Sympathy without action means nothing: GK mission after the 25th of April 2015 Nepal earthquake

The team from our partner in Bangladesh, GK, arrived the day after the second quake with medical supplies and tents. I got a call at 6am in the morning when they arrived. If I could come and pick them up at the Ring Road, since they couldn't drive into the city, because the bus was stacked so high, it couldn't get under the electrical wires. On my bike to meet with the 12 members of the team, off loading the stuff and finding pick ups to drop it at our house. They brought around 50 boxes of medical supplies, some tents and 2.000 liters of water.

Some news from GEFONT's earthquake relief

GEFONT held a press conference today, regarding the relief efforts they have been providing in the aftermath of the 25 April earthquake. Under the banner of joint platform of Nepali trade union JTUCC (Joint Trade Union Coordination Centre) a memorial service was organised in the evening of May 1st.  Thousands of candles were lit to pay tribute to deceased people, speedy recovery of injured persons, and condolences to the bereaved family and solidarity to the entire victims. It was one of the first and special programme dedicated to general public after the shock.

Solidarity in the south and between WSM partners

It is not only from the West that solidarity comes to Nepal after the earthquake, but most support has been given by India. Also the WSM partners in Asia have expressed their solidarity and support.

Just two illustrations: the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC), and C.CWADU also WSM partners, are gathering donations for GEFONT and NTUC (see article).

Another partner in Bangladesh, GK, which runs a Medical College and hospital said there are many Nepali students there, who, with the help from staff, went round requesting for donations. Apparently, while collecting this money, a child selling flowers on the street also come up to them and donated 10Taka (10Eurocent). GK will be sending a team of volunteers along with the Nepali doctors and students to Nepal for medical support.

When a Nepali migrant worker comes home after the earthquake...

Watch this segment for Al Jazeera, about a Nepali worker, Suresh Kumal, who returned home to scenes of devastation and personal loss, made by a friend of ours, Subina Shrestha.

Even though the need is big to help with the rebuilding, he will still need to go back to pay the loan from the company.

A reality often overlooked in the aftermath of the earthquake, while at least two million Nepali are working abroad in the Gulf States. When I visited some villages, an old couple was clearing away the debris of their house. There were not enough young men left in the area to help....

The Independent headlined Nepal earthquake victims' families prevented from leaving Qatar Fifa World Cup building sites to attend funerals: Strict rules, known as kafala, mean that many of the 400,000 Nepalese employed in the country have their passports taken.

So, what can you do? Well, Avaaz has launched a petition to demand the abolshment of the Kafala system, which enslaves migrant workers. Sign it here. 

Bangladesh approves its National Social Security Strategy

Original article from Development Pathways here.
In early April 2015, the Government of Bangladesh approved its new National Social Security Strategy (NSSS). Since independence, Bangladesh has instituted a range of social security schemes although the level of investment in conventional cash-based schemes has remained relatively low, at no more than 0.7% of GDP, while overall spending on social protection – once civil service pensions and food transfers are included – is over 2% of GDP). Research by Development Pathways has indicated that the impact of the current social security system is minimal, reducing the poverty rate by a mere 4.5%. The Government of Bangladesh has also been concerned about inefficiencies in the system as well as a proliferation of small schemes across a wide range of Ministries (often promoted and financed by development partners). The NSSS is an attempt by the government to bring coherence to the national social security system while also developing a long-term vision for a more modern and comprehensive system. Development Pathways – in collaboration with the Policy Research Institute (PRI) and SANEM – were contracted to support the Planning Commission in developing the Strategy.

Short movie on trafficking by NDWM

AHAANA, a short film on Anti-trafficking produced by NDWM:

The earthquake in Nepal

A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck close to Nepal's capital Kathmandu on 25 Apr 2015, toppling office blocks, temples, towers and killing thousands of people. More than two dozen people were also reported killed in neighbouring India, China and Bangladesh.

As of 29 Apr, the Government of Nepal reported 5,006 deaths and 10,194 injured people. It is estimated that 2.8 million people have been displaced, as over 70,000 are believed to be destroyed and another 530,000 homes damaged across the 39 affected districts.

The WSM partners in Nepal, NTUC and GEFONT, two trade unions with a combined membership of over 700.000 people, are currently focusing on helping out. Bishnu Rimal from GEFONT spoke in Equal Times on the situation and priorities. GEFONT also launched an appeal for solidarity.

WSM has expressed their deep sympathies and offers to support them through their existing solidarity funds, which will be used to assist members, by paying for medical bills and reconstruction of houses from members. The appeal to the Belgian public and members can be found here in French and here in Dutch. I've also been trying to relay realities on the field through Belgian media, emphasizing how the first and most important help is achieved by the solidarity of Nepalis here, in all kinds of ways and from all strays of life, rather than the international support, which takes time to mobilize and arrive. Communication remains extremely difficult, so it is hard to update and share specific information during these confusing times. The less fortunate focus on surviving and rebuilding, the more fortunate on finding ways to help out...

