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workers relations. Attention can also be paid to the bettering

of the situation of a specific group, such as children, the young

and the vulnerable. In many instances, religious institutions

have engaged themselves, even sometimes deeply committed

themselves, to bettering the situation of these groups.

Decent work

Meanings, rules and ethics related to labour are, or should be,

in the background of any interreligious dialogue related to

labour. The ILO has experienced several times the importance

of such endeavour, be it in Latin America, Africa or Europe,

and its possible contribution to peace. Understanding the local

context, addressing some of the local interreligious challenges,

providing a space for respect, including respectful questioning

and engaging with competent mediating and relay institutions

are essential elements for success. This being said, and surpris-

ingly so, reaching a consensus of key values impacting on the

world of work is within reach. On this basis, I would like to

share with you an experience that we have engaged at the ILO.

This has been engaged at two levels: on the one hand, a

seminar encompassing global issues and, on the other hand, a

series of meeting conducted in target countries: Chili, Senegal,

Ivory Coast and Ethiopia. Each meeting was held with differ-

ent partners representative of the religious scene. Both the

meaning of work and the future of solidarities constituted

the topics of the initial phase of our meetings. At the end, a

handbook was published showing the main values underlying

the decent work agenda.

Such experience demonstrated that it is possible to

establish a consensus of values focusing mainly on labour.

Therefore, I concur with the United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization’s strategy for this

decade, which aims at fostering rapprochement among

cultures through the identification of a value consensus in

dialogue with religious traditions.

The word ‘dignity’ resounded constantly among our inter-

locutors in our conversations on labour. In a world where

work is continually changing, dignity remains a reference that

poses a minimal base and a horizon at the same time, along

with involving a critical dimension. It defines a minimum

floor to which to compare those jobs which bring about forced

or bonded labour, for instance, and especially the worst forms

of child labour. But it also offers a horizon since dignity is

closely associated with the capacity of men and women to

create, transform, invent and take on noble roles. This capac-

ity is an essential aspect of what confers dignity to our human

condition at work. We are aware that many jobs are unfor-

tunately offering much less than that. Finally, dignity has a

critical dimension. It allows us to ask ourselves about every-

day work conditions. Does this job allow a family to live, to

educate its children, to give them better living conditions? Is

this job fulfilling or stressing? Are the conditions in which it

is exerted positive, secure, safe?

The same can be said on solidarity. Durkheim had indeed

discovered the mechanisms of transformation of societies,

their change from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity.

We are now in front of a central question concerning labour,

namely, we are asking if in a world that is getting more and

more deindustrialized as well as in a partially industrialized

world, labour must continue to have a central place or must

Image: ILO

Labour connects people with land, nature, the environment and with their fellow human beings

gree

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