Organization of American States Summits of the Americas
 
Follow-up and Implementation: Mandates
  

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LABOR: Employment
 MANDATES

  1. Deepen the relationship between inclusive, democratic governance and sustainable development by:

    • e. Promoting the creation of employment and decent work, as well as entrepreneurship, particularly among youth, and expanding opportunities for ongoing training and occupational retraining; (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

  1. Increase efforts to ensure inclusion and diversity in all aspects of governance, through the following actions:

    • b. Ensuring that pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response are inclusive processes, including but not limited to the equitable and fair distribution of the provision of care, physical safety, equal digital access, and access to decent employment and wage equity and other economic opportunities; (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

  1. Develop an evidence-based Action Plan that takes into account the sociocultural, economic, and structural challenges facing the Americas region and includes, among others, identifying measures for national and international coordination and cooperation, taking into account the global commitments assumed by the states with respect to health and resilience, with a view to:

    • b. Strengthening educational programs in the fields of medicine, public health, nutrition, and biomedical science research, as well as recruitment and skills development of all professionals engaged in the field of health, through continuing education and training, promoting an increase in the number of people working in these specialties, with a comprehensive bio-psycho-social approach to meet the health needs of our populations; as well as retaining health personnel in developing countries, especially in the least developed countries and small-island and low-lying coastal developing states of the Caribbean and Central America; (Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

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  1. We commit to implementing active policies to generate decent work and create the conditions for quality employment that imbue economic policies and globalization with a strong ethical and human component, putting the individual at the center of work, the company, and the economy. We will promote decent work, that is to say: fundamental rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. Recognizing the need for comprehensive social protection systems, we will examine the forms of unemployment protection most appropriate and possible for our respective countries. As part of a package of social safety nets for the unemployed, we also recognize the positive contribution of unemployment insurance systems in temporarily alleviating the socioeconomic suffering of individuals, reducing the need for workers to resort to subsistence activities through precarious jobs and facilitating their reentry into the work force (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. To undertake, when pertinent, an analysis of the structure of employment at the national, regional, and local level and of the sectors and sub-sectors that might have a higher potential impact on increases of income, employment and poverty reduction (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. To promote increased communication between ministries responsible for economic, social, and labor policies at the national level with the objective of coordinating policies centered on job creation and poverty reduction. (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. To encourage investment in basic infrastructure having a high positive impact on employment in order to promote growth and productive employment. (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. We recognize the efforts made by countries in the Hemisphere to address the social problems caused by unemployment, such as the adoption of unemployment insurance systems and subsistence income programs (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. We will promote compliance with internationally recognized core labor standards as embodied in the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up adopted in 1998. We will consider the ratification of or accession to the fundamental agreements of the ILO, as appropriate. In order to advance our commitment to create greater employment opportunities, improve the skills of workers and improve working conditions throughout the Hemisphere, we recognize the need to address, in the relevant hemispheric and international fora, issues of globalization related to employment and labor. We instruct the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor to continue their consideration of issues related to globalization which affect employment and labor. (Declaration of Québec, 2001).

  1. Recognizing that employment is the most direct way in which economic activity is linked to the improvement of the standard of living of our citizens and that true prosperity can only be achieved if it includes protecting and respecting basic rights of workers as well as promoting equal employment opportunities and improving working conditions for people in all countries in the region, with special attention to those in the informal sector, to people belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, other vulnerable persons including women, youth, indigenous, migrant workers, persons with disabilities and persons with HIV/AIDS; and noting the importance of investing in human resource development, of promoting employment security consistent with economic growth and developing mechanisms to assist workers with periods of unemployment, as well as of strengthening cooperation and social dialogue on labor matters among workers, their organizations, employers and governments:(Plan of Action Québec, 2001).

  1. Develop new mechanisms to increase the effectiveness of projects and other technical assistance designed to build the capacity of smaller economies and their institutions to effectively implement labor laws and standards and to foster equality of opportunity with respect to gender, among others, in strategies to promote employment, training, life long learning and human resource development programs with the objective of promoting access to more and better employment in the new economy; (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).

  1. Further secure their observance and promotion of internationally recognized core labor standards. In this context, they recognize the ILO as the competent body to set and deal with these standards and support the ongoing work of the ILO with regard to exchanges of information and the negotiation of a new Declaration of Principles on Fundamental Rights of Workers and appropriate follow-up; believe that economic growth and development fostered by increased trade and further trade liberalization contribute to the promotion of these standards and should lead to higher levels of employment; similarly reject the use of labor standards for protectionist purposes, and, in this regard, note that the World Trade Organization (WTO) and ILO Secretariats shall continue their collaboration (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

  • Initiative 34 Foster job creation in small business and micro-enterprises, favoring their promotion and competitiveness through establishment of a legal and administrative framework, exchange of information and experience, and access to appropriate financial systems, markets , and clean and environmentally sound technologies (Plan of Action Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1996).

  1. Aware that widely shared prosperity contributes to hemispheric stability, lasting peace and democracy, we acknowledge our common interest in creating employment opportunities that improve the incomes, wages and working conditions of all our people. We will invest in people so that individuals throughout the Hemisphere have the opportunity to realize their full potential (Declaration of Principles Miami, 1994).

 

 
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