1. At their 13^th Meeting held from 14 to 15 May 1999 in Yangon, Myanmar, ASEAN Labour Ministers discussed the decisions of the Sixth ASEAN Summit held in December 1998, the impact of the financial and economic crisis on labour and employment and a range of ILO matters before the International Labour Organisation.

2. The ASEAN Labour Ministers shared the concern expressed by ASEAN Leaders at the Summit over the social dimension of the financial crisis, with the poor and vulnerable segments of the Member Countries most badly affected. The Ministers agreed that efforts to safeguard the interests of the poor should be an integral part of the recovery process. They also expressed strong support for the attention accorded to labour and employment issues in the Hanoi Declaration and the Hanoi Plan of Action adopted by the ASEAN Leaders at the Summit.

3. In reiterating the Summit’s call for the maintenance and creation of employment as critical elements in economic recovery, the Ministers emphasised the importance of continuous training and upgrading of the region’s workforce to meet the demands and opportunities presented by the labour markets of today and tomorrow. The Ministers observed that efforts to enhance the employability of workers had been an on-going concern of ASEAN cooperation in labour affairs.

4. The Ministers also noted that on-going ASEAN labour projects on informal sector development, human resources development planning, occupational safety and health and skills standards were in line with the priorities of the Hanoi Plan of Action. These projects, they observed, would contribute towards alleviating unemployment, and improving the quality of the region’s labour force, thus facilitating the region’s early recovery from the crisis. The ASEAN Ministers noted in particular two ASEAN projects, the ASEAN Regional Project on Human Resource Development Planning and Promotion of Self-Employment and Development in the Informal Sector/ASEAN Regional Project on Informal Sector Development, which directly address issues pertinent to strategies to promote employment in the recovery process.

5. The Ministers also exchanged views and national experiences on measures taken to address the social impact of the crisis on labour and employment. They agreed that in order for ASEAN to get back fully on the path of sustained development and growth, it was important to continue action at the national and international levels to promote employment and provide social protection.

6. At the ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting held in 1998, the Ministers had agreed to develop a work programme to deal with the issues of labour and employment arising from the crisis. In response, the ASEAN Secretariat prepared, with the cooperation of the United Nations Development Programme, the draft Sub-Programme encompassing the following:

• The sharing and exchange of experiences and best practices in designing social protection and social security systems;

• The promotion of tripartite cooperation in economic restructuring, including the strengthening of tripartite institutions and of mediation and conciliation machinery; and

• The enhancement of capacity for designing programmes and policies on employment generation.

7. ASEAN Labour Ministers also discussed the ASEAN position on issues before the International Labour Organisation (ILO). On the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its follow-up mechanism, the Ministers welcomed the assurances by the Director-General of ILO that the Declaration and its follow-up would be promotional in nature. The Ministers welcomed the assurances given by the Governing Body of the ILO that the Declaration and its follow-up mechanism would not impose new obligations on member States, nor would it lead to double-scrutiny of the situation. The Ministers were also pleased to note that the ILO had set aside more resources for technical assistance to member States, which would help them ratify and implement ILO core conventions.

8. On the issue of labour standards and trade, the Ministers recalled the decision of the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Meeting held in Singapore in December 1996, which stressed that labour standards should not be invoked for trade protectionist purposes. The Ministers reiterated that the promotion of labour standards and workers’ rights should be the domain solely of the ILO and not of any other international body, and that the ILO Declaration and its follow-up mechanism should not be used for trade protectionist purposes.

9. The Ministers called on the ILO to devote more resources to technical assistance in the ASEAN region. The Ministers also urged the ILO to review the ILO conventions, particularly the earlier ones, to better reflect the current social and economic conditions of all ILO member States.

10. The Ministers reiterated their position that ASEAN does not condone child labour and emphasised that condemning child labour in any particular country or imposing sanctions would not solve the problem at its roots but would instead aggravate the situation. They also reiterated that the root cause of child labour is poverty, for which the best solution would be job creation, basic education, training, and social services.

11. The 14^th ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting will be hosted by the Philippines in May 2000.

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