The Rio declaration lacks commitments to concrete action on all issues,
states ITUC, The International Trade Union Confederation. They are
"bitterly disappointed" by the declaration that is now presented to
world leaders at Rio+20.
There will be no social justice without environmental protection.
The international trade union movement came to Rio with a set of
clear demands and an agenda that integrates the three dimensions of
sustainable development, supporting a social protection floor, decent
and green jobs and a financial transactions tax.
We recognise that the Rio Declaration that will be presented to world
leaders contains some of the labour movement's key demands
including human and trade union rights, social protection for poverty
eradication, decent work at the core of job creation policies, green
jobs promotion and the role of trade unions.
However, trade unions are bitterly disappointed that governments did
not champion or link other critical issues or set out agreed actions
that would integrate the social, environmental and economic program the
world needs.
The Declaration lacks commitments to concrete action, "implementation
measures" on all issues. We need specific commitments to drive
investments in creating the jobs of the future and strong social
protection programs, as well as global commitments on regulating our
commons.
The Declaration presented today does not balance the three dimensions
of sustainable development. It steps back on environmental protection
and women's reproductive rights. Its contents do not drive real change
to the current economic model which we know is based on the exploitation
of natural resources and inequality. Rio was a huge missed opportunity
to ensure ecology, equity and economy are integrated and international
action agreed.
Despite some good elements, the Rio+20 Declaration does not change
the trajectory of the current model. Trade unions who have been part of
the process have not seen governments strongly connect the social agenda
to the environmental one. For example, natural disasters will make it
impossible to assure universal social protection. The lack of new
investment commitments in renewable energy, transport or energy
efficiency will not tackle the unemployment crisis. No commitment to
innovative global revenue sources, that a financial transaction tax
could generate, leaves empty any real capacity to fund action for
sustainable development.
The Declaration does not build momentum around the need for global
regulation and governance, and shows the lack of willingness from
governments to adopt new commitments or strengthen a binding framework
for environmental decisions, that a UN environmental agency would have
done.
At the Trade Union Assembly ahead of the Summit, 66 national trade
unions from 56 countries agreed on an agenda of action for the future.
Before getting to Rio we knew that the Rio+20 Summit was never going to
save world. But we expected governments to be much more ambitious and
seize the opportunity to get international agreement on the way forward.
Trade unions are committed to doing their part for a sustainable
development at all levels, in our workplaces, our communities, in our
negotiations with employers, and in the way we vote.
Source : http://www.world-psi.org
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