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Contributions from
the Column
Studies and reports
Consumer participation matters
for public and private provision
Industrialisation requires
a solid foundation
Human rights for informal workers
Social standards as guiding principles
A neglected potential
5/2004 |
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[ Social standards ]
Human rights for informal workers
Work in the informal economy is typically carried out under unregulated and unprotected conditions. Since the 1990s, the ratio of informal workers to the entire working population worldwide has increased dramatically. In some developing countries, 80% of employees work in the informal sector. Trade unions also note that casual employment is increasingly becoming the rule in rich countries. In March, the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB) and Justitia et Pax (the German Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace) drew attention to this by organising an international symposium in Berlin.
Representatives of trade unions and self help organisations from Bulgaria, Chile, Ghana and India made it clear that those affected can improve their living conditions, implement labour reforms and increase social security if they take their fate into their own hands. This is frequently only possible with additional organisational and financial help by established institutions such as churches. Representatives of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) made reference to the report of the “World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation” and pleaded for the principle of “decent work” in order to achieve the goal of globalisation with a human face for all.
New guidelines on how companies can contribute to reaching this goal were introduced in Berlin in mid-March by the German Development Minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the Director General of the Foreign Trade Association of German Retailers (AVE), Jan A. Eggert, and the Chairman of the Association of German Development NGOs (VENRO), Reinhard Hermle. The brochure was compiled by the “Round Table on Codes of Conduct”, a group of German companies, business associations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations. Using examples, the “Guide to Codes of Conduct on Social Standards” shows how small and medium-sized businesses can head for international human rights principles such as the core labour standards. Codes of conduct pursue the goal of making companies observe fundamental human rights and to refrain from using child labour. In the end, however, according to Reinhard Hermle, “it will not work without an internationally binding framework convention on corporate responsibility”. (orb)
Further details:
http://www.coc-runder-tisch.de/index2_engl.htm
http://www.gtz.de/social-standards/english/
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