Congress makes case for Decent Work in Development Cooperation

Issued on April 26, 2012 at 05:29 PM

In our submission to the review of the Irish Aid Whitepaper, we make the case for decent work and the importance of a trade union role. People don't usually think of unions when they think about international development but our goals of living wages, workplaces free of child and forced labour, decent public services and the promotion of equality and justice can make a big contribution to eliminating poverty when won.

Congress highly values the partnership that we have with Irish Aid and are grateful for the opportunity to engage with them about their future priorities.

We agree with the statement made by Dóchas in their submission to this review process that a key success factor in achieving these ambitious goals is to ensure "a comprehensive, all-government approach which involves not just aid but all policies with international impact".

We are also in broad agreement with the IDEA submission and that of the Irish Coalition of the Global Campaign for Education for all which makes the case for the revised White Paper to prioritise support for education in Irish development aid. Education is a basic human right: it must be given priority, not least because it is a human right particularly important to the most vulnerable population group in society - children, in particular female children, and the 80 million children worldwide engaged in child labour. The INTO made a similar case for prioritising education, based on the experience of members turned teaching volunteers, who see first-hand the difficulties encountered by students, teachers and parents in the developing world.

However, the case has also been made that the economic crisis has resulted in Trade unions facing reduced access to ODA in the donor countries, whilst in the south, trade unions have limited or no access to cooperation resources and lack policy space and recognition; as a result the overall support for trade unions and their role as development actors is under threat. We hope that Irish Aid will consider how they can address this situation into the future.