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Hans Engelberts
General Secretary, Public Services International
Porto Alegre, Brazil, 23 July 2004
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It gives me great pleasure to bring you solidarity greetings on behalf of the Global Union Federations and of my own organisation Public Services International and our 639 affiliates in 150 countries. I also like to take the opportunity to congratulate you with the EI-WCT agreement and as Guy Ryder said yesterday it is a very positive development in the renewal of the international trade union movement. We hope that later this year more positive steps will be made.
Between EI and PSI there already is a very good cooperation as shown earlier this week by the joint LGBT Forum. We will also be having a joint action week in October on Pay Equity. Together we are fighting for trade union rights in countries where these rights are denied to public service workers and teachers. We do joint work on issues related to the World Trade Organisation such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services. Together we play a prominent role on gender issues for instance in the UN Commission on the status of women, because we are the largest women's organisations in the international trade union movement. We support each others campaign such as "Education for All" and the "Quality Public Services Campaign". We jointly redressed the inaccuracies and misrepresentations of the World Development Report in "Making Services work for the poor". And not to forget our joint offices in Kuala Lumpur, Lome and Costa Rica. Cooperation works and there is more we can do together.
Mary yesterday mentioned the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Bush and Blair watchers counted at least 29 lies about the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction. The weapons were not found but other weapons were found: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION. Deception in the international community seems to become a standard practice. Some examples: In 1995 we had a World Social Summit in Copenhagen where 117 Heads of State and Government adopted a programme of action to eradicate poverty. An evaluation was held in Geneva in 2000 and it became clear that the promises were empty and poverty had increased.
At a summit in Cologne some years ago, G7 leaders committed themselves to cancelling $ 100 billion of debt of the poorest countries. To date, I think, only six out of the 42 countries received any cancellation under the enhanced HIPC initiative.
Another broken promise.
I could mention almost all of the UN Conferences held over the last ten years and give examples of empty promises. In 2000 at the Millennium Summit of the UN, the world's leaders gathered to commit themselves and their countries to a vital global agenda. In the Millennium Declaration and in a host of other widely accepted treaties and declarations, nearly every government pledged to devote serious efforts to ending the scourge of war, reducing the dire poverty and hunger, stabilising the global environment and ensuring the basic rights of all. The eight UN Millennium Development Goals have been endorsed by 149 countries. These goals have at their heart, the eradication of poverty, hunger and disease; improved health, energy, water and sanitation services; reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS; extending education; promoting gender equality and protecting the environment. Even the World Bank and the UN do recognise that there is no prospect that the 8 global objectives will be met in 2015. The UN has now set up a special unit to put more pressure on governments to deliver. Even they have enough of broken promises and deceptive policies and programmes.
PSI is now part of an International Millennium Developments Goals Campaign together with OXFAM and many other NGO's. We are making the case that without quality public services none of the goals will be achieved and the same applies of course for education. We already had a discussion with all Global Union Federations and the ICFTU that together we should play a prominent role and that our affiliates at national level should be part of MDG campaign networks. We must start to organise to force our politicians to deliver on what they promise and to be honest in what they do.
At the World Social Forums here in Porto Alegre and in Mumbai, people declared that another world is possible if only the political will is there. That political will can only be created if we keep the pressure on governments growing. I count on your support, and wish you a successful congress.
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Secrétaire général de l'Internationale des Services Publics, Hans Engelberts
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Directrice de NOVIB, Sylvia Borren
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Consultant auprès de l'IE, Robert Harris
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Directeur du Bureau des activités des travailleurs de l'OIT (ACTRAV), Jim Baker
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Vice-président de la Banque mondiale, Jean-Louis Sarbib
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Directeur général de l'UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura
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Représentant régional de l'UNICEF, Garren Lumpkin
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Président de la Banque mondiale, James Wolfensohn
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Représentant de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), Chuck Gollmar
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Directeur général de l'OIT, Juan Somavia
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Lauréate du Prix des droits humains et syndicaux, Estela Barnes (Espagnol)
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Lauréat du Prix d'Education de l'IE, Professeur Errol L. Miller
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Président Lula de la République du Brésil
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Présidente sortante de l'IE, Dr Mary Hatwood Futrell
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Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, Kofi Annan
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Secrétaire général de la CISL, Guy Ryder
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Président de l'IE, Thulas Nxesi
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Confédération syndicale mondiale de l'enseignement (CSME), Claudio Corriés
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Secrétaire général de l'IE, Fred van Leeuwen
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