Social Justice Coalition Pushes for Real Change With New Jobs, Pay and AI Commitments

ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo described a coalition moving from building its platform to putting it to work, with partners taking greater responsibility for action and results.

Promises on fair pay, safer workplaces and better job opportunities took centre stage at the Global Coalition for Social Justice's 2026 Annual Forum, where partners announced commitments intended to turn international agreements into improvements people can see in their daily lives. The two-day gathering brought together governments, employers, workers' organizations, development banks, businesses, international and regional organizations, academics and civil society, reflecting the reach of a coalition that now includes more than 400 partners.

Making cooperation count for working people

ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo described a coalition moving from building its platform to putting it to work, with partners taking greater responsibility for action and results. Opening speakers included India's Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya; Brazil's Deputy Minister Francisco Macena, representing Labour and Employment Minister Luiz Marinho; International Organisation of Employers President Jacqueline Mugo; and International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Luc Triangle. Their shared message placed the focus on turning political commitments and discussions into practical work led by partners.

Macena said Brazil was concluding this stage of its role as Co-Chair of the Coordinating Group with the Coalition's foundations established and greater responsibility passing to its partners. Mugo urged participants to connect expertise with real problems, identify approaches that work and carry them into practice. Triangle stressed that cooperation must reach across institutional boundaries and deliver changes working people can recognize in their own lives, pledging the trade union movement's participation in that effort.

New commitments on wages, skills and protection

Germany highlighted a €47 million contribution supporting the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, continued backing for the Living Wages Key Intervention, including work in Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire and Colombia, and an AI-related labour-inspection tool. Finland announced it was joining the Equal Pay International Coalition, strengthening cooperation on equal pay and gender equality. The Adecco Group presented plans to provide AI literacy training for approximately 80,000 employees and identified opportunities through the AI for Social Impact Key Intervention to develop skills and put workers' needs at the centre of technological change.

The Republic of the Congo, a pilot country in the Coalition's work on inequality and poverty, reported progress on employment and training policies, labour-code reform, and occupational safety, health and social protection in agricultural supply chains. The League of Arab States announced a high-level regional conference in Jordan in November 2026 to follow up on the Doha Political Declaration, covering social justice, multidimensional poverty and disability in alignment with the Coalition's Key Interventions. These contributions gave the forum concrete examples of how shared priorities are being taken into national and regional work.

India puts country-level results at the heart of the next phase

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, outlined joint implementation with the ILO, including planned training in Kenya to strengthen national accountability mechanisms alongside labour-law reform, and work in Uzbekistan bringing a human rights approach to public budgeting. It offered its knowledge hub, tools and evidence to support partners. Academic representatives from the Geneva Graduate Institute, Stellenbosch University and the University of Panama called for closer connections between research and policy, offering practical expertise and tools to help turn evidence into action.

India's incoming leadership of the Coordinating Group brings three priorities outlined by Mandaviya: country-level implementation, stronger cooperation and knowledge-sharing, and a place for social justice in development decisions beyond 2030. Discussions examined how the Coalition could support the Doha Political Declaration and contribute practical experience to the future development framework. Partners closed the forum with a call to deepen contributions to the Key Interventions, share experience, develop collaborative initiatives and mobilize expertise, networks and resources around priorities defined by countries themselves.