2020 COVID context in Bangladesh

In terms of COVID-19, Bangladesh is the second most affected country in South Asia, after India. The Bangladeshi government declared a lockdown from 23 March to 30 May. Throughout 2020, routine testing was never adopted in Bangladesh. Even though garment factories were allowed to continue operating under the country's lockdown, an estimated one million garment workers, or one-quarter of the workforce, were laid off due to declining orders for export. In April, hundreds of garment workers marched in Chittagong demanding factory owners pay them last month's wages following delays after over 500 garment factories in Dhaka and Chittagong had been shut down for a month. In 2020, a total of 7.781 deaths were registered in Bangladesh because of COVID.

Call for action: support the demand for an HRDD instrument from the EU Commission: A law to protect workers, people, and planet from bad business

The European Commission is finally ready to consider a new law to hold businesses accountable for their impact on people and the planet. These rules on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence should require all companies, from fossil fuel giants and agribusiness to fashion retailers and electronics makers, to establish effective policies to make sure human rights and the environment are not being harmed in their global operations and supply chains.

The EU Commission announced last year that they would come with a proposal on mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), including corporate liability, access to remedy for victims etc. We feel the EU can and must use its power to set ambitious standards in the fight to hold business accountable for things like union busting, forced labor, land grabbing or toxic waste dumping.

The proposal would be published around June 2021 and until 8th of February, the Commission runs a consultation to collect the input from citizens and stakeholders. INSP!R Asia and its members also contributed since the consultation is open to people across the world that are affected by problems in the global value chains. Since the official submission for an EU consultation is often quite complex (find it here), a coalition of organisations (ETUC, Friends of the Earth, ECCJ etc.) have developed a ‘citizen tool’, to join the consultation by signing their submission here. 

What is “human rights and environmental due diligence”?

It is generally understood as the process for businesses to identify, prevent, reduce and account for the negative impacts of their activities or relationships, which often involve subsidiaries, subcontractors, suppliers and other economic transactions.

Trade unions at work in Nepal during 2020

 WSM trade union partners continued their focus on the contributory social security fund and trying to ensure informal workers are covered. They joined a task force established by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to address the pandemic’s impact on the labour market. All three trade unions also established disaster management committees during the lockdown to monitor the impact of the pandemic among their members, and offer assistance where possible. GEFONT’s rapid assessment study found 42% of enterprises did not pay out any form of remuneration from March 16 to April 15, contrary to the commitment made by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

Trade union support helped to survive lockdown

Hari, a taxi driver in Kathmandu: “I hardly made €10 or 1,500NPR a month with which I had to manage for my family of four to live. Due to the never-ending lockdown, the owner of my taxi couldn’t give me my salary. Life went from how to live on my salary to how to survive without it. I felt devastated. The first month we managed with some savings, but from the second month onwards, we had no money, no food to eat. As my son has tuberculosis, all our money went to his medication. Then, my mother got glaucoma and went blind…My trade union, NTUC, provided us with enough food to survive and also some medical facilities to my son. If they hadn’t helped us in this time of need, my entire family would have starved to death.”

INSP!R Nepal working on both contributory and non-contributory social protection in 2020

The trade union umbrella ITUC-NAC focused on better Occupational Health and Safety through advanced training in six sectors. They also promoted the contributory social security through training, advocacy and awareness-raising of over 25.000 workers. This contributed to an increase in enrolment in the Social Security Fund from less than 140.000 to 184.000 workers by end 2020.

Social Protection Civil Society Network (part of INSP!R Nepal) worked to ensure delivery of non-contributory social security schemes to citizens. After years of continuous advocacy by UNICEF and civil society, the Government of Nepal increased their universal child grant districts from 14 to 25 districts, out of a total of 77 districts.

Universal child grant helps family save

Devi, 27, mother of Arian: “We didn’t know about any grants or support from the government. I can sign my name but not much else. When we managed with support to register, we opened a bank account in my son’s name, and so the money gets sent there every four months. It’s good that the account is in his name, because that way we are reminded that the money is for things he needs. My husband works with heavy machinery, but it isn’t easy to find work nowadays. He spent three years working abroad in Malaysia as a driver. He made good money there but, during lockdown, he had to come back, and since his visa had expired, he had to pay for his flight back himself, which was expensive. He is looking to leave again, and I have to support him to do so, even though I will miss him. We also have to help our parents, since they need money to get by. My husband’s parents aren’t getting any support from the government, because they are still five years away from getting the old-age allowance. My father had a stroke, so he receives a disability allowance. I think our government gives these allowances to people in need to ensure a good life for Nepali citizens, which is the right thing to do. But I think the politicians make these schemes so people will vote for them again, so they can get re-elected.”

