THE INTERNATIONAL Labour Organization (ILO) will play a leading role in ensuring that the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD2) holding in Qatar from 4th to 6th November 2025, strengthens a new multilateralism that delivers concrete progress on decent work and social justice for all.
Building on the outcome of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) held in Seville in July 2025, which called for greater investment in social policies and in the expansion of social protection coverage by at least two percentage points annually, the ILO aims to turn these global pledges into tangible results.
The Summit will be a defining moment to renew the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and to advance a global social contract that places people at the centre of sustainable progress, underscoring the continued relevance of its three interrelated pillars: poverty eradication, decent work for all, and social inclusion.
In its recent report The State of Social Justice: A Work in Progress, the ILO highlighted that while the world is wealthier, healthier and better educated than in 1995, progress has been uneven and inequality reduction has stalled. Child labour among 5- to 14-year-olds has fallen from 20 to 10 per cent, extreme poverty from 39 to 10 per cent, and social protection now covers over half the world’s population. Yet 58 per cent of workers remain in informal jobs, women’s labour force participation is still 24 percentage points lower than men’s, and at the current pace it will take a century to close the global gender pay gap.
As reaffirmed in the Resolution adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2025, the ILO – as the main custodian agency for Goal 8 on decent work and economic growth – will work with governments, employers and workers to implement the Summit’s outcomes through its tripartite structure, ensuring that policies deliver fair, sustainable and inclusive results.
ILO objectives for the World Summit:
Poverty eradication
Ending poverty in all its forms remains the greatest global challenge. The ILO is working with its constituents to ensure that decent work and social protection are at the heart of efforts to reduce poverty and strengthen resilience in every country.
- Support countries in placing decent job creation and sustainable enterprises at the core of their poverty reduction strategies. Employment-intensive investments and skills development will help people move out of poverty and build resilience.
- Expand universal and sustainable social protection systems through stronger financing and coordination. The Doha Declaration calls for extending coverage by at least two percentage points each year – a goal that aligns with the ILO’s Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions.
Decent work for all
Full and productive employment and decent work are essential to social development and sustainable growth. The ILO is helping countries strengthen labour institutions and policies that deliver fair wages, safe workplaces and equal opportunities for all workers.
- Promote policies that create full, productive and freely chosen employment, supported by fair labour laws, international standards and living wages.
- Improve conditions for informal workers and enterprises by improving legal frameworks, extending rights, protection and fair pay, ensuring no one is left behind.
- Encourage a fairer digital economy through clearer rules for platforms, stronger rights for workers and wider access to digital skills.
- Support just transitions to green and digital economies that create decent jobs and protect communities.
- Strengthen the care economy with greater investment, better pay and safer working conditions.
- Promote gender equality by advancing equal pay, safety and equal opportunities for women and men.
Social inclusion
Social inclusion is key to reducing inequalities and building more cohesive and peaceful societies. The ILO works to ensure that all people – especially those in vulnerable situations – have equal rights, opportunities and access to decent work.
- Uphold rights and expand opportunities for people in vulnerable situations, including women, youth, senior workers, persons with disabilities and migrants.
- Support action to reduce inequalities within and between countries, helping to build fairer, more inclusive societies.
- Through the Global Coalition for Social Justice, which brings together governments, employers, workers and international partners to promote fairness and inclusion, and the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, which supports countries in creating decent jobs and expanding social protection, the ILO will continue to help turn the Doha commitments into action.
