| Posted: Mar. 31 2010,15:38 |
If you wrote this report, you will find a button here that you may click
in order to make changes in the report. 
|
Postal address of organization/institution
|
2001 S Street NW, Suite 420
Washington, DC 20009
United States
|
E-mail address of organization/institution
|
laborrights@ilrf.org
|
Website address of organization/institution
|
www.laborrights.org
|
Telephone of organization/institution
|
202-347-4100
|
PRIORITIES: All of the organization's domains of culture of peace activity |
HUMAN RIGHTS
WOMEN'S EQUALITY
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
|
TOP PRIORITY: The organization's most important culture of peace activity |
HUMAN RIGHTS
|
PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS: What
partnerships and networks does your organization participate in, thus
strengthening the global movement for a culture of peace? |
ILRF
serves a unique role among human rights organizations as advocates for
and with working poor around the world. ILRF partners with a number of
organizations around the world, many organizations and unions that work
directly with laborers. Perhaps our greatest contribution to the
broader labor rights movement over the past 20 years has been our
ability to work closely with grassroots partners in developing
countries to gather detailed information about labor rights violations
and build solid cases to test the effectiveness of US and international
legislation.
|
ACTIONS: What activities have
been undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the ten years of the Decade? If you already made a
report in 2005, your information from 2005 will be included in the 2010
report.
|
Linking
Labor Rights to Trade — Working with leaders of the labor movement,
members of the original founders of ILRF created and successfully
advocated for the first ever workers’ rights protection clause in US
trade legislation in 1984. The Workers’ Rights Conditionality Clause in
the General System of Preferences (GSP) requires that any country
seeking preferential access to US markets must respect the
internationally recognized workers’ rights of its workforce, including
the right to freedom of association.
Linking Labor Rights to
Foreign Assistance - ILRF led a broad-based coalition that convinced
the US government to place human rights conditions on US foreign aid to
the Philippines. ILRF was also able to convince the US government to
launch an investigation into the continuing labor rights violations in
the Philippines and place the trade benefits of the Philippine
government under review.
Cocoa Campaign — ILRF has long
maintained a public awareness and advocacy campaign to end child labor
in the cocoa farms of West Africa. In 2009, ILRF helped to finally
convince the first of the chocolate giants, Cadbury, to make a
commitment to Fair Trade certified cocoa standards and expects more
companies to follow this example.
Stop Firestone Campaign —
For over two and a half years, ILRF worked with allies in the US and
Liberia to support workers on Firestone’s rubber plantation in Liberia
and to stop the use of child labor. Through the campaign and the
organizing efforts of workers, an historic collective bargaining
agreement was signed between the workers and Firestone in August 2008.
This is the first contract Firestone has signed with an independent and
democratically elected union leadership in over 80 years of operating
in Liberia.
China Labor Law Program - Since 2003, ILRF has
worked with Chinese partners to address the need for more judges, labor
law practitioners, and workers who are trained in the content of the
country’s labor laws and in the advocacy skills needed to better
represent workers’ claims in arbitration and court. Together with its
partners, ILRF has trained over 350 judges, arbitrators, lawyers,
employees of government legal aid centers and the All China Federation
of Trade Unions (ACFTU), as well as thousands of workers.
Unocal
Burma Case - In 1996, ILRF filed a precedent-setting lawsuit against
Unocal on behalf of thousands of Burmese villagers who were forced to
work on the construction of a natural gas pipeline for the company. In
addition to forced labor, the Burmese military, who worked in
collaboration with the company, also murdered, raped, and tortured
Burmese villagers during the construction period. After almost ten
years of litigation, Unocal settled on April 13, 2005, and agreed not
only to compensate the workers, but to also provide funds for programs
in Burma to improve living conditions and protect the rights of
villagers in the pipeline region.
