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afrol News, 10 April - This week's conference on Least Developed Coutries (LDC's) in Brussels is to define the policies towards development and cooperation. Trade unions presented their position at the conference, demanding "fundamental worker's rights" also in LDC's. - We call upon governments to include in the discussions and in the final declaration of the UN Conference on LDC's strong commitments to basic human rights as well as fundamental worker's rights and an end to the race to privatise important public services. The demands came from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) delegation led by Mamounata Cissé, Assistant General Secretary of the ICFTU at a press conference on Friday May 11, jointly organised with its Belgian affiliate, the FGTB. Ms. Cissé's voice was echoed by eight trade unionists from LDC's - representing Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma, Congo, Haiti, Malawi and Nepal - who are part of the ICFTU delegation to the Third UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC's) taking place in Brussels from May 14-20. The ICFTU informed journalists that the Brussels-based labour organisation will make continuous representation through the event to ensure that the delegates put a human face to the globalisation process now taking place in LDC's. The trade union position includes commitment to greatly increase aid to LDC's, reduce the debt burden that is strangling LDC's health and education budgets, stop the devastation caused by communicable diseases and ensure access to life saving drugs. The trade union delegation will engage with the forum of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure that NGOs support the union's demands, and will also address these demands to government officials during the Conference. The presence of the 14-person delegation, which was enabled by the ICFTU and the FGTB, means that the trade unionists from the LDC's will have the opportunity to directly influence their national delegations, guaranteeing that the trade union points be included in the final declaration of the Conference. - It is unacceptable that trade liberalisation, structural adjustment and labour market reforms are being pushed ahead and that social services and comprehensive employment plans are being left behind, said Ms Cissé. "This will just destroy the social fabric in LDC's, not improve them as some governments pretend." - The key is that people, workers and NGO's must have a say in the development policies that affect them, continued Ms Cissé, a national from Burkina Faso. Respect of basic worker's rights in LDC's is in the interest of trade unions both within LDC's and more developed countries. On a unionist conference last month, Zwelinzima Vavi, leader of South African COSATU observed: "As long as South Africa is surrounded by a sea of poverty, underdevelopment - then we bargain from a weak position. When increasingly, all over the world, there is an increase use of child labour, forced labour, prison labour ... then our strength is further eroded." Sources: Based on ICFTU and afrol archives
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