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“This is my second life. I spent a day and a night afloat more than 24 hrs. in the big sea in March 2020. I was fortunate to be discovered by the seashore of a nearby town. I am grateful to God for my second life.” - Jesus Aguilar, young fisherman
Errol Samarista, IYCW Asia-Pacific coordinator, was present as one of the resource persons in the webinar “Safety and Health is a Fundamental Right at Work”, organized by INSP!R Asia (International Network for Social Protection Rights) and ACV-CSC International, on Monday, October 25 and Tuesday, October 26, 2021.
All workers, regardless of their type of employment, formal and informal, men and women, have the right to a safe and healthy working environment, including affordable quality health care and social protection. Declaring safety and health as a fundamental right at work means that governments have to respect it, promote it, enshrine it in law and enforce it, monitoring its implementation in good faith.
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Rosa Galeano, a leader of Paraguay YCW, elaborated on how and when the YCW entered the country. She explained that the YCW is a movement that was created at the beginning of the 20th century on the initiative of a Belgian priest, Joseph Cardijn, and some young workers.
Joseph Cardijn, a Belgian priest, and a number of young working women and men were concerned by the deplorable conditions experienced in Belgium by their fellow workers in factories, spinning mills, mines and in the families living in working-class areas.
“In Paraguay, the movement arrived through Monsignor Ramón Bogarín Argaña in 1941, and from that year onwards its most important moments were until the 1970s. Then, like all social organisations, it began to fade away due to the persecutions of the dictatorship,” Rosa said.
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The life of young workers and their rights have always received the full attention of Pope Francis. On the occasion of the IYCW International Council, Pope Francis, through the Holy See Secretary of State, sent a message of encouragement to the IYCW to continue its work for a better life for all young workers.
Holy See Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, wrote to the International YCW on behalf of Pope Francis for the movement’s postponed international council, which was finally held via Zoom last month.
“His Holiness trusts that in this time of economic and social crisis, the Council’s deliberations will reaffirm the efforts of young people to advance the Kingdom of God through the building of a more just and equitable society which leaves no one behind and which promotes respect for the fundamental rights of all, including that of safe and dignified employment,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.
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“We are connected, we are one international movement and we are called to act, called to act for just work more than ever. In fact, the social contradictions, inequality, precariousness, informality and unemployment continue to grow, especially in the midst of the global Covid pandemic,” Sarah Prenger, the IYCW international president, said at the opening of the 15th International Council of the movement, calling all young workers of the world to act for change.
Sarah emphasized that with a strong and deep belief, young workers are able to act for social justice. “Social change is a shared task; you and I must act now to make change a reality.”
“With deep conviction in our hearts and minds, we must do something for change in our daily life, in our neighbourhood, in our school and in our working place,” Sarah said.
Sarah continued, “You and I must do something, we can make a difference, we can change the world. It is with this conviction, together with you, that I declare this XV International Council open. We should not be afraid of change.”
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When they welcomed the IYCW secretary-general (Orlando) and the ICA coordinator (Arlindo) last July, several former YCW members had the opportunity to meet and exchange on the realities and challenges of the IYCW and the ICA. Moreover, a delegation of the Walloon YCW came to join us. It was also an opportunity to present the different projects carried out by several former YCW members. Without giving a detailed description, the place is home to a collective vegetable garden, where some fifteen gardeners get together one day a week to grow various vegetables and share a common meal with products from the garden. The main objective of the garden is to encourage people to live together, creating social links through a vegetable garden which, it should be noted, does not use any pesticides.
The other initiative is a "Repair Café". This is a project that gives a second life to various electrical appliances, machines, clothes, tools, after being repaired for free by volunteer technicians. This is a way to fight against the overproduction of waste and thus preserve our environment.
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IYCW News - The Americas YCW (JOCA) organised a virtual exchange on 9 and 16 July 2021. The aim was to share about realities, needs, challenges and actions re unemployment and precarious young workers in the world of work at the continental level.
Participants in the event were young workers, activists and adults from different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, such as Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, as well as a young German volunteer in Peru.
“The current global health crisis (Covid-19) has made even more visible the inequalities that we live in our societies; some of us have reinvented ways of work for survival while those who still have a job are submerged in long working hours and faced with double workload. Their salaries are often not enough to cover one or two meals a day plus other fixed costs. In addition, the cost of food, transportation and connectivity has increased,” Ana Cecilia from the Americas YCW team explained.
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Basma Louis, IYCW leader
IYCW News - On 12th July the NGO-UNESCO liaison Committee organized a preparation meeting for the 75th anniversary event which will take place this coming September by virtual means.
The NGO-UNESCO liaison committee works with more than 240 NGOs, but only 40 attended this meeting when asked to delegate young people under the age of 30. It is obvious that the NGOs need to include more young people in their organizations and structures.
The objective of the meeting was to develop a Position Paper on Youth and Guidelines for Advocacy to be presented at UNESCO’s 75th Anniversary celebrations. During the meeting, the delegates split into 4 different breakout rooms to discuss more specifically the position paper and the launching of the event.
The IYCW leader Basma Louis attended the meeting and brought the proposal of the movement to be included in the position paper.
