Together, the Global Union Federations (including EI), the ICFTU and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) issued a statement to the 2005 World Summit of the UN General Assembly, to be held in New York, USA, from 14 – 16 September (http://www.un.org/ga/59/hl60_plenarymeeting.html).
The statement raises critical issues which trade unions have brought to the table during the Millennium plus Five Review process, in particular at the General Assembly Hearings with civil society on 23 to 24 June, 2005. It focuses on the four major thematic clusters of the Secretary General’s Report: Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom to live in Dignity, and Strengthening the United Nations. The international trade union movement calls on UN member states to incorporate our concerns into the final Outcome Document to be adopted by the Summit. EI strongly encourages its affiliates to write to their national governments, using the model letter below, attaching the aforesaid statement: Model Letter to your national government [Date] Dear Minister, Ending Poverty and Strengthening the United Nations - Statement to the 2005 World Summit of the UN General Assembly, New York, 14 – 16 September, 2005 The [name of your organisation] is a supporter of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (G-CAP) and an affiliate of Education International (EI). The aims of GCAP are to achieve more aid, debt relief, trade justice and good governance, including respect for trade union and other human rights, during the course of 2005. The [name of your organisation] therefore requests our government to undertake actions in its own policies, and to support proposals at international meetings over the course of 2005, in order to make a lasting difference to the global anti-poverty campaign. Over the coming months, work on GCAP will be closely linked to work at the United Nations to achieve increased worldwide attention to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the UN General Assembly Summit in New York on 14-16 September. The Summit needs to see the adoption of meaningful pledges of action from the many heads of state and government expected to attend. In this regard, we attach a new trade union statement for the September UN Summit. The statement has been produced jointly by Global Unions, consisting of the Global Union Federations (including EI), the ICFTU and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, and by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). It raises critical issues which trade unions have brought to the table during the Millennium plus Five Review process, and focuses on the four major thematic clusters of the Secretary General’s Report: Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom to live in Dignity, and Strengthening the United Nations. The [name of your organisation] is working with our trade union colleagues in the 166 countries and territories around the world where EI has affiliates to advance the proposals outlined in the attached statement. I urge the government to actively consider our recommendations for GCAP, including at the forthcoming World Summit, and look forward to receiving your reactions to the statement. Yours sincerely, [name of the head of your organisation] Please click on the following links to download the aforesaid documents: For more information, please contact us.