Asia-Pacific remains the second worst region in the world for the working people as the past year was once again marked with systematic violations of workers’ basic and democratic rights to organise a trade union and to strike, according to the 2024 ITUC Global Rights Index.
Bangladesh, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Türkiye stayed in the list of the top 10 worst countries for workers.
The 11th edition of the Global Rights Index also found that:
ITUC-Asia Pacific General Secretary Shoya Yoshida said:
“The rampant and systematic violations of workers’ rights in Asia-Pacific is a manifestation of backsliding democracies in the region. The attacks on trade unions and workers’ rights are attacks on democracies. Yet, despite facing constant attacks and suppression by repressive regimes, trade unions in the region are fearlessly taking on their roles as legitimate representatives of workers’ voices, as vanguards of workers’ rights, and as an important pillar of genuine democracy.”
Across Asia-Pacific:
“While the ITUC Global Rights Index presents the distressing and precarious conditions of workers in the region, it is also a testament that trade unions are not giving up. The cases documented in the report are evidence of trade unions’ unyielding courage in the struggles to achieve decent and dignified working conditions for all workers across Asia-Pacific. As a trade union movement, let us continue to hold governments accountable for the widespread violations of workers’ rights. Through our collective and organised efforts, we can defend democracies from total collapse,” Shoya Yoshida remarked.
The ITUC Global Rights Index is a comprehensive review of workers’ rights in law ranking 151 countries against a list of 97 indicators derived from ILO Conventions and jurisprudence, and as such is the only database of its kind. It rates countries on a scale from 1 to 5+ on the degree of respect for workers’ rights. Violations are recorded each year from April to March.