This statement was delivered in advance of a vote on the 2023 - 2024 ILO budget. Delivered by Deputy Head of UK Mission to the UN & WTO in Geneva, Hema Kotecha.

Thank you, Chair – I’d like to make an explanation of vote before we move to voting on the Africa Group amendment.

I am delivering the statement on behalf of the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Iceland, the EU and its Member States, Uruguay, Israel, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the US, Mexico, Norway, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador and Chile.

We are deeply disappointed by the need to deliver this intervention today.

The Finance Committee mandate is to approve the budget level contained in the resolution put forward by the tripartite Governing Body last March, in accordance with Article 11 of the Standing Orders of the International Labour Conference.

We did not want the outcome of a vote and worked hard in putting forward a number of proposals, all of which we were open to discussing further, in order to find consensus. The ILO is a UN organisation with social justice and rights at work at its centre, including the universally accepted fundamental principle on the elimination of discrimination in employment. We have simply sought to defend this mandate and ensure certainty for the ILO’s budget to continue its operations past 31 December. Diminishing the recognition of the needs and rights of a group who commonly and disproportionally experience violence, harassment, discrimination and exclusion is a regression that goes against our deep commitment to social justice and rights, not only in the world of work but more broadly across our global community.

Noting the importance of protecting these fundamental values and the imperative to ensure the continued operations of ILO operations after 31 December, we urge all States here today to vote ‘NO’ for this amendment.

Thank you, Chair.

Photo by UK Government, Wikimedia commons.