2013-11-18 16:48:48

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…. RealAudioMP3








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