Welcome to the United Nations
Background and summary
1. At its 328th Session (October 2016), the ILO Governing Body decided to dedicate a high-level discussion at its March sessions on the ILO contribution to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. At its 332 Session (March 2018), the ILO Governing Body held a high-level session to discuss ILO contribution to theme of the 2018 HLPF “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”. This document presents the information and analysis examined by the ILO Governing Body and includes key policy insights and recommendations of ILO’s tripartite constituency, namely, the representatives of Governments, Workers’ and Employers’ organizations.
2. The 2018 theme and SDG selection place a strong focus on the relationship between the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability. Decent work creation, poverty eradication, reduction in inequalities and environmental preservation are major challenges of our times. However, with the new concept of sustainability adopted by the 2030 Agenda, they represent mutually reinforcing objectives that can make societies more resilient. This document surveys some existing challenges to sustainable development, how these affect the world of work and the resilience of societies as well as how ILO is contributing to address them.
3. The transition to more environmentally and economically sustainable and inclusive growth requires deep structural transformation that implies profound economic and social changes, which reaffirms the relevance of the ILO’s mandate to advance social justice as a central pillar for the transition towards more sustainable economies and societies for all.
4. The document recommends that the HLPF could build on and promote the ILO’s Green Initiative and ILO’s Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all as a framework to create policy-response capacity to integrate the decent work dimension in the transition to sustainable development.
