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Brussels (IYCW News) – At least fifty-eight people have been killed by police and dozens of others have gone missing since the outbreak of social unrest in Colombia last April 28, 2021. Riots have occurred in various cities at the expense of young workers, women, peasants, fishermen and the urban poor. Police and soldiers have brutally fought the demonstrators in downtown streets.
Colombia is a country that has had a succession of neoliberal governments, which for decades have been implementing a series of anti-people reforms and laws in the areas of health, education, social security and labour, supported by a strong military and police system.
The government's latest attempt at fiscal reform, the cynicism of the ultra-right imposing their neoliberal measures, unleashed a massive popular rebellion, highlighting the structural crisis that the country is going through and the failure of this model on the continent. The government's response to demonstrations has been more than distressing: armed repression, human rights violations, disappearances of social leaders, sexual abuses and real urban massacres in different regions of the country.
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Brussels (IYCW News) – In the midst of the cries and screams of millions of contract workers who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IYCW continues to speak out to the world at the International Labour Conference which has been taking place virtually at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ana Cecilia Salazar, a leader of the YCW Americas Team, took the floor at the labour conference bringing her lament about the fate of a contract worker from Peru who lost her job due to the pandemic. "I had a temporary contract. When the lockdown was decreed, the company suspended the work. The contract will end and there will be 50 of us young people jobless," Ana read aloud as she shared the testimony of the Peruvian contract worker.
Contract workers are the most vulnerable workers and the first to be fired when the company has to terminate the employment relationship. In her statement, which was read from Peru, Ana emphasized that the phenomenon of easy layoffs for contract workers occurs in almost all countries and has affected millions of contract workers worldwide. This form of work, as well as all forms of precarious and informal work related to online platforms, is increasing even more in the aftermath of the pandemic.
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Brussels (IYCW News) – Basma Doka Louis, the African YCW coordinator, read a statement at the International Labour Conference (ILC) addressing one of the main topics in the conference in the social protection committee - A recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of social protection (social security), under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on social Justice for a Fair Globalization.
In her statement, she emphasized that young workers need to feel valued by living a recognized life. The full implementation of ILO convention 102 and recommendation N. 202 is crucial in order to guarantee a just social protection system for all.
Basma also shared the testimony of a restaurant worker in Australia who was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: “I was working in the restaurant as a cook. When Covid hit and the government provided a form of crisis social security payment, I was not eligible for it and the business let me go. I had to depend on charity events for food and groceries. It impacted my mental health.” The statement was read out from Egypt in a virtual ILC.
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Who is voting against a waiver for the intellectual property rights on Covid vaccines? What does the European Parliament say about a right to disconnect from work? These and other questions are part of a campaign JOC Europe is starting on Twitter and Instagram. With the help of Vote Watch Europe and in cooperation with ACV, there will be publications in the upcoming weeks showing how the different groups in the European Parliament are voting on relevant topics. Follow @EuropeJoc on Twitter or @joceurope on Instagram to keep up to date.
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This year's International Labour Conference is being held in two segments. The second segment is running from 25th November to 11th December 2021.
Errol Alonzo, Carolin Moch and Sarah Prenger represented the IYCW in the second segment of this international assembly. On this occasion, Errol delivered a statement responding to the report of the Director-General of the ILO on inequality.
Starting his statement, Errol confirmed the Director-General’s report.
“Young workers from all over the world confirm the report. They confirm, for example, that workers with temporary contracts have been the first to be laid off; that informal workers have had to choose between starving and risking infection; that temporary workers on a weekly basis are not really able to interact with fellows; that a department leader was degraded after telling her employer about her pregnancy; and that a qualified platform worker is working without a contract.”
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The IYCW was invited to the 41st UNESCO general assembly which took place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France from 9-24 November 2021. As an official partner of UNESCO, the IYCW was invited to provide its views on the issues currently under the attention of UNESCO.
Sarah Prenger, the IYCW president, shared her views on education, work and youth. She appreciated the director general of UNESCO highlighting the impact of educational disruption due to the pandemic on almost two billion learners.
“I thank the director general of UNESCO for pointing out that in the year 2020, 1.6 billion learners were affected by an unprecedented educational disruption. These data just show how billions of people around the world are far from living in dignity,” Sarah said.
