International Trade Union Confederation comments on ADB draft safeguards policy

9 April 2008 | Washington, DC

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and ITUC-Asia Pacific represents 18.6 million members in 48 national affiliates from 29 countries in the region. In a letter to President Kuroda of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the ITUC and ITUC-AP point out that the ADB draft omits mention of all labor issues except one brief mention. They urge the ADB to adopt a policy on core labor standards and other basic labor conditions.

The letter notes several steps that the ADB has previously taken to incorporate core labor standards (CLS) in its operations, including the 2001 approval of a Social Protection Policy which includes adoption of CLS.

The letter states "We note that the ADB's draft Safeguard Policy, which is currently undergoing consultation, omitted all labour issues except for one brief mention in the exclusion list. Other MDBs (Multilateral Development Banks) have, as you know, used the opportunity of recent updates of their social and environmental policies to make it a standard requirement that their borrowers comply with CLS." 

The full text of the letter is available below:

ITUC Comments on ADB draft Safeguard Policy Statement (Acrobat pdf, 802 KB)