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	World Economic and Social Survey 2010 by UN Department of Economic & Social Affairs   Overcoming the serious weaknesses exposed by the global economic crisis will not be easy and will require a major overhaul of the machinery for international finance, aid and trade, according to a new United Nations report.   The World Economic and Social Survey 2010 notes that getting ‘back on track’ will require significant reforms in global economic governance and new thinking to put the world on a more sustainable path of development.   “This year’s report looks at the prospects for post-crisis global development and concludes that a major rebalancing of the global economy is needed to make it sustainable,” said Rob Vos, the Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).   “To that end, it argues for much more effective mechanisms of global economic governance, requiring a major overhaul of the existing ones,” he told reporters at the launch of the report.   Mr. Vos said one of the main messages in the report is that many of the global crises in recent years – such as the food, fuel and financial crises – are to a large extent due to major systemic failures in the global economy and weaknesses in the mechanisms for global governance.   The survey – entitled “Retooling Global Development” – notes that the financial crisis provides an opportunity to re-examine and reform the system of global governance so that economic interdependence can be harnessed to overcome poverty instead of being the source of instability and greater inequalities.   International aid and trade processes must be reformed to ensure that governments have the needed policy space to experiment with solutions appropriate to the local situation.   “Decades-old promises to provide the official development assistance (ODA) needed have not been kept time and again, except by a small handful of rich countries,” said Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Jomo Kwame Sundaram.   “Many developing countries also suffer from volatile aid flows which undermine government planning efforts. Bilateral aid requirements as well as aid conditionalities have long undermined meaningful national ownership of development strategies as well as processes,” he added.   One key source of policy incoherence, said Mr. Sundaram, is the aid architecture itself, both internally and in the way it interacts with trade, debt and other financial policies.   The survey proposes that developing countries be put in the driver’s seat in identifying financing gaps through well-designed national development strategies.   On trade, the survey notes that the equal treatment of all nations effectively skews international trading against small economies. To make the multilateral trading system more conducive to sustainable development, it needs to both expand and restrict the scope of the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.   For a sustainable rebalancing of the global economy, the survey says much closer coordination is needed across the trading system, the new regime for international financial regulation, the global reserve system and the mechanisms for mobilizing and channelling development finance and climate funding.   It also proposes that the international community consider establishing a global economic coordination mechanism which goes well beyond the Group of 20 (G20) leading and emerging economies. Visit the related web page
	From Global Crisis to Global Justice by International Trade Union Confederation   May Day Declaration, 2010 - From Crisis to Justice.   Trillions of dollars have been spent by governments to rescue the banks. Yet even in the depths of this recession, currencies are under attack, multi-million dollar bonuses have returned and financial speculation remains ever present, all this while the real economy is starved of the funds to sustain and create employment.   Decades of deregulation, naked greed and free-market speculation have plunged the world into deep economic recession, with dramatic impacts on working people and their families across the planet. Tens of million jobs have been lost, and the end is not in sight. With more than 70 million people pushed into extreme poverty, the quest to end global poverty is yet further out of reach.   The years of governments abrogating their responsibilities to govern must end. Banks and financial speculators can no longer be allowed to set the rules for the world economy, or to simply send the bill to governments when their self interest and greed throws the world economy into chaos.   Those who have profited so much and for so long from the plunder of the earth’s finite resources must be held to account, for the staggering economic losses. Because it is ordinary people who are paying the price, as their economic futures are bought and sold to satisfy the avarice of the titans of the economic marketplace. Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, on top of years of growing inequality which itself helped cause the crisis.   Governments have to meet their obligations to govern in the interests of the people, to put finance at the service of the real economy, create decent jobs and ensure that all employers respect the rights of working people.   They must reclaim, by taxing banks and finance, the wealth that is needed to put the world economy in order and to meet the costs of defeating poverty and stopping catastrophic climate change. If governments fail in these duties, and neglect the needs of the vulnerable and the marginalised, social conflict on a scale not seen for decades may well become a reality.   The erosion of democracy in the name of capital must be turned around, and those who have taken and continue to hold power through undemocratic means must submit to the will of the people. Every person should have the right to fulfill their aspirations, for themselves and their families. They must be given the chance to build decent lives through decent work and through public services that meet their needs.   It is governments that rescued the global financial system, working together to fix the mess caused by their own roll-back of regulation and the greed of bankers and the financial elites. Governments now need to stay the course. They must reject the demands to withdraw support for fragile economies and make devastating cuts in public expenditure. They have to move together without any further delay to control and regulate finance. The alternative is another, deeper recession bringing even greater human suffering.   The deficit in democratic global governance is not limited to the continuing economic crisis. With the failure of governments at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, the earth is still accelerating towards catastrophic climate change. The need for a far-reaching, just transition to a green world economy is thus more urgent by the day. Governments have the power, but must also have the will, to pull the world back from the brink of environmental disaster.   The impacts of climate change will hit hardest in the developing world, adding to the appalling record of neglect of the needs of the poorest countries and the failure to meet the targets set and the pledges made by richer countries to end world poverty. A new international agenda for development is required, one which helps the world’s poorer countries lift themselves out of poverty, builds democracy, accountability and respect for human rights, and creates decent, sustainable jobs for all.   The structures and policies of the World Bank, IMF and WTO must be fundamentally transformed to put decent work at their centre and support a resurgence of democratic accountability and governance in every country and at the global level. The ILO must be at the centre of new international governance which works in the interests of the people, and which ensures a sustainable and equitable future for humankind.   Out of this crisis, a new global economy must be created, based on effective, democratic and accountable global governance which prioritises the needs of people first; ensures strong financial regulation, putting finance at the service of the real economy and the real economy at the service of people.   A renewed Global Economy that guarantees respect for the rights of all working men and women and brings an end to poverty, inequality, discrimination and exploitation; and secures sustainability though green investment and green jobs.   The challenge before us is as great as any that we have faced. To turn our aspiration for a world based on democracy, justice, equality and sustainability into a reality.   * The ITUC represents 176 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 312 national affiliates. 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