Quezon City, Philippines | September 12–14, 2026

Young Christian Workers of the Philippines (YCWP) participated in the Luzon Trade Union (TU) and Civil Society Organization (CSO) Consultation on Labour, Human Rights, and Climate, held from September 12 to 14, 2026 at B Hotel, Quezon City, spearheaded by Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Danish Trade Union Development Agency (DTDA), Council for Peoples Development and Governance (CPDG) co-funded by the European Union. The gathering brought together trade unions, civil society organizations, and representatives from different regions and sectors of Luzon to reflect on the realities faced by workers and communities and to explore collective responses to violations of labour, human and environmental rights.

A major focus of the consultation was the proposed establishment of People’s Rights Watch (PRW)—a broad network of trade unions and CSOs that aims to monitor the implementation of rights and international commitments, document violations on the ground, produce parallel reports to complement and challenge State reporting, and strengthen campaigns, organizing advocacy and accountability.

Participants shared realities from Bicol, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Southern Tagalog, as well as from sectors including workers, young workers, women, students, fisherfolk, agricultural workers and peasants. Across these experiences, common concerns emerged: poverty, low wages, contractualization, attacks on freedom of association, harassment and militarization, and the growing impact of climate change.

For YCW Philippines, these realities are deeply connected. The consultation affirmed that workers' rights, human rights and climate justice cannot be addressed separately. The same communities experiencing poverty and insecure work are often those most vulnerable to environmental destruction and the climate crisis.

YCWP also participated in discussions on international labour standards and human rights conventions, particularly ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). From the YCW perspective, these international standards provide important tools for workers and communities to understand their rights and hold duty-bearers accountable.

YCW Philippines proposed that PRW give priority to monitoring freedom of association, collective bargaining, decent and living wages, occupational safety and health, social protection, security of tenure and abolishment of contractualization, while ensuring that the voices and experiences of workers remain at the center of the monitoring process. Monitoring should not end with collecting data or producing reports. The concrete experiences of workers and communities must be brought into reflection, examined in the light of human dignity, human rights and Christian social teaching, and translated into collective action and transformation.

The gathering also explored the role of PRW in monitoring climate-related issues, including the impact of fossil-fuel dependence, large-scale development and industrial activities on workers and vulnerable communities. For YCW, climate justice must also be a question of workers' justice and human dignity, particularly in ensuring a just transition for workers and communities affected by the shift toward a sustainable economy.

The consultation ended with a commitment to continue building the People’s Rights Watch for Luzon, including the development of its three proposed areas of work: Labour Rights, Human Rights and Climate Justice.

For Young Christian Workers, participation in this initiative is an opportunity to bring the voices of workers into a wider movement for justice and to strengthen solidarity among workers, communities and civil society.

As YCW, we believe that rights become meaningful when people know them, claim them, organize around them, and act together to defend them.