Pope Francis receives Chief of International Labour Organization
(Vatican Radio) The welfare of workers, and particularly of migrants, was a key issue
of concern raised in a meeting Monday between Pope Francis and the Director General
of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder. Mr. Ryder, who was received
in private audience in the Vatican by Pope Francis, told Vatican Radio following that
encounter that “we discussed many of the issues that I think the Church shares concerns
about with the International Labour Organization. We are very much concerned with
promoting decent work in the world at the ILO and Pope Francis spoke about the dignity
of work, the importance with which the Church and he personally attaches to the dignity
of work and the challenges that that presents in today’s world. And we talked particularly
about the plight of some of the most vulnerable people in the world. And he spoke
particularly about his concerns about human trafficking, and he spoke about (the southern
Italian island of) Lampedusa and migrant workers. And I think we shared very much
a concern that the way that the global economy is working right now does not always
work in favor of those who are weakest and this needs to be corrected.”
Ryder
says another group which sometimes “escapes our attention” are domestic workers: “people
who work in private homes often fall beyond the cover of labour legislation or public
attention. There are more than fifty million domestic workers in the world. The ILO
has recently adopted a convention to protect their rights and I think this was something
that together, (the Pope and I) felt was a worthy area of work.”
The Holy See
cooperates with the ILO on matters of justice and peace, promoting the rights of migrants
and workers in many areas, particularly in the maritime industry. “The Church has
always played a very prominent and very practical… role in looking after seafarers
in different circumstances,” Ryder observes. “The ILO’s own work with the respect
to the maritime sector took a big boost when in 2006 actually, we passed a maritime
labour convention which is a sort of small revolution I would say, for the maritime
industry. For the first time, in one document, you have… a bill of rights of seafarers.
It’s a dangerous occupation. By definition it’s an international sector. And this
one bill of seafarers’ rights, the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006, I think stands
as a real instrument in our joint hands and I think that the Church together with
the ILO will be able to use it to advance the welfare of again, a sector of the work
force who really do need looking after properly.”
“We needed twenty countries
to sign up to it before it came into force, to ratify it in our language. That has
now happened and actually that’s pretty quick for the ILO. Not only is it twenty
countries, but they represent a very, very high proportion of the tonnage, that is
to say, the overall mercantile fleet in the world. So these things take time, but
in fact, by our own standards, we’re advancing pretty quickly in making this convention
effective. “
Ryder explains the ILO is working to curb phenomena such as human
trafficking, child and slave labor while pressing for the respect of the dignity of
workers globally. “These are dramatically important things; they deserve our attention.
And a phrase that Pope Francis used from (his July 2013 pastoral visit to) Lampedusa
I think, is resonated very, very clearly - certainly in my organization: he talked
about the danger of the ‘globalization of indifference.’ That is to say, that we
stand back, look at these phenomena and somehow regard them as inevitable or normal
in our world. And that is a reaction we must absolutely refuse and react against.”
In
this interview with Tracey McClure, the ILO Director General speaks about human trafficking
and slave labor, Europe’s nearly 24% youth unemployment, recent action to promote
workers’ safety in Asia where hundreds have died in factory fires and work-related
accidents, and the 2015 Millenium Development deadline and beyond….