Sustainable Development Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Decent work means opportunities for everyone to get work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration.
However, COVID-19 has disrupted billions of lives and endangered the global economy. As job losses escalate, the International Labor Organization estimates that nearly half of the global workforce is at risk of losing their livelihoods. More than one in six young people have stopped working since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic while those who remain employed have seen their working hours cut by 23 per cent.
Women, who tend to be in lower paid work anyway, are at greater risk of losing their jobs and /or income. The modest gain towards gender parity in recent years is at risk of being lost due to the pandemic.
Women and girls with no source of income are more likely to become victims of human trafficking. Many are forced to work in the sex industry, domestic service, or garment factories and treated as slaves without pay or basic human rights or freedom.
Read
Matthew 20:1-16 and Acts 16: 16-19
Pray
We thank God
- For the growing recognition that women have a right to decent work with genuine reward
- For initiatives that provide productive work and an income for women
- For NGOs like Stop the Traffik and The Mary Ward Loreto Foundation that rescue and support victims of trafficking.
We ask God
- To protect those who are most vulnerable to unscrupulous traffickers because of poverty, war, isolation or domestic abuse.
- To protect children who have run away from abusive homes and find themselves living on the streets, vulnerable to human predators.
- To protect those who stand up to traffickers and organised crime, so that these abusers are brought to justice.
- To protect those who are regarded as worthless and forced to live and work in degrading conditions.
Respond
Find out more about NGOs that support victims of trafficking like Albania Hope and STOP THE TRAFFIK and note especially SDG Goal 8.7
To find out more about Goal 8 and other Sustainable Development Goals visit: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment
The World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women supports the Sustainable Development Goals.
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