ECOSOC, Bretton Woods Institutions and the WTO in New York. I told the participants about the Commission's work and our report. The reception was positive, in my opinion. Director-General Juan Somavia will attend the ECOSOC substantive session at the end of June in New York.

President Mkapa and I have planned to focus on making the report and its recommendations better known this spring and summer. Our goal is for the 59th session of the UN General Assembly to approve a resolution this autumn requesting for ECOSOC and other relevant bodies to consider our Commission's report and then report back to the 60th session.

We are presently identifying a suitable agenda item for Finland and Tanzania to present an operational resolution.

It is also our intention for the Bretton Woods Institutions to discuss the World Commission's report in a suitable manner. Work is also under way in this regard. The World bank and the International Monetary Fund co-operated actively in the preparation of the report. I was already asked to come and brief the World Bank’s European meeting about the report, but unfortunetly, due to a previously agreed official visit, the time was unsuitable for me.

Within the World Trade Organisation there seems to be some hope in sight. European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has said that the EU is in principle ready to give up agricultural export subsidies, if others are ready to do the same.

At the regional level, the European Commission has prepared a communication on our report. This statement is positive in tone and the European Commission recommends that the EU should carefully discuss the report's recommendations and take them into consideration in the European Union's internal and external activities.

President Mkapa has similarly informed his African colleagues of our Commission's report and I believe that the report is also on the agenda at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia a month from now. In the recent EU – Latin American and Caribbean summit I had also an opportunity to tell about the World Commission and the follow-up work.

Finland and Tanzania also have a joint project to promote a fairer globalization: the Helsinki process. This process seeks new and empowering solutions to global governance problems. It also offers an arena for open and broad-based discussion among interest groups to come up with practical recommendations that different actors can implement and promote. Although the Helsinki process is an independent and separate process, its work is also based partly on the results of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.

It is also good to tell about national activities. My own country Finland is currently preparing a national globalisation strategy and I believe that there are other countries doing the same. There is a lot of information on issues, which are important strengths of a nation state, like good governance and fight against corruption

The ILO showed courage and foresight in appointing the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization. The Commission has published its report, but this is only the beginning.

Making globalization more human will take time. I hope that the work of our Commission can be part of this process. Achieving change requires a commitment from all of us. I trust that the International Labour Conference is ready to do its part to promote change. The Director-General's report provides a good basis for this work.

I am thankful for the privilege of co-chairing the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization. I am also thankful for the excellent cooperation with governments, employers, workers and the secretariat. Without your support our Commission could not have succeeded in its work.