CCCB supports migrant workers.

Ottawa--In December 1990 the U.N. General Assembly adopted the International Convention on Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Since then, only three countries-Bangladesh, Chile and Turkey-have signed it, to the dismay of the Canadian Catholic Bishops and other church groups.

The bishops have sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Axworthy asking that Canada ratify the Convention and use its diplomatic skills to encourage others countries to do so. They point out that the international economy is breaking down trade barriers at a rapid rate, and "fast-paced market globalization needs regulation, for without it human values can easily be overlooked--as is especially true in the case of migrants who often are forced to labour in the worst conditions that exist in their arrival country."

Their statements recall papal initiatives towards migrant workers; for example; in 1971, Pope Paul VI supported the right of migrant workers to emigrate. And, in 1990, the Holy See's delegate to the UN stated: "It would seem equally important to insist on the right not to migrate, to be given adequate opportunities to earn a decent living and to raise a family in dignity in the country of one's birth."