2020 Nepal output in numbers

In 2020, over 400.000 people were reached with WSM support through:

Labour standards:

1. Close to 200.000 workers, of which 16% women and 8% under 35 y/o, are made more aware of their rights through campaigns and public outreach.
   
2. 1.236 workers, of which 32% women and 55% youth, received basic training and 1.200, of which 25% women and 12% youth, advanced training (of leaders or of Trainers).
3. 270 workers, of which 15% women and 9% youth, benefited from legal assistance.
4. Advocacy: over 200.000 workers (70% women and 4% young workers) are mobilized at grassroots level to publicly demand their rights through demonstrations, petitions, May Day rallies etc.

Vocational skills:  55 people got skill training (82% women and 78% youth) in embroidery, tailoring etc.

• Nepal partners: GEFONT, NTUC, ITUC-NAC, SPCSN        
• Budget 2020: 87.813€
• Donors: DGD, EU INTPA
• Programme: 2017-2021

Context in Nepal in 2020

COVID-19 marred 2020 in Nepal, with 264.000 confirmed cases and 2.800 registered deaths. Strict lockdown rules from March 24 to July 21 wreaked havoc with the economy, causing much distress among workers, particularly in the informal sector. With land borders with India and China closed, and international flights suspended for parts of the year, remittances and tourist incomes (usually 33% and 8% of GDP respectively) dropped sharply. By year end, GDP growth was at 1.8%, compared to 7% in 2019. To cap off a stressful year, Prime Minister Oli dissolved Parliament in December 2020, prompting protests and instability.

The social protection response by the government of Nepal to the COVID-19 crisis was mainly through delivering relief packages to vulnerable households during the initial peak (March-May). These relief package included food aid, a 10% reduction on essential food items, and a 25% reduction on electricity bills. Informal sector workers who lost their jobs were offered positions in public employment programmes for minimum wage, or provided with 25% of the local minimum wage if they chose not to participate.

India 2020 in numbers

 Over 1,17 million Indians were reached in 2020:

• 452.000 people (49% women and 44% youth) are more aware of their labour rights through campaigns and outreach. Trade unions organized over 112.000 workers, of which 91% women and 52% youth.
• Almost 6.700 people, of which 84% women and 55% youth, received basic training in labour standards, social security and health. 6.200 Indians, of which 87% women and 41% young workers, received advanced training (of leaders or of trainers).
• Over 10.000 workers, majority of which were women (82%) and 40% young workers, benefitted from legal assistance for labour rights.
• Advocacy: More than 539.000 people (32% women and 44% young workers) were mobilized at grassroots level (ex. demonstrations, petitions…).

Partner organizations:      CWM-India, AREDS, NDWM, NDWF, CFTUI, SEWA

Budget 2020:              328.230€

Donor:              DGD, Brussels Region International, Familiehulp, ACV Food and Services

Program:              2017-2021 (DGD)

Indian partners advocating together in 2020

During 2020, union protests against the reform of the labour codes continued and took a sharper tone. The partner organizations mobilized their members in collaboration with other recognized trade unions of India. They looked at issues like informal workers’ registration procedures into a database. In September 2020, a nationwide protest held by NDWM, NDWF and CFTUI under the National Platform Domestic Workers demanded National Legislation for Domestic Workers, cash transfers to domestic workers affected by the corona crisis and the implementation of the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. 

Memoranda were submitted to the Members of Parliament, Labour Ministers, Labour Commissioners and District Collectors in different states. The partner organizations jointly mobilized over 30.000 workers and provided training to 700 workers, of which two thirds were women.

With the support from Brussels Region, our partners also jointly conducted a study in different states on how informal workers had access to social security schemes during the COVID pandemic, in collaboration with Working People’s Charter. WSM also supported the self-employed women’s trade union SEWA in Kerala to support intra-state migrant workers in getting access to social security schemes.

Amidst COVID-19 and labour reforms - work from WSM partners in India 2020

 Labour law reform

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the central government pushed through with the biggest labour law reform since independence in 1947, to amalgamate and codify 44 existing labour laws into 4 codes in order to simplify the labour legislation in India: a code on wages; a code on industrial relations; a code on occupational safety, health and working conditions; a code on social security. While the central government and some state governments maintain that the labour law reform is necessary in order to boost productivity and to provide greater flexibility to employers to conduct their business, while expanding the social security to both gig workers as inter-state migrant workers. The reform however triggered a serious backlash from trade unions and other labour movements, claiming it as being ‘anti-worker’ and ‘anti-labour’, resulting in a massive general strike held across India on 26th November 2020 in which they claim 250 million workers took part, a majority of them non-unionized and non-organized workers. The main concerns of the broader labour movement are the extension of maximum working time from 8 to 12 hours per day, the introduction of  restrictions on the right to strike effectively making industrial actions impossible, and the increase of a threshold for collective layoffs from 100 to 300 workers without prior government approval. The workers’ strike was followed by a march of tens of thousands of farmers to New Delhi to protest against the liberalization of the agricultural sector, which could mean the end of government-controlled wholesale markets and minimum support buying prices for agricultural produce.