Global March Against Child
Labor - ILRF played a leading role in a worldwide campaign that
mobilized millions of people in 109 countries to promote the passage of
ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. The global march
started on January 17, 1998, and highlighted the hidden forms of child
labor – children in the fields, in domestic servitude, in prostitution,
and in the street as beggars. The year following the march, the
International Labor Organization unanimously adopted the convention,
and over 150 countries have ratified the convention to date.
FOULBALL
Campaign - Starting in 1996, ILRF began working extensively with
international partners to expose the pervasive use of child labor in
the production of soccer balls. Through intervention and negotiation
with large producers like Nike and Reebok, ILRF was instrumental in
convincing the industry to shift production to adult labor and to
establish education programs for the former child workers.
Fairness
in Flower Campaign - Since 2003, ILRF has worked to promote the labor
rights, with a specific focus on the occupational health and safety, of
female workers in the cut flower industry. After a five year campaign,
ILRF was able to help cut flower workers in Colombia secure signed
contracts on two Dole flower plantations in July 2008. The contracts
will provide benefits such as significant pay increases, improved
vacation and sick time, and additional pay for workers exposed to
hazardous chemicals.
Cotton Campaign - ILRF has led a US
coalition to end systemic forced and child labor that pervades the
cotton fields of Uzbekistan. ILRF has promoted diplomatic and trade
pressure and engaged with organic, fair trade cotton producers and
major companies seeking “clean” sources of cotton to end this practice.
In mid-2008, as a direct result of pressure from ILRF and its allies,
the Government of Uzbekistan ratified the two key ILO conventions
against child labor, Conventions 182 and 138.
Workers in the
Global Economy - In 2001, ILRF produced groundbreaking analysis of the
effects of trade rules on workers in the publication Workers in the
Global Economy. After a decade of trade modeled on the Washington
Consensus, ILRF’s publication shattered the illusion that free trade
without protection for workers is viable, and offered alternative
solutions to the International Monetary Fund as well as other global
financial institutions.
World Bank - Worked with trade unions
and NGOs in Brazil and Central America to bring about the first
successful efforts to demand public accountability on labor rights
violations in World Bank Projects.
RUGMARK - established
RUGMARK in the U.S., an innovative program which moves child laborers
in the carpet industry from work to school, and helped create a system
of international governance for RUGMARK. To date, the program has
certified over two million child labor-free carpets.
|
PROGRESS: Has your organization
seen progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain
of action and in your constituency during the second half of the
Decade? |
As
social- and consumer-accountability becomes more of a societal norm
there has been great progress in the power of the buyer. ILRF has
played a strong role in educating consumers with respect to their power
in relationship to multi-lateral and corporate companies. Additionally,
ILRF has substantially contributed to government oversight which led to
changes such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003, amongst
others. However, we still believe that there is a great deal of work to
be accomplished. ILRF will continue to utilize existing mechanisms in a
targeted way to promote an end to abusive labor rights practices in
selected countries, where partners have expressed an interest in
utilizing such instruments.
|
OBSTACLES: Has your organization faced any obstacles to implementing the culture of peace and nonviolence? If so, what were they?
|
Child
labor remains a global endemic. Admirable attention has been paid
in recent years to children trafficked and exploited for sex work.
However, far less attention has gone to the much more sizeable
problem of children who are trafficked, bonded or otherwise forced to
work in economic activities that directly link to the legitimate,
formal economy.
|
PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization in the short, medium and long term to
promote a culture of peace and nonviolence? |
We
recognize that while binding international legal norms are the ideal,
we are years away from achieving this goal. In the interim, we
must engage and push the panoply of voluntary initiatives that are
beginning to set industry standards in this area. It is for this
reason that ILRF approaches humane treatment of workers from a variety
of avenues; not only does ILRF develop strong and meaningful
relationships with local grassroots organizations and workers directly,
but ILRF also acts a collective voice for national and international
legislation that directly and indirectly effects the existing rights of
laborers internationally.
|
GLOBAL MOVEMENT: How do you think the culture of peace and nonviolence could be strengthened and supported at the world level??
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
