7. Work as a human activity allows for personal realization and the effective integral development of our societies and should take the form of worthy and decent employment.

8. Worthy and decent employment entails moving toward the definition of a development model and furthering active employment policies, in addition to establishing guarantees and institutions that will assure workers of free access to universally recognized fundamental labor rights.

9. In creating the necessary conditions for generating worthy and decent sources of employment, the Member Countries should also incorporate, as employment policies, the reactivation and recovery of production units and sectors with flexible management schemes in which workers and employers are jointly responsible.

10. Vocational and occupational training should adopt a comprehensive vision that addresses personal and skills development, in keeping with each Member Country’s situation and potentials, facilitating social and productive inclusion as part of a strategy for the effective eradication of poverty.

11. The fight to eradicate poverty, social inequality and productive exclusion necessarily depends upon building up the Labor Ministries and labor administration, in order to ensure respect, employment promotion and the effective exercise of labor rights.

12. The Advisory Council of Labor Ministers has promoted in the Member Countries, the effective practical coordination and dovetailing of the series of economic and social policies, together with the participation and dialogue of each of the actors in the labor relationship, centering on worthy and decent employment.

1. We assume that unemployment, the growth of the informal sector, outsourcing --when it violates labor rights-- , and precarious forms of employment and low wages are national and subregional problems. As a result, we contend that it is important to address these issues, while doing the utmost to ensure that they do not jeopardize the subregion’s political, social and economic stability.

2. We confirm that in order to eradicate poverty and strengthen democracy and democratic governance in our countries, it is necessary to create stable sources of employment that are sustainable over time and framed within the concepts of worthy and decent work and that will give economic policies and globalization a strong ethical and human content by placing man at the center of employment, the enterprise and the economy, with full respect for the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Conventions ratified by the Member Countries and related standards.

3. We reaffirm that a commitment to strengthen democratic governance must be promoted among the Andean Community countries, so that in this context we can overcome poverty and social exclusion and promote economic growth with equity, solidarity and public policies that foster worthy and decent work.

4. We emphasize that employment policies should guarantee and promote the eradication of all forms of discrimination with respect to employment and occupation, whether by reason of gender, religion, politics, race or age.

5. We recognize that the subregion’s Ministries of Labor, in coordination with the ministries responsible for economic policy, should take a more active role in integrating social policy --particularly labor policy-- with economic policy. For that reason, we commit ourselves to make all necessary efforts to implement policies and programs that create worthy and decent work and help labor markets to operate efficiently and transparently, by preparing workers to respond to new technologies, challenges and opportunities.

6. We further highlight the important contribution Economic Integration Agreements would make toward accomplishing the objectives of creating worthy and decent work, for the purpose of confronting poverty and strengthening democratic governance in the subregion, providing these agreements are signed while respecting the principles of equity, solidarity, justice, complementarity and the fundamental rights of workers.

7. Based on the results of this Second Andean Regional Conference on Employment, we commit ourselves to continue developing the necessary strategic approaches in our subregion and promoting worthy and decent work, as well as national development strategies aimed at eradicating poverty produced by social and economic inequality.

8. We will promote in the Member Countries, the fulfillment, effective exercise and application of labor rights and guarantees under common Andean legislation and within a domestic legal framework that encourages comprehensive and full social protection of workers, particularly migrants and their families.

9. We commit ourselves to conduct mass dissemination campaigns to promote the rights and obligations of actors linked up in an employment relationship, as well as the benefits of worthy and decent employment.

10. We endorse the importance of the discussion, within the Organization of American States (OAS), of the Social Charter of the Americas and its Plan of Action that effectively complement existing Andean instruments on economic, social and cultural rights.

11. We underscore the importance of identifying and using innovative approaches in each of the Member Countries’ National Integral Plans for Development in order to promote worthy and decent employment.

12. We will promote actions and initiatives aimed at incentivating and promoting strategies to enhance the levels of our countries’ institutional, social and Community integration, based on the exchange of experiences and horizontal cooperation among the different Ministries of Labor, in order to strengthen and broaden the coverage of labor inspection systems, the protection of vulnerable population groups, health and safety at work, and labor statistics and indicators.

13. We commit ourselves to broaden horizontal technical cooperation modalities among the Member Countries, giving special emphasis to public employment services, job training, and the exchange of national experiences with labor and occupational observatories in the subregion.

14. We confirm that a tripartite, transforming and broad-based social dialogue in which the legitimate representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations participate actively as a fundamental instrument for ensuring the effective exercise and progressive application of rights at work and the satisfaction of our countries’ basic needs, will increase the possibilities of attaining harmonious labor relations.

15. We reiterate the commitments assumed by our Presidents and Heads of State at the Fourth Summit of the Americas, held in Mar del Plata on November 4 and 5, 2005, for which a specific Plan of Action was established. This Plan refers essentially to: eliminating forced labor, eradicating the worst forms of child labor, reducing the number of children whose working activities violate national laws; reducing unemployment, eliminating discrimination against women at work, ensuring equitable access to social protection; developing and reinforcing policies to increase opportunities for decent, worthy and productive work, ensuring equal pay for equal work; gradually formalizing wage earners who do not enjoy social protection, promoting health and safety conditions and fostering healthy workplaces for all workers, facing up to trafficking in migrants and in human beings; promoting the full and effective exercise of the labor rights of workers, including migrants, continuing to promote cooperation among the Labor Ministries; boosting the development of integral economic and social policies, reinforcing national primary health care systems, and maintaining a continuous, respectful, and constructive dialogue with indigenous peoples.

16. We commit ourselves to follow up on the execution and application of this Declaration and to comply with the proposed objectives regarding the problems of poverty, unemployment, informal labor and precious employment in our countries.

17. The Andean Community Advisory Council of Ministers of Labor thanks the Government of the Republic of Ecuador for its generous invitation and, with the consent of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, agrees to hold a Third Andean Regional Conference on Employment in that sister country on a date yet to be defined, in order to follow up on and deepen the agreements reached at this Conference.

Cochabamba, November 25, 2005