Climate change creates serious health hazards for 70 per cent of the world’s workers by International Labour Organization (ILO)   Apr. 2024   A “staggering” number of workers, amounting to more than 70 per cent of the global workforce, are likely to be exposed to climate-change-related health hazards, and existing occupational safety and health (OSH) protections are struggling to keep up with the resulting risks, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).   The report, Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate , says that climate change is already having a serious impact on the safety and health of workers in all regions of the world. The ILO estimates that more than 2.4 billion workers (out of a global workforce of 3.4 billion) are likely to be exposed to excessive heat at some point during their work, according to the most recent figures available (2020).   When calculated as a share of the global workforce, the proportion has increased from 65.5 per cent to 70.9 per cent since 2000.   In addition, the report estimates that 18,970 lives and 2.09 million disability-adjusted life years are lost annually due to the 22.87 million occupational injuries, which are attributable to excessive heat.   This is not to mention the 26.2 million people worldwide living with chronic kidney disease linked to workplace heat stress (2020 figures).   The impact of climate change on workers goes well beyond exposure to excessive heat, the report says, creating a “cocktail of hazards”, which result in a range of dangerous health conditions.   The report notes that numerous health conditions in workers have been linked to climate change, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, kidney disfunction and mental health conditions. The impact includes:   1.6 billion workers exposed to UV radiation, with more than 18,960 work-related deaths annually from nonmelanoma skin cancer. 1.6 billion likely to be exposed to workplace air pollution, resulting in up to 860,000 work-related deaths among outdoor workers annually.   Over 870 million workers in agriculture, likely to be exposed to pesticides, with more than 300,000 deaths attributed to pesticide poisoning annually. 15,000 work-related deaths every year due to exposure to parasitic and vector-borne diseases.   “It’s clear that climate change is already creating significant additional health hazards for workers,” said Manal Azzi, Occupational health and safety lead at the ILO. “It is essential that we heed these warnings.   Occupational safety and health considerations must be become part of our climate change responses – both policies and actions. Working in safe and healthy environments is recognized as one of the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work. We must deliver on that commitment in relation to climate change, just as in every other aspect of work.”   The report also explores current country responses, including revising or creating new legislation, regulations and guidance, and improving climate mitigation strategies – such as energy efficiency measures – in working environments. Visit the related web page
	World Bank & IMF: Support States to Realize the Human Right to Social Security by Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors   Apr. 2024   Ahead of the 2023 Annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, 71 civil society organizations supported the release of a joint statement calling on the Bank and IMF to change their social protection policies and practices.   The group of signatory organizations urged the IMF and the World Bank to commit to realizing the right to social security, end poverty-targeted programs in countries without universal coverage, support equitable and sustainable public systems, and to halt austerity measures that threaten rights.   We restated our concerns with the start of the 2024 Spring Meetings, in an open letter to World Bank and IMF executive directors, proposing four measures to realize the right to social security.   Human rights, faith-based, and economic justice organizations wrote to the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Directors to express concerns that the WBG and the IMF are failing to support States to realize the human right to social security for all.   The letters were sent in the framework of the Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the WBG that are taking place from April 15 to 20, 2024, in Washington DC.   Dear Executive Directors,   We, the undersigned human rights, faith-based, and economic justice organizations, are writing to express concerns that the World Bank and IMF are failing to promote the human right to social security for all.   We are proposing four policy changes that would advance the right to social security in line with human rights standards, and we would like to meet with you to explore how your office may support them.   As underlined by the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (USP2030), which the World Bank is co-chairing, “universal social protection is a human right and key to recovery, for a green transition and sustainable and inclusive economic and social development for individuals, communities, and nations”. At present, however, over half of the world’s population has no access to even one social security program.   Among international development actors, the World Bank is the largest funder of social protection systems. Despite the World Bank’s commendable commitment in 2015 to promote universal social protection, we are concerned that the World Bank continues to promote narrowly targeted “safety nets,” where eligibility hinges on estimates of the extent of poverty that have acknowledged large exclusion errors, rather than embracing a more inclusive and rights-aligned universal approach.   Research by Oxfam International and others found that 85 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where governments’ austerity measures impede their ability to deliver on their human rights obligations. While as part of its country assistance programs, the IMF has increasingly included some level of protection for social spending, the Fund continues to promote heavily means-tested programs that cover only a tiny fraction of the population. This undermines global efforts to work towards universal social protection systems consistent with human rights.   