President Halonen to co-chair ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen has been invited to co-chair, together with President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, the International Labour Organization's World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.

The ILO Director-General Juan Somavia has invited 21 eminent persons, representing different geographical regions and the principal views and perspectives in globalization debates, to serve on the Commission. The two co-chairs represent the industrial world and the developing countries. All members serve in a personal capacity and the Commission is independent, also of the ILO.

The Commission has the goal of drafting a report on its work, together with recommendations for measures, by the beginning of next year. As the starting point for its work, Director-General Somavia has pointed out that globalization is not only a resource and an instrument of development, but also something that has increased inequality both between countries and within them. Globalization does not mean economic integration only, but also a growing and complex interdependence between social development and economic growth. The challenge facing the Commission is to produce proposals for measures that would give more people better and more equitable opportunities to avail themselves of the benefits of globalization. One of the Commission's central tasks is to recommend concrete measures to incorporate the social dimension into the development of globalization.

The Commission will meet 3-4 times during the one year or so of its lifetime. The preparatory work for its deliberations will be done by a Geneva-based secretariat, which has been appointed by the ILO.


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More information on the Commission at ILO's website

www.ilo.org/public/english/wcsdg/