About this site

This website focuses on issues regarding social protection in Asia and the activities done by the Network on Social Protection Rights (INSP!R) and its members. It is under the editorial oversight from the Asia Steering Committee, composed out of members from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines. It is meant to foster dialogue and share experiences.
The articles describe challenges and achievements to improve the right to social protection to workers in the region, with a specific focus to gender, youth and informal workers.

29 June 2017

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh extended

The global union federations IndustriALL and UNI announced here that the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh will be extended with a new agreement. To date, 13 brands and retailers have signed and 8 more committed to sign the new agreement, with many more likely to follow in the weeks ahead.

The Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013 claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers, injuring 2,500 more. Six weeks later, unions, non-governmental organizations and brands announced the Úrst Bangladesh Accord. Currently, the Accord covers more than 2.5 million workers. The Accord is a groundbreaking building safety agreement based on binding commitments by apparel brands to ensure that hazards in their factories are identified and corrected. The Accord has overseen factory renovations – from installation of fire doors to strengthening of dangerously weak structural columns – that have improved safety for millions of garment workers. The current Accord expires in May 2018.

27 June 2017

WSM partners provide input on ILO Conference

A few weeks ago, WSM asked its partners to fill in a survey on labour migration in order to prepare common interventions during the International Labour Conference in Geneva, from 4th to 16th June 2017. There was a lot of response!

Thanks to these very valuable inputs, we have been able to deliver a common statement WSM- International Young Christian Workers on this theme on the first day of the committee, on 5th June, which was a great success! These inputs have also helped to feed WSM interventions during the debate of the following days. We had a collective strategy of lobbying with the Belgian Trade Union ACV-CSC and with representative of the continents which brought very valuable field experience to the debates:

  • M Ramesh Bhadal (GEFONT) and Ganesh Niroula (NTUC) from Nepal;
  • William Charpantier (FEI) from Dominican Republic;
  • Samory Ould Beye (CLTM) from Mauritania.

 We were able to bring up some important points highlighted in the surveys, for example :

  • The need to ratify Conventions 97 and 143 in order to protect the labour migrants better ;
  • The importance to regulate recruitment agencies more strictly;
  • The necessity to promote the « inclusive social dialogue » which means that social organizations of labour migrants should be able to dialogue with Trade Unions in order to enrich the official social dialogue structures with their concerns;
  • The promotion of fair recruitment;
  • To guarantee the access to social protection for everybody: labour migrants should benefit from the same rights as national workers;
  • To promote national action plans to regularize undocumented labour migrants in order to allow them to benefit of their social and civic rights

In general, we can say that many of these demands have been included in the general conclusions of the debates. Those conclusions will give the International Labour Office (BIT) some milestones to work on for the following years. This document will also help all our organizations to lobby national governments in order to protect labour migrants better.

19 June 2017

Cleanekleren campagne: Made in Cambodia

Wil je onze #cleanekleren campagne mee een stevige boost geven? Via jouw organisatie en jouw persoonlijk netwerk? We hebben heel veel handtekeningen nodig om Belgische sportkledingbedrijven te overtuigen om in de toekomst meer ethisch verantwoorde kleding te produceren.

In april won Wereldsolidariteit de Fair Time Award van Medialaan. Met het prijzengeld konden WS en ACV een indringende tv-spot maken en uitzenden. Een unieke kans om consumenten warm te maken om de #cleanekleren campagne te steunen. Afgelopen weekend ging hij de ether in.




Garment workers in Cambodia work 10 hour shifts, 6 days out of 7, for a very low wage. During a working day a garment worker burns the same amount of calories as a professional runner in 4 hours. "You like to suffer in your sportswear but nobody likes to suffer for your sportswear." Sign the #cleanekleren petition by Wereldsolidariteit and ACV on www.cleanekleren.be!

Made in Cambodja
Reclamebureau Boondoggle werkte het concept voor deze tv-spot uit. In 30 seconden wordt de kern van het verhaal rond #cleanekleren getoond: de fysieke inspanningen van kledingarbeidsters zijn vergelijkbaar met die van topatleten. De clip is gemaakt in Cambodja en de metingen werden uitgevoerd bij een echte kledingarbeidster.

Afzien voor jouw sportkleren
Made in Cambodja dus, net zoals jouw sportkleren. In Cambodja werkt een kledingarbeidster meer dan 10 uur per dag, 6 dagen op 7, voor een hongerloon. Tijdens een werkdag verbrandt ze evenveel calorieën als een sporter die 4 uur hardloopt. Jij ziet graag af in sportkleren, maar niemand ziet graag af voor jouw sportkleren.
Teken de petitie hier.

Also read the recent report from The Guardian here.

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

16 June 2017

16 June: International Domestic Workers Day

On 16 June 2011, the world celebrated the adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (ILO Convention No. 189). Convention No. 189 was an historic  victory that recognized domestic workers as workers like any other. Since then, 70 countries have taken measures to adopt or reform law and policy, including 24 countries that have ratified Convention No. 189.

The sector is yet again on the cusp of major change, as governments prepare to negotiate global compacts on migration and refugees with the objective of developing a framework for comprehensive international cooperation on human mobility and refugee response by July 2018.