Third Andean Regional Conference on
Employment
Final Declaration
The Advisory Council of Andean Community
Labor Ministers, with the participation of
Chile as an Associate Member, meeting in
Quito on December 14 and 15, 2006, during
the course of the Third Andean Regional
Conference on Employment;
Whereas:
1. The seriousness of the deficit in
employment and decent work in the Andean
countries is expressed in a very large
degree of informality and the continued
existence of a high percentage of structural
unemployment;
2. It is essential in promoting decent work
to respect and promote the fundamental
rights enshrined in the ILO Conventions, in
order to eradicate child labor and forced
labor and to advance gender equality and the
freedom of association;
3. Despite the temporary improvement of
labor indicators in the region over the past
four years, the deficit in decent work is
still large and even higher in rural areas
where the poverty rates are equally high;
4. This situation in our countries demands a
response from us in the form of strategies
for development and policy proposals to
achieve decent work for all;
5. Recent economic growth has not created
enough quality jobs to bring down that
deficit or to reduce the levels of poverty
in which the majority of the populations of
our countries live;
6. Although we recognize the recent efforts
of some countries, we have found that
economic and social policies are not
sufficiently integrated with employment
policy, making it difficult to obtain
significant results in promoting quality
employment;
7. It is extremely important to develop and
strengthen the socio-labor dimension of
integration processes in South America by
consolidating the advances made in the
Andean Community and in MERCOSUR;
8. It is necessary to pay special attention
to the labor situation of young people,
women, indigenous peoples, people with
disabilities, and migrants, by boosting
their fuller participation in development,
promoting their better positioning within
the labor force and rejecting all forms of
discrimination;
9. It is important to strengthen the links
between countries with concrete proposals to
offer that will bring about advances whose
results can be measured, by assuming
commitments and projects that will be
followed up at the next Conference;
10. It is recognized that SMEs are important
for creating jobs and developing domestic
markets in the Andean countries;
11. Tripartite social dialogue and dialogue
with other organized social actors is
important for the formulation of proposed
employment policies and programs;
12. The Andean Regional Conferences on
Employment of Lima (2004) and Cochabamba
(2005), with their exchanges of experiences
and formulation of proposals, constitute
important milestones in the convergence of
employment promotion policies and programs
among the Andean countries;
Adopts the following declaration:
1. We assume decent work for all as our main
development strategy for the reduction of
poverty and inequality and as the foundation
for our countries’ social welfare.
2. This strategy will serve as the basis for
organizing our countries’ work agendas and
guiding the actions taken within the
framework of the Andean Community.
3. It is essential to permanently coordinate
economic policy with employment policy in
the Andean countries.
4. In order for economic growth to result in
more and better employment, we must
consolidate the integration of economic and
social policies, as well as the actions
taken on the economic and social fronts by
countries engaged in promoting decent work.
5. Reaffirm the process of Andean
socio-labor integration by following up on
national plans designed for that purpose, in
keeping with the commitments assumed in the
Hemispheric Agenda, the CAN and MERCOSUR.
6. We declare that a permanent policy of the
States for steadily reducing poverty and
inequality in our countries should be to
obtain decent work.
7. In order to accomplish this objective of
obtaining decent work, it is necessary to
defend and raise labor standards and to
broaden social security systems to turn them
into comprehensive and efficient systems of
protection.
8. We recognize that it is not possible to
achieve development and to obtain decent
work without positioning women
comprehensively within the labor system by
eliminating existing barriers and gaps that
produce discrimination. To this end, the
Andean countries declare that there is a
pressing need to formulate public policies
aimed at achieving this objective.
9. Include government production and social
sectors, as well as employers and workers,
in the policies and programs of the Labor
Ministries.
10. In the light of the differing degrees of
policy and program implementation among the
countries, we will boost horizontal
technical cooperation in the Andean region
and within the framework of the CAN’s
Integral Plan for Social Development (PIDS)
in order to improve the impact and
efficiency of the proposed new policies and
programs.
11. Continue to summon the Andean business
and labor sectors to participate more fully
in socio-labor integration processes and the
promotion of decent work.
12. Give special attention to promoting
youth employment and gender equality.
Assumes the following COMMITMENTS
1. Complement the portion of the Integral
Plan for Social Development (PIDS) referring
to the socio-labor Employment project
through the following commitments:
a) Peru will manage issues connected with
the promotion of youth labor,
b) Chile will handle the development of
gender equality issues,
c) Ecuador will manage issues associated
with the eradication of child labor and
policies aimed at people with disabilities.
This commitment will be placed before the
new government for consideration.
d) Bolivia will handle the development of
projects dealing with labor development and
training.
2. In the light of the results of the
consultation services sponsored by the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of
Spain and the Spanish International
Cooperation Agency, it is considered of key
importance to promote and implement in 2007
the following specific projects identified
among the PIDS Labor Training and Employment
profiles:
a) Skills Certification and Recognition of
the Equivalence of Degrees.
b) Development and training of human
resources of SMEs in entrepreneurial
management and training.
c) Creation of a Network of Andean Offices
to provide integrated employment services.
3. The Advisory Council of Ministers of
Labor will include on their working agenda
the issues studied by the migration and
child labor working committees, particularly
those concerning the labor rights of
migrants.
4. Deepen the CAN’s relationship with the
Eurosocial/Employment project by promoting
the exchange of experiences with European
countries as members of an important
integration process.
5. Establish permanent links between the
Bureaus of Employment of the Andean Labor
Ministries for the exchange of experiences
and transfer of knowledge.
6. Expedite the full operation of the Andean
Labor Observatory.
7. Follow up on and evaluate at the Fourth
Andean Regional Conference on Employment the
advances made on the topics and projects
identified at this time.
The Advisory Council of Andean Community
Labor Ministers thanks the Ministry of Labor
and Employment of Ecuador for having
organized this Third Andean Regional
Conference on Employment and expresses its
appreciation for the hospitality extended by
the city of Quito in holding this important
event.
The Advisory Council also wishes to thank
the national delegations that participated
in this Conference and the General
Secretariat of the Andean Community and the
International Labor Organization for their
valuable assistance in holding the meeting.
It, further, expresses its appreciation for
the valuable contribution made by the
working committees on migration and youth
employment that met simultaneously with the
Conference and the results of those sessions
will be sent to the Advisory Council of
Andean Community Labor Ministers in due
time.
And lastly, the Advisory Council of Andean
Community Labor Ministers wishes to thank
the Government of the Republic of Chile for
its generous offer to host the Fourth Andean
Regional Conference on Employment this
coming November 2007.
Quito, December 15, 2006
For Bolivia
For Ecuador
For Peru
For Chile, as an Associate Member Country of
the CAN
