Carol Bellamy Quotes
New legislation has just been adopted by the International Labour Organization on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, such as bonded labour, prostitution and hazardous work.
Bellamy, Carol. "CNN Chat Transcript." CNN, 19 Nov. 1999.
The Supreme Court had ruled that the Constitution prohibited the Federal Government from regulating conditions of child labor. A Constitutional amendment was passed by Congress and submitted to the States for ratification. That amendment is still the legal basis for all the Federal involvement in child labor. However there were many opponents. The idea of telling an employer that he could not work an 8 year old child for 14 hours a day was actually considered Communistic by some right wing elements. This quotation is famous for two reasons: First, it illustrates the extreme view against any kind of regulation of business that a strong minority held at the time. Second, this was a statement by a Roman Catholic Cardinal. The Catholic has generally been one of the progressive forces for labor reform (with the exception of racial discrimination and slavery) in the United States. Most modern Catholics are very surprised that a Cardinal actually issued such a Pastoral Letter—especially since he had been progressive on other issues {627510}.
Carol Bellamy is an American nonprofit executive and former politician. She is chair of the board of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF). Previously, she was director of the Peace Corps, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and president and CEO of World Learning. She is also the chair of children's rights advocacy organization ECPAT International, working to end the sexual exploitation of children. After three terms in the New York State Senate, she was the first woman to be elected to any citywide office in NYC as President of the New York City Council, a position she held until her unsuccessful bid for Mayor of New York in 1985; she was the second to last person to hold this position.