The negative impacts of this approach are well-documented, especially in countries without universal social security systems and where the majority of people work and live in informal settings. Evidence shows that such programs are often designed too narrowly and exclude many of the poorest.   “The poor” is not a static group, and in reality, households dynamically move between societal welfare rankings over short periods. Further, most governments lack up-to-date data to accurately identify “the poor.” “Targeting” is also vulnerable to mismanagement or corruption.   By focusing only on people in poverty or even extreme poverty, these programs exclude large segments of the population who may not be considered “poor” at one moment but are far from enjoying their rights. They also fail to build a shared sense of solidarity and can undermine trust within societies.   Further, through macroeconomic policy advice, the World Bank and IMF have a history of undermining public social insurance systems by promoting individualized savings schemes such as privately managed pensions, over investment in public systems. Recent reforms in some countries have further eroded the right to social security, leading to reduced coverage and lower benefits.   In some countries, these changes involved cuts to employer contributions or reduced benefits for the majority in the public system. Research by the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that privatization of social insurance in some countries worsened poverty and inequality, disproportionately affecting women and older people.   The current approach taken by the World Bank and IMF falls short of their obligations under international law. International financial institutions have an obligation to avoid causing harm by not demanding cuts or a re-design of social security programs that would undermine rights, and to provide as many resources as they can to help build universal social security systems that are rights-aligned.   The Bank and IMF have an opportunity to course-correct and adopt a rights-aligned approach to social security that sets the tone and leads the way toward more just societies and economies.   We strongly urge the World Bank and IMF, as pivotal actors in financing and shaping social security policies in low- and middle-income countries, to take four measures to progressively realize the right to social security:   Support states to realize the right to social security. Immediately commit to support states to progressively realize the right to social security. This involves setting up or strengthening rights-aligned social security systems, including the establishment of social protection floors in line with ILO Recommendation 202.   Replace the focus on poverty-targeting with universal systems. Stop funding new poverty-targeted programs and phase out existing ones, along with related technologies and privacy-invasive infrastructure such as social registries. Additionally, strengthen a fair distribution of resources by coupling universal social security with fiscal reforms that reduce inequality.   Support equitable and sustainable public systems. Support equitable and sustainable social security systems in accordance with international standards, including by promoting adequate employers' contributions and adequate social security benefits to ensure income security. Avoid pension privatization and instead strengthen public social security systems.   Cease harmful austerity budgeting reforms. Halt austerity policies that threaten rights and privatize social security and refrain from promoting social spending trade-offs. Cease conditioning loans on austerity measures and promoting austerity as a policy priority for governments.   Ensure that any increase in social spending in one sector, for instance on social security, does not come at the expense of other rights.   http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/04/world-bank-and-imf-executive-directors-promote-the-human-right-to-social-securityworld-bank-and-imf-executive-directors/ http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/social-security-for-all/ http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/income-inequality-high-or-rising-60-percent-countries-loans-imf-and-world-bank http://www.ituc-csi.org/ITUC-report-Trade-unions-demand-reform-to-address-global-sovereign-debt-crisis http://www.iied.org/debt-swaps-could-release-100-billion-for-climate-action http://drgr.org/research/report-defaulting-on-development-and-climate-debt-sustainability-and-the-race-for-the-2030-agenda-and-paris-agreement/ http://wwf.panda.org/?11134466/Multilateral-development-banks-must-supercharge-nature-positive-finance http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/04/leaders-need-break-chokehold-debt-austerity-health-depends/ http://www.eurodad.org/the_debt_games http://www.eurodad.org/debt_justice http://actionaid.org/publications/2024/briefings-climate-justice-and-finance http://actionaid.org/publications/2024/taxing-windfall-profits-fossil-fuels-and-financial-companies-can-boost-climate   http://debtjustice.org.uk/blog/cop28-outcomes-for-debt-justice-the-good-the-distracting-and-the-damaging http://development-finance.org/en/news/831-11-october-the-worst-debt-crisis-ever-shocking-new-debt-service-numbers http://www.development-finance.org/en/news/832-debt-service-watch http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-expert-warns-debt-crisis-world-emerges-covid-19-pandemic http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2023/06/82268/financial-system-must-evolve-giant-leap-towards-global-justice http://unctad.org/news/un-warns-soaring-global-public-debt-record-92-trillion-2022 http://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/lower-income-country-debt-payments-set-to-hit-highest-level-in-25-years Visit the related web page
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