GENEVA, JUNE 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- In a globalized world, the universalizing of labor standards is not a burden, but a support for the human rights of workers, says the Holy See.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer at the U.N. offices in Geneva, said that on June 13 at the session of the International Labor Conference.
"The new globalized context of work makes it evident that a person working with and for other persons progressively reaches out to the whole human family," he said. "Through his work, a person is opened to an increasingly universal dimension and, in this way, can humanize globalization and thus, by keeping the human person at the center of this process, can provide an ethical measure against its negative aspects.
"Therefore, the universalization of labor standards should not be considered a burden on trade agreements but rather a concrete support for the human rights of workers and a condition for more equitable competition at the global level."
The archbishop said that social goals cannot be excluded in a world where wealth is increasing but is not equitably distributed.
"The urgent necessity of creating new jobs is rightly recognized as the first means to prevent discrimination and poverty," he said.
Poverty line
The Holy See representative said: "With an estimated 195 million men and women unable to find work last year and 1.4 billion people holding jobs that did not pay enough to lift them above the $2 a day poverty line, the responsibility of the international community and of governments is put to the test to ensure both an enabling economic environment and the availability of decent work».
"The instruments of protection become the expression of solidarity at a global level, especially for the large number of people without work or without decent work."
Archbishop Tomasi called for "a simpler lifestyle and a more equitable sharing of the resources of the planet are needed."
"It is not possible to continue using the wealth of the poorest countries with impunity, without them also being able to participate in world growth," he said, echoing Benedict XVI.
"The new horizon of the social question is now the world," he said, "because the human person is at its center as protagonist of an integral development, development which is the new name of peace."
ZE07062704 - 2007-06-27