(GB.344/PFA/1:Programme Implementation (2020–21),15thMarch 2022)
Thank you, Chair! Distinguished delegates of the Governing Body，
1. I am speaking on behalf of ASPAG. I would like to start by thanking the Office for preparing the ILO Programme Implementation Report of 2020–21.
2. The past biennium marks the first biennium to operationalize the objectives set by the Centenary Declaration while witnessing the devastating impacts and unfolding challenges brought by COVID-19 pandemic to the global economy and the world of work. According to the latest estimation, it is still a shocking fact that this crisis has led to a massive reduction of hours worked worldwide at the end of 2021 by 4.3% compared with the 2019 level.
3. Bearing in mind this complicated and dynamic situation in front of us, we are encouraged by the agile, adaptive and timely response provided by the Office to cope with those challenges when implementing P&B. We are glad to see about 45% of results achieved contributed directly to the response to the COVID-19 crisis, in particular 96 of 195 results in our region is related to the crisis. Meantime, we commend the strong commitments and great efforts of the Office under the leadership of the DG, Mr. Guy Ryder on strengthening the solidarity of the world of work, ensuring business continuity and advancing a human-centred recovery along the road map guided by the Centenary Declaration.
4. We note with appreciation that all 8 policy outcomes have made steady progress and contributed to SDGs, in particular SDG 8. Though results under 3 outcomes were below the target, 4 outcomes performed over the target. We welcome the general description of the performance in different regions among which our region registered 31% of all results with a number of identified key achievements in employment promotion, social protection, skills development and partnership building.
5. As for policy outcome 1, we would like to request the Office to find viable means to address the increasing demand for the capacity building on national labour administration. Regarding the targets related to international labour standards ratification in outcome 2, we continue to invite the Office to provide timely, effective and tailored technical assistance to Member States, in particular those have the willingness to ratify international labour conventions. We commend the ILO’s accomplishment of 102 targets, though slightly below the target, to support Member States in formulating and implementing employment policy responses with effects on the quantity and quality of employment in outcome 3. We also encourage the Office to reinforce its support to sustainable enterprises to mitigate the enduring impacts of the pandemic as indicated in outcome 4.
6. It is a positive sign that outcome 5 achieved 92 results, 21 per cent above the target. Meanwhile, we are also aware of a nearly doubled need for ILO’s support on skills and lifelong learning compared with 2018-19. The resolution on skills and lifelong learning adopted by ILC last December laid an solid foundation and provided clear guidance for ILO’s work in this area. In this context, we believe it is the high time for the Office to seize the momentum to accelerate the paces on skills and lifelong learning by translating this resolution into the design and implementation of the P&B.
7. As results under outcome 6 is 25 short of overall targets, we invite the Office to further improve the performance to promote gender equality and equal opportunities and treatment for all in the world of work. We are glad to know the results in both outcome 7&8 are above the targets. We encourage the Office to build on the progress achieved to continuously support the Member States on protection of workers and social protection through multiple channels including South-South and triangular cooperation.
8. We welcome the latest developments on 3 enabling outcomes, particularly those efforts to apply innovative methods to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the internal governance. Though the target for improving geographic diversity is met by recruiting 10 staff members from less-than-represented nationalities, we believe more has to be done to realize a substantial improvement of the unbalanced geographic representation. By saying that, we request the Office to level up its ambition, step up its efforts and work closely with constituents concerned in this regard.
9. Chair! ASPAG is of the view that the experience, insights gained from the past should shed light on the path forward. We concur with the Office’s propositions about the key lessons learned. In addition, we would like to emphasize the following. Firstly, while the immediate and swift response to the crisis is proved to be indispensable, a more strategic perspective should be adopted to achieve a human-centred recovery by addressing long-lasting decent work deficits and new challenges from the future of work with longer-term solutions. Secondly, deep involvement of the tripartite constituents in the process of ILO knowledge development and advocacy is crucial for enhancing the Organization’s impact and credibility. Thirdly, a stronger policy coherence and coordination between ILO and the multilateral system is the key to integrating and utilizing all resources available in a strategic way for advancing the decent work agenda. The last but not least, as the extrabudgetary resources is an imperative part of the total budget and expenditure, intensified efforts on resources mobilization is vital to ensure all targets are properly and adequately budgeted.
10. With all the comments above, ASPAG agrees with the decision point of this agenda item.
I thank you, Chair!