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September 10, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
COMMENTARY
No Back to School Fun for Child Laborers
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated
social justice and peace columnist
[email protected]
It’s that special time of the year again for kids in
the northern hemisphere as they start heading back
to school. And for those who have discovered the fun
of learning, school is an adventure!
But for millions of working children worldwide,
the adventures of a new school year remain but a
dream. Sadly, these children will never learn to read
or write. They will not acquire computer skills. They
will not experience singing in chorus, going on field
trips or playing at recess. Their classrooms will be
sweatshops, farm fields, and battlefields. Their days
will be filled with long, dirty, dangerous work. And
the lesson they will learn is that life is cruel and unfair.
According to the International Labor Organization
(ILO), 152 million children 5-17 years old are victims
of child labor, while 73 million of these children are
trapped in hazardous work. And even more tragic is
that approximately 8 million children are enslaved in
the worst forms of child labor – the sale and traffick-
ing of children, debt bondage, drug dealing, forced
recruitment to fight in armed conflicts, prostitution
and pornography (https://bit.ly/2zKHELb).
And worst of all, according to the ILO, every
year about 22,000 children are killed while working
(http://bit.ly/1i15HZt).
The ILO has several excellent resources to assist us
in helping to end child labor (https://bit.ly/2P7E3BR).
One of the main reasons children do not attend
school, and work instead, is because adults in count-
less families in poor nations have not had access to a
good education, learning a viable trade, or are subsis-
tence farmers who are unable to grow enough food
for their families. Thus, it sadly becomes imperative
that children must work.
“For millions of working children
worldwide, the adventures of a new
school year remain but a dream.”
This enslaving chain can, and must, be broken!
The poor deserve better – especially poor chil-
dren who belong in school, not in sweatshops or on
battlefields.
Wealthy nations have a moral obligation to justly,
generously, and energetically work to abolish world
poverty, hunger and child labor.
For as Saint Pope John Paul II said in his 1979 visit
to the U.S., “The poor of the United States and of the
world are your brothers and sisters in Christ. You
must never be content to leave them just the crumbs
from the feast. You must take of your substance, and
not just of your abundance, in order to help them.
And you must treat them like guests at your family
table.”
According the Christian anti-poverty organiza-
tion Bread for the World (www.bread.org), less than
1 percent of the U.S. federal budget goes toward in-
ternational poverty-focused development assistance
– that’s only about 50 cents of every $100. We can, we
should, and we must do far better than this!
A wonderful U.S. government program that di-
rectly addresses a way out of poverty and child labor
by giving poor children nourishment for both body
and mind is the McGovern-Dole International Food
for Education Program. Since 2003, it has provided
school meals to over 40 million children in 40 of the
world’s poorest countries, several of which are in near
famine conditions.
Please email and call (Capitol switchboard: (202)
224-3121) your two U.S. senators and congressperson
urging them to honor Bread for the World’s request
to appropriate in the 2020 fiscal year budget $215 mil-
lion for the McGovern-Dole International Food for
Education Program with an additional $25 million
for local and regional food purchases. And urge them
to robustly increase all other international poverty-
focused programs.
N.Y. Bishops Support Law Requiring Public School Abuse-Prevention Classes
ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) -- New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legisla-
tion that requires public schools to
teach classes about child sexual abuse
prevention to students in kindergarten
through eighth grade.
Known as Erin’s Law, the legislation
received support from the New York
State Catholic Conference.
The New York State Senate and the
New York Assembly passed the legisla-
tion nearly unanimously, 184-1, in June.
Cuomo signed the bill Aug. 29.
“Erin’s Law is a critical tool in pro-
tecting children from sexual abuse,”
said Dennis Poust, director of commu-
nications for the New York State Catho-
lic Conference, which represents the
state’s bishops on public policy. “While
the Child Victims Act is focused on
justice for those who have been abused
in the past, Erin’s Law is perhaps even
more urgently needed because it aims
to prevent the abuse from ever hap-
pening to begin with. We were proud
to support its passage.”
The law is named after Erin Merryn,
a survivor of child sexual abuse and
now advocate, who has made it her mis-
sion to get the bill passed in as many
states as possible. New York became the
37th state to enact Erin’s Law.
Catholic schools and faith forma-
tion programs nationwide have had
age-appropriate sexual abuse aware-
ness training since soon after the U.S.
bishops adopted the “Charter for the
Protection of Children and Young
People” in 2002.
“Our Catholic schools are entrusted
with the protection of God’s children
and young adults, and we take that
responsibility seriously,” said Giovanni
Virgiglio, superintendent of schools for
the Diocese of Albany, New York. “Ac-
cordingly -- and in addition to other
safety measures -- such instruction is
already being provided annually to all
students enrolled in all of our schools.
We support this law, as it only affirms
our existing efforts to date and going
forward.”
The new law comes on the heels
of the Child Victims Act, which went
into effect in New York Aug. 14. That
law lifts the statute of limitations that
precluded victims of child sexual abuse
from bringing allegations before the
courts. This “window,” as it is known,
will be open for one year.
The law also increases the amount
of time during which perpetrators of
sexual abuse may be held criminally
accountable; allows victims of sexual
abuse to bring a civil lawsuit at any
time before they reach 55 years of age;
and eliminates the need to file a notice
of claim for sexual offenses committed
against a minor.
Erin’s Law mandates that preven-
tion classes include practical and
age-appropriate instruction on how to
recognize the warning signs of child
sexual abuse and exploitation and
resources on how to find help. The law
goes into effect July 1, 2020.
On First Day on The Job, Seattle Archbishop Heads to Twitter With Humor
By Rhina Guidos
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON -- Showing some
humor on his first day on the job, Se-
attle’s newly minted Archbishop Paul D.
Etienne tweeted that he ended up taking
the stairs to his new office, referencing
an incident a day earlier when his boss,
the pope, was late to the Angelus prayer
September 2 because he was stuck in
an elevator.
“What is it with elevators?” he
tweeted. “I had to take the stairs on my
first day in the Seattle chancery building
as the new archbishop. Nothing like a
good cardio exercise to start the day!”
Archbishop Etienne became the head
of the Archdiocese of Seattle September
3 after Pope Francis accepted the resig-
nation of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain
because of health reasons.
The day before the announcement,
Pope Francis was seven minutes late to
his regularly scheduled appointment
with thousands of pilgrims who gath-
ered at St. Peter’s Square on Sundays
to hear the pontiff, pray with him, and
receive a blessing. The pope explained
after finally making an appearance that
day that he was “blocked in an elevator
for 25 minutes,” according to a story by
The Associated Press. He asked for ap-
plause for the Vatican City’s firefighters
who rescued him.
In reference to the incident, Arch-
bishop Etienne tweeted: “At least I did
not get stuck ...”