Coronavirus and lockdown in India

Just like other countries in the world India was struck hard by the COVID-19 virus. On 24th March 2020 a nationwide lockdown was imposed until 14th April and eventually extended until 30th September. This created a lot of chaos as workers, most certainly those in the informal economy (the majority of all Indian workers) could no longer go to work or keep open their business. It led to a collapse in economic activity in the whole country. Due to the loss of income and work, many workers living in the city went back to their family in the countryside, thus contributing to the further spread of the virus. International flights were cancelled and the country’s borders closed, preventing many Indian migrant workers to return home, trapping them for a long time without salary being paid due to the closure of their factory or construction site. Also intrastate travelling became very complicated. 

During the first lockdown, partner organizations took the initiative to help the workers and their families in the relief effort, informing them about the nature of the virus and the health risks, distributing personal protective equipment such as masks and hand gels, raising awareness about the importance of quarantine and social distancing, distributing food and medicines.

Although the partner organizations were able to adjust quite fast to the situation, the pandemic and lockdown resulted in the cancelling of many of the originally planned activities. Mainly trainings in groups could not take place or had to be postponed. The partner organizations successfully started to make use of online meetings to stay connected to their members and each other, which became a (less than ideal) alternative for the normal meetings. Most of the partner organizations (except for AREDS) made use of the possibility to reorient 20% of their annual DGD – budget to aforementioned COVID-19 related actions. The partner organizations took this crisis as an opportunity to strengthen the grass root activities by collaborating with different stakeholders and State departments like the police department ( to create awareness), the welfare departments (to give access to welfare/social security schemes to the informal workers), by mobilizing and supporting public distribution of rations and provisions. By involving these different actors and departments, the partner organizations could analyze how government machineries are responding to shocks, how informal workers and grass root level communities were affected by these measures. This helped them to advocate with different trade unions and national platforms and to mobilise for strikes against the Central Government to protest the new labour codes and farmers’ laws.

Aside from the regular DGD – program funds, WSM also channelled funds to the National Domestic Workers Movement from the Music for Life solidarity action and the Brussels Region International (BRI), which has sistered with Chennai, a city in the southeast of India and capital of Tamil Nadu State. BRI supported the NDWM Tamil Nadu branch in supporting domestic workers and their children who have been evicted from the Chennai city center slums and had been relocated 40km away, causing many to lose their jobs and lacking schools. In the second half of 2020, BRI also provided 50.000€ for relief aid to NDWM and 3 other local Chennai organizations. With the support of Belgian organisation Familiehulp, NDWM was also able to start up and develop domestic workers’ cooperatives in six states.

When your daughter is the first to finish high school, Testimony of a domestic worker - India 2020

Devi, 36 years, a domestic worker from Patna, part of the National Domestic Workers’ Movement since 2009: “I have four children and my husband is a daily wage labourer who does not support the family. The movement staff contacted me and encouraged me to educate my children. With their support I admitted first two children in school and later the other two. Today I am extremely happy that my child, Anjali, has completed her +2 in a reputed school in Patna and my other children are in class 8th, 5th and 3rd. This is the first time in our locality that a girl child  has completed higher secondary studies and she has dreams to become a teacher. NDWM also stood by my family along with 95 domestic workers families in my locality during the lockdown."

New Oxfam report on the need for USP in times of COVID19 'Shelter from the Storm"

Oxfam launched the report “Shelter from the Storm. The global need for universal social protection in times of COVID-19”. As 2020 draws to a close, the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating. Without urgent action, global poverty and inequality will deepen dramatically. Hundreds of millions of people have already lost their jobs, gone further into debt or skipped meals for months. Research by Oxfam and Development Pathways shows that over 2 billion people have had no support from their governments in their time of need.

Our analysis shows that none of the social protection support to those who are unemployed, elderly people, children and families provided in low- and middle-income countries has been adequate to meet basic needs. 41% of that government support was only a one-off payment and almost all government support has now stopped.

