G8 to discuss 'human dimension' of crisis

Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 6:12 AM Posted by Beijing News


Labour ministers from the Group of Eight wealthy nations and six other major economies were to gather in Rome on Sunday for talks on the "human dimension" of the financial crisis sweeping the planet.

The three-day "Group of 14" meeting will bring together the G8 leading industrial powers with the emerging giants China, India and Brazil as well as Mexico, South Africa and Egypt at a time when worldwide job losses are sparking fears of social unrest.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of protests in several European capitals on Saturday ahead of a much-anticipated summit of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations next Thursday in London to discuss the world financial crisis.

The G14 "social summit" in Rome will urge the G20 to put "people first" as they discuss economic recovery strategies and reforms to the financial regulatory system, Italian Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said Thursday.

Sacconi said the G14 would advocate a "global pact" to ensure sustainable social protections, investment in people, notably skills development, and job creation, especially in the areas of environmental protection, health and education.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned last week that "dramatic" rises in unemployment around the world would set the stage for conflict.

The world financial crisis could spark "social unrest, some threats to democracy and maybe for some cases, it can also end in war," he warned during an International Labour Organization ILO meeting in Geneva.

The ILO in January said the global financial meltdown could claim up to 50 million jobs over 2008 and 2009, while the World Bank warned that the crisis could push 46 million back into poverty.

ILO chief Juan Somavia will stress in Rome "that we are confronting an inter-connected financial, economic and social crisis, and that the attention of policy makers should turn to the three crises at the same time," his deputy Philippe Egger said Thursday.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in London, Rome, Berlin and other cities on Saturday to express their anger at the human cost of the financial crisis.

Organisers of the Put People First march for "jobs, justice and climate" in London had rejected as "smears" claims in police briefings that marches could be hijacked by anarchists bent on violence.

France last week saw more than a million workers take to the streets in a nationwide strike to force President Nicolas Sarkozy to boost wages and protect jobs. A protest in Paris left nine police officers injured and led to some 300 arrests.







Kasahara

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