International Migrants' Day on Dec. 18th: "Decent Work for All Migrant Workers"
In 2000, the UN General Assembly declared 18 December as International Migrants Day. International Migrants Day recognizes the contributions of migrants and the need to protect and promote the rights of all migrants. Most Civil Society and Workers’ Organization recognize 18 December as International Day of Solidarity with all migrant workers and their families, especially the vulnerable ones.
In 2019, there are around 272 million international migrants. Millions are crossing borders seeking new opportunities for decent work and life for themselves and their families.
18 December - International Migrants Day aims to promote respect and protect, social, labour, and human rights of all migrants and members of their families. Every migrant is a human being with human rights. Migrant workers are not commodities.
October 7th, 2019: World Day of Action for Decent Work
According to ILO(1), in 2018 the majority of the 3,300 million people employed in the world suffered deficits in material well-being, economic security and equal opportunities, and lacked sufficient margin for human development. In 2016, 61 per cent of the world's working population was in informal employment. By 2018, more than a quarter of workers in low- and lower-middle-income countries were living in extreme or moderate poverty. There were also 172 million unemployed people in the world (unemployment rate 5%). By 2020, 174 million people are expected to be unemployed.
For the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC), work is a fundamental right of every person, it is a good and everyone has the right to decent work. The SDC defends the primacy of labour over capital as a fundamental principle. The rights of workers and their families are the criterion from which human work should be organised, the conditions in which it is carried out and, in reality, the whole economy.
WMCW STATEMENT - INTERNATIONAL LABOUR AY- 1st MAY
- Details
COMMITMENT WITH HUMAN DIGNITY, JOINT MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
Work is a essential element of human dignity. That is why the dignity of man, given by God, must be respected in the working world. In Germany, Europe and the world, millions of people have not a job to feed themselves and their families. The mechanization, automation and digitalisation must not lead millions of people to exclusion. The exploitation of resources causes irreparable damage and inhuman working conditions. The digitalisation of economy leads to precarious working conditions; around the world, the 60 per cent are employed in the informal sector, without social security, without labour rights and low wages.
We say, with the Pope Francis, “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. (…). As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.(Evangelii Gaudium 53)
8th MARCH, 2019: "Before being a Woman, a Woman is a Human Being"
“The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.”
"By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other" (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 2393). This means that God, by granting equal dignity to men and women, invites us to build together a human community in dignity.
Despite the fact that in 1975, United Nations proclaimed 8th March as "International Women's Day" and that we have been almost 20 years of the 21st century, violence and discrimination against women persist in the social position, in the opportunities and treatment. Even in democratic countries where the law is supposed to guarantee equal rights between men and women, the media continues to denounce the existence of rapes and attacks against women.
The problem lies in the normality with which this situation is assumed. So in families, in workplaces, in neighbourhoods ... violence and sexual harassment leave them defenceless; and in the name of the tranquillity of the system and economic prosperity, the female workers are still exploited physically and morally without strength to resist.
- Solidarity message: December 18th, International Day of Migrant Workers
- 7th October 2018: WMCW Message on the World Day of Action for Decent Work
- Tripartism Plus - Rethinking Social Dialogue in Times of Globalisation and Informalisation
- ILO Conference 2018, Geneva: Rethinking Social Dialogue in times of Globalization and Informalization
- May 1st, 2018 : Message from the WMCW