Courtesy translation
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has issued the following statement:
«The future of mankind is connected to the ability to protect children.
The social protection they should enjoy – the right to health and education – regardless of their place of birth, is far from being a reality.
Across the world, millions of children are deprived of their future.
Included in the production processes of the globalised economy and first victims of wars and natural disasters, children are robbed of their childhood and are forced to work at an early age.
As the International Labour Organisation points out, they are the invisible slaves of an unacceptable escalation of violence and abuse.
In Italy too, child labour figures are sobering: they represent the social distress to be seen in too many areas of the country and are also connected with organised crime-related issues.
We must be more aware of how dangerous it is for children and adolescents to start working at an early age; if they are not protected, their future will be compromised beyond repair, as will the damage caused to society on the whole.
Such a responsibility requires the commitment of governments, businesses, civil society and the adoption, at an international level, of ethically shared behaviour – on the part of consumers too.
Fulfilling the ambitions of girls and boys must be a foremost concern».
