Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, April 17 to 19, 2009

The leaders of the Hemisphere gathered in the V Summit of the Americas, which was themed “Securing our citizens’ future by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability”. Under this theme, the governments committed to improve social, economic and cultural well-being for all peoples by advancing joint solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the Hemisphere.

There are multiple mandates of the V Summit that are drafted in the Declaration of Port Spain that illustrate closeness to labor and employment. This document emphasizes the need to eradicate forced labor, to protect the youth and vulnerable groups, and to encourage the creation and development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as a strategic force to generate new employment and improve the quality of life (articles 18, 20, 26,39 and 40).

In particular, Article 15 of the Declaration of Port Spain is highlighted:

“Reaffirming our commitment to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, we will continue to promote the creation of more opportunities for decent work in the formal sector. We will enforce our domestic labour laws to provide for acceptable conditions of work and safe and healthy workplaces, free from violence, harassment and discrimination. We will promote continuous training programmes in collaboration with workers’ representatives and the private sector as appropriate, with the goal of generating the necessary technical skills to enable workers to respond to the demands of the labour market. We therefore call upon the Ministers of Labour, within the context of the OAS Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour (IACML), in collaboration with their workers’ and employers’ consultative bodies and with the support of the ILO, as appropriate, to endorse, at the 16th IACML to be held in 2009, a work programme that advances these objectives.”