Decades of social policy focused on tiny levels of means-tested support have left most countries completely unprepared for the COVID-19 economic crisis. Yet, countries such as South Africa and Bolivia have shown that a universal approach to social protection is affordable, and that it has a profound impact on reducing inequality and protecting those who need it most. Read more here.

COVID-19 and older people in Asia Pacific: 2020 in review

The report “COVID-19 and older people in Asia Pacific: 2020 in review” published by UNFPA and HelpAge International is a look back at how the pandemic affected older people in Asia Pacific in 2020.

This paper documents some of the key themes that emerged throughout the year and suggests critical gaps that 2021 will urgently need to address. The pandemic has exposed the fine line between highlighting older people’s social vulnerabilities and reinforcing ageist perceptions.

You can download it here.

Attending 1st meeting of the OECD Policy Dialogue on Social Protection and Development: Extending Social Protection to Informal Economy Workers

Members from WSM and INSP!R Asia attended the OECD Development centre policy dialogue on Social Protection and Development 1st meeting of the OECD Policy Dialogue on Social Protection and Development which focused on a central theme  we have been focusing on: extending Social Protection to Informal Economy Workers. The following gives an idea of what was discussed:

Recent  years  have  seen  a  heightened  recognition  of  the  potential  role  of  social  protection  in  the development process. Universal social protection now constitutes an essential component of the global agenda for sustainable development and it features amongst key policy priorities in several regional and national commitments. The current COVID-19 crisis, which is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable, sadly confirms the centrality of social protection to build more resilient societies.

Yet, the road to universal social protection remains difficult in many countries. A common challenge in developing and emerging countries where informal employment  dominates is to find appropriate modalities  to  expand  social  protection  coverage  in  a  way  that  recognises  the  diversity  of  informal economy  workers  and  provides  them  with  mechanisms  that  are  fair,  efficient  and  sustainable.  As governments intend to build informality-robust social protection systems, another challenge is to make social protection instruments gender-sensitive and gender-transformative. In this context, learning from countries about their  experiences in extending social protection to men and women in the informal economy appears critical.

The aim of this first meeting of the policy dialogue on social protection and development is to provide an  interactive  setting  between  member  countries  of  the  OECD  Development  Centre  and  other stakeholders for an issue-based peer dialogue, experience sharing, mutual learning and the collective production  of  new  knowledge  to  support  the  extension  of  social  protection  to  informal  economy workers. As such, it is an important contribution to the Universal Social Protection Agenda 2030. The dialogue was articulated around the following sessions: 

1. Session 1 looks at the importance of capturing the different social protection needs of informal economy workers; 
2. Section 2 and Session 3 discuss the role of  social  assistance  and  social  insurance  for  informal  economy  workers  in  times  of  COVID-19, respectively; and 
3. the last session addresses the role of innovative financing schemes for informal gig-economy workers.

A  new  OECD  database  –  the  OECD  Key  Indicators  of  Informality  based  on  Individuals  and  their Households  (KIIBIH)  –  relies  on  household  surveys  from  41  countries  to  derive  harmonised  and comparable  indicators  across  countries  related  to  informal  employment  measured  at  the  level  of individuals  and  their  households.  By  covering  both  individuals  and  their  households,  the  database allows  for  a  comprehensive  monitoring  of  informality  that  captures  the  heterogeneity  of  informal economy  workers,  taking  into  account  the  broader  context  of  their  households.  The  household dimension allows to monitor how workers’ vulnerability in the informal economy is passed on to other segments of the population and also enriches our understanding of the different channels through which social protection can reach out to informal workers as part of the formalisation agenda.

Such data suggest that a strategy to extend social protection to informal economy workers may well be articulated around the following three pillars: 

• (i) closing the social protection gap among poor informal economy workers through non-contributory schemes; 
• (ii) extending contributory schemes to non-poor informal workers that have the capacity to contribute; and 
• (iii) creating incentives to levy higher social security   contributions   from   employers   of   wage   workers   and   workers   in   hidden   employment relationships.

Publication on the urgency of climat change actions

Our planet is in danger, and if we do not drastically change our actions, the consequences could be devastating for all humans, including future generations.

It is therefore necessary to put forward a new narrative, one that values solidarity between peoples and is the precursor to mobilising actions. We must abandon the culture of competition that pursues profit at all costs and replace it with the pursuit of the well-being of all, in harmony with nature.

The partner organisations of WSM, ACV-CSC and CM-MC are unions, mutual health organisations and other social movements in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. These organisations, with their strong social base, are levers for sustainable social change because they are already actively responding to the negative impacts of climate change, which primarily affects their communities.

In this brochure we offer you an overview of some of the innovative approaches to change.