Social justice is the best policy

Orientation around it would be a better approach to development, climate action, and global governance 

COMMENT | GILBERT F. HOUNGBO & LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA | It is easy to be pessimistic in these fraught, uncertain times. Instability is on the rise, and conflicts are unfolding on our screens every day. The post-COVID economic recovery is proving to be uneven and inequitable, with women and the poorest benefiting the least from recent gains. Even though we can expect the global average unemployment rate to fall modestly this year, from 5% in 2023 to a projected 4.9%, there are still persistent deficits in decent work.

For example, only 45.6% of working-age women (age 15-64) are formally employed, compared to 69.2% of working-age men. Women in high-income countries still earn only 73 cents for every dollar earned by men, on average, and in low-income countries, that figure falls to 44 cents.

At the same time, the climate crisis continues to wreak havoc on the planet and vulnerable communities. The last 12 months have been the hottest on record, with far-reaching implications for billions of people’s lives, livelihoods, and health. Excessive heat alone affects 2.4 billion people – representing 70% of the global workforce – and kills close to 19,000 workers each year.

Moreover, owing to droughts and other factors, hunger continues to spread, and basic needs are going unfulfilled. The rewards of development increasingly appear to have been monopolised by a privileged few. And if all these developments were not bad enough, wars and conflicts that have already claimed the lives of millions of innocent people seem to have become more entrenched.

It doesn’t have to be this way. A far better approach to development, climate action, and global governance would be oriented around social justice. This principle is the key to unlocking a better, more equitable world. It is the thread that binds together the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. But it is usually framed in the abstract, rather than as a concrete policy objective.

That is what needs to change. Social justice must be pursued with the same urgency and level of commitment as a just energy transition and fairer trade rules. These goals are, in fact, interdependent, because making progress on each will help us make progress on the others.

We cannot achieve social justice if we do not protect workers and businesses from the deleterious effects of climate change. We cannot have sustainable trade if jobs in factories and along supply chains are not decent, with basic occupational safeguards and living wages. We cannot ensure that our societies will remain peaceful if individuals are unable to sustain themselves and their families through their work. Equally, there can be no prosperity without peace, and wars are often rooted in poverty, environmental degradation, and other manifestations of injustice.

But to make progress in any of these areas, we will need more robust policies to promote equality, rights, and inclusion in labour markets and beyond. That means ensuring equal access to decent jobs, high-quality health care and education, skills training and lifelong learning, and a safe and healthy environment.

Translating the demand for social justice into reality requires mobilising all those who believe in the power of collaboration, cooperation, social dialogue, and multilateralism. The Global Coalition for Social Justice, which held its inaugural forum in Geneva this June, is a perfect example. Over 300 partners have already joined this initiative, bringing together governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations, UN and regional international organisations, regional development banks, enterprises, NGOs, and academic institutions, that are convinced that genuinely inclusive policies must be implemented at all levels of governance – global, regional, national, and local.

We are at a historic juncture. Next year, the global community will have an opportunity to advance the goal of social justice when the UN convenes the Second World Summit for Social Development. The aim is to help all countries align their efforts with international commitments, including those enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Governments and civil-society leaders will have a chance to work toward ensuring that adequate, universal social protections reach everyone, and that all people and communities are equipped with the skills, education, and knowledge they need to navigate major economic transitions and global upheavals.

We are committed to doing our part and acting as a conduit for progress through the Global Coalition for Social Justice at the World Summit and beyond. We invite others to join us. The future does not have to be like the present; but it will be unless we adopt a new mindset geared toward policy priorities that embody the quest for social justice.

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Gilbert F. Houngbo is Director-General of the International Labour Organization. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is President of Brazil.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2024.