As wealthy Gulf states face off over long simmering diplomatic differences, foreign workers in both countries are at risk of bearing the brunt of the dispute. An ongoing row in the Gulf over Qatar’s alleged links to terrorist groups, with the wealthy nation blockaded by a group of neighbours led by Saudi Arabia and the…
Global unions and textiles brands have announced a new version of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Safety to continue the original Accord’s work when its remit ends next year. Speaking to delegates to the OECD’s Responsible Business Conduct Forum, IndustriALL and UNIGlobal, represented by Jenny Holdcroft and Christy Hoffman, flanked by brands C&A and…
Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights calls for trade union recognition in supply chains in its recommendations on Business and Human Rights The Joint Committee on Human Rights has proposed government action to oblige UK-based companies to ensure recognition of trade unions before they sign contracts with suppliers, alongside a stronger legal duty on employers to…
Qatar’s new labour laws will not end abuse, warns Amnesty, and FIFA must act to force real change. Hot on the heels of the deal between Qatar’s World Cup Supreme Committee and the international construction unions to allow the latter to keep an eye on workers building World Cup stadiums, comes the long-awaited centre piece of…
Rio 2016 is no Qatar, but a succession of mistakes and willingness to risk workers’ lives to compensate for bad planning has tarnished Brazil’s Olympic moment. If London 2012 is anything to go by, the excitement of the Olympics will really catch alight once the opening ceremony is properly underway tonight. Perhaps in London some…
FIFA bought a manual on how to end human rights in its world cups, and so far it’s refusing to follow the instructions. But now fans have a chance to make FIFA play by the rules. When FIFA commissioned a UN human rights expert to advise them how to clean up world football’s act, there…
As the ILO debates how to improve working conditions in Global Supply Chains, Employers are resisting responsibility for malpractice in those chains and some governments are time wasting The efforts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to prepare an effective position on tackling widespread exploitation of workers producing goods for western companies are up against…
The question of how to better protect workers in global supply chains is dominating discussions at this year’s ILO conference in Geneva. The 105th conference session of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) – the UN agency that sets international labour standards – opened today. The ILO is tripartite, so governments are accompanied by representatives of workers and…
The World Cup’s major sponsors will be paying huge amounts to be associated with the tournament, and the unfolding human rights scandal has the potential to be sponsorship kryptonite.
Since 2007, 68 trade unionists have been murdered in Guatemala, with the Government seemingly reluctant to bring the perpetrators to justice. Just as we launched an online action to show the Guatemalan government that we expected them to drive forward investigations into the deaths of banana union members, we’ve had potentially encouraging news in the…