“The assumption is that once you’re granted refugee status, you’re going to be in the country for some time. As a result, you should not be denied from earning a living,” said David Welsh, Solidarity Center director for Southeast Asia programs.
The United States has blocked the import of goods suspected to have been made with forced labor from five countries. Neha Misra, senior specialist in migration and human trafficking for advocacy group Solidarity Center, welcomed the “significant step” and said economic pressure could boost the drive for full labor rights for workers in global supply chains. Blocked imports include: clothing from China, diamonds from Zimbabwe, rubber gloves made in Malaysia, gold mined in the DRC and bone black–charred animal bones–manufactured in Brazil.
A discussion on WPFW 89.3 about a landmark pact addressing gender-based violence at garment factories in Lesotho–the first-ever binding negotiated agreement by workers, employers and clothing brands to mandate education and awareness trainings for all employees and managers, an independent reporting and monitoring system and remedies for abusive behavior.
“The accord, backed by civil and women’s rights groups, five Lesotho-based labor unions and the U.S.-based Worker Rights Consortium, Solidarity Center and Workers United, will offer protection to more than 10,000 [garment] workers in the southern African nation.”
“Defunding the programs that protect vulnerable people’s human rights and meet their basic needs is a nonsensical approach to combating trafficking,” said Shawna Bader-Blau, the executive director of the Solidarity Center, a global workers rights organization that operates in 60 countries and has been affected by the Trump administration’s decisions.
Through the #MeToo movement, we have seen how gender-based violence and harassment can happen at any workplace. Unions provide a means by which working people most impacted by GBV can have a say in developing solutions that address such deeply-rooted problems, writes the Solidarity Center’s Robin Runge.
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