The voices of our partners during the ILC (13 July 2018, Geneva)

The voices of our partners during the ILC

During the 107th Session of the ILC, the Catholic Inspired Organizations (CIO) took the lead in delivering statements at the plenary session in response to the report of the Director General of the ILO.

Three of our partners delivered individual statements linking the ILC discussion with their own vision and mission.

First, the International Young Christian Workers (IYCW) has had previous experiences delivering statements at the ILC (http://www.joci.org/en.html). Sarah Prenger, International President of the IYCW, spoke to the audience and focused on personal testimonies of young people from the grassroot, giving examples of violence and harassment at work. IYCW reminded on the need to focus the discussion around the dignity of the workers and the equal distribution of wealth.

Afterwards, Hildegard Hagemann from Kolping International (https://www.kolping.net/) highlighted the past and ongoing success of the ILO “in strengthening social dialogue instruments in many member countries as well as supporting governments, introducing dispute resolution mechanisms and promoting labour inspection”. However, Hildegard also stated that the ILO should take more into account the civil society work, affirming that none of the three ILO constituents will be able to achieve the objectives of the Decent Work Agenda with or without civil society.

Lastly, Ignacio Alonso Alasino took the floor on behalf of ICMC (https://www.icmc.net/), he reaffirmed ICMC aim “to protect and promote the empowerment of foreign workers, including domestic workers, and to ensure decent working conditions and prevent irregular status and trafficking”. He clearly emphasized the need to build collaboration to reduce inequalities among workers. As an example, Ignacio stated the project “The future of work, Labour after Laudato Si” which is the continuation of a five years collaboration at the global level related to the SDGs and the Decent Work Agenda. To conclude his statement, Ignacio expressed relevant demands and recommendations in regard to violence and harassment at work, and gender-based violence.

It was confirmed that the visibility of the CIO during the ILC has increased remarkably thanks to those individual statements.

The CIO felt very positive about this important achievement and encouraged everyone to come forward with their own statements for the next year International Labour Conference in which we will be celebrating the ILO Centenary.