EMPLOYERS AND UNIONS JOIN FORCES TO FIGHT HIV/AIDS, IN JOINT STATEMENT

ISSUED AT UN GLOBAL COMPACT DIALOGUE

NEW YORK, 14 May (Office of Global Compact) -- The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) issued a joint statement on 12 May in Geneva of a commitment to join forces in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.  Both organizations called on their affiliates and their members, wherever located, to give the issue the highest priority.  This statement, entitled “Fighting HIV/AIDS Together:  A Programme for Future Engagement”, was issued during a policy dialogue on HIV/AIDS organized by the United Nations Global Compact that took place at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva.

Many countries, communities and families have already been devastated by HIV/AIDS and it is spreading rapidly into others, threatening the survival of workers and enterprises.

“Employers and unions uniting their efforts in the workplace can contribute most effectively to the fight against the pandemic”, said Antonio Peñalosa, the Secretary General of IOE.

ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder stated:  “We believe that enterprises and trade unions, working together can make a crucial and credible contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the workplace, but also in the larger community.”

The IOE and the ICFTU are the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations in the world; the IOE represents 137 national employers’ organizations from 133 countries, while the ICFTU has 231 affiliated trade union centres in 150 countries representing 158 million members.

Both organizations believe that having employers and trade unions work together on HIV/AIDS, building on good experience of cooperation, particularly in Africa, can contribute a great deal more on that continent and across the globe.

The ICFTU and the IOE will encourage governments in developing and developed countries alike to take a comprehensive view of both the causes of current problems and the most effective ways to address them.  This will include exploring opportunities to develop joint action programmes.  Both organizations intend to concentrate their focus on young workers.

Work on HIV/AIDS will be built around the “ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work”.  The Code was developed through tripartite consensus, a process that involved representatives of employers, trade unions and governments.  The ICFTU and the IOE played an important role in the adoption of the Code.

The IOE-ICFTU statement was issued on the occasion of the Global Compact Policy Dialogue on HIV/AIDS, attended by more than 100 participants from business, labour, civil society, academia, government and multilateral organizations.  One of the overriding objectives of the meeting, convened in partnership with the ILO, was to empower societal actors to contribute to prevention, awareness-raising, care, support and treatment through the use of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. 

The meeting in Geneva, one of several Global Compact policy dialogues planned this year on various global issues, spawned four working groups focusing on different topics:  1) Collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; 2) “Next Wave” and Low Prevalence Countries; 3) SMEs/Suppliers Networks; and 4) Impact Management.  At the meeting, each working group developed a host of recommendations relating to their topic.  The respective groups will carry the recommendations forward in an effort to produce outcomes and solutions that can be utilized in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

For further information, please contact:  Frederick Muia (IOE), tel: +4122 929 0000, e-mail: muia@ioe-emp.org; or the ICFTU Press Department, tel: +32 2 224 0212, e-mail: press@icftu.org.  For further information on the Global Compact policy dialogue, please contact Gavin Power at 1-212-963-4681; 

e-mail:  powerg@un.org.

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