Of course, this tragic event will also affect the WSM programme. The WSM meeting of all Asia partners, which had already been postponed once because of the Turkish Airlines crash which blocked the Kathmandu airport for several days, will now again be postponed till September. A delegation from ACV-CSC and WSM will still come 10th of May however to meet with the partner leaders and asses the situation and how best to help.

For updates on the personal experiences and efforts of helping out, as I am based in Kathmandu as the WSM Asia Coordinator, you can read my personal blog here. 

Director-General ILO speaks about many issues at Belgian ACV-CSC Congress

Some extracts from the speech given by Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Ostend, Belgium, 24 April 2015

Indeed Belgium is a country with one of the highest trade union density rates in the world, not an accident but due in no small part to the hard work that this Confederation and the rest of the Belgian trade union movement has done for a very long time.  So let me start by recognizing and commending you for those achievements. 

The fact that union membership is so strong in Belgium attests to unions’ effectiveness in representing workers’ interests and to the range of work you do for all types of workers – for manual and for white collar workers; for young workers and old workers; women and men; and also for the inclusion that you bring, helping migrant workers and the children and grandchildren of migrant workers in your efforts.

Here is the point: what trade unions do is good not only for your members and for workers but good for the whole of Belgian society, its coherence and its fairness.  Some don’t want to understand that, and don’t want to recognize that, but it is true. 

[...]

Want to buy a cheap T-shirt for 2EUR and get more than what you expect?

Dresses for as little as $10, designer bags for under $25. Today, you can buy a trendy new outfit on the cheap. "People want fashion for a bargain," Fashion Revolution explains in its new video social experiment. The nonprofit placed a vending machine in the streets of Berlin and offered people a T-shirt for as little as €2 (or approximately $2.19). That's less than the average price of a cup of coffee.

Who could resist an offer like that, right? Watch the video to see why the passersby opted not to make the purchase.


The nonprofit created the video for April 24's Fashion Revolution Day, an annual event that remembers the 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Over 1000 people working in the garment factory were killed while producing clothing for brands such as J.C. Penney, Benetton, Walmart and others in suspect conditions.

"We’re not asking people to boycott their favorite stores, we need to change the fashion industry from within by asking the brands and retailers where we like to shop 'Who made my clothes?'" Fashion Revolution Day founder Carry Somers told Marie Claire. "Consumers didn't cause this problem, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be part of the solution," she added.

Fashion Revolution is encouraging people to take a stand and show fashion brands they need to start taking responsibility for their actions. To learn more, follow the #fashrev hashtag on social media.

H&M maakt beloftes niet waar

Vandaag, 16 april, organiseert H&M de “H&M Conscious exclusive night 2015”. Tijdens het exclusieve evenement wil H&M de ‘Conscious collectie’ tonen en ‘de toekomst van de duurzame mode vieren’. H&M promoot zichzelf graag als absolute voorloper op het vak van ecologisch en ethisch verantwoorde kledij. Op ethisch vlak blijft het echter vooral bij beloftes.

In 2013 publiceerde H&M zijn routekaart naar een leef­baar loon. De Zweedse kledingreus heeft zich geëngageerd om 850.000 kledingarbeiders een 'eer­lijk leefbaar loon' te betalen tegen 2018. Het pas gelanceerde duurzaamheidsrapport van H&M kan geen cijfers voorleggen die bewijzen dat de Zweedse gigant reële vooruitgang heeft geboekt op dat vlak. 

Ce soir sur Questions à la Une: Les fringues auront-elles notre peau?

Mes chers amis en Belgique, envie de (re)voir ma tête et d'en apprendre un petit peu plus mon boulot et ce qui se passe dans les coulisses des grandes marques de vêtements?
Ce soir à 20h25 sur la Une, l'émission "Questions à la Une" se penche sur la toxicité de nos vêtements! Une partie de l'émission a été tournée au Bangladesh avec... moi-même, comme coopérant de Solidarité Mondiale en Asie du Sud.

GK ou "People's Health Center", notre partenaire au Bangladesh, offre des soins de santé aux travailleurs/ses du textile et nous éclaire comment les produits qui nous donnent des allergies en Belgique, provoquent des cancers là-bas...
Voir toute l'émission, vu par un belge francophone sur cinq devant sa télé ce soir, ici.

Update 29/9/2015: Koppen, die eerder al een reportage deed rond Made in Bangladesh, nam deze documentaire over en is hier te bezien.

Some preliminary results from 2014

This is the time of the year where WSM has to focus on reporting. All partner organisations write their annual report and I'm currently very busy going through it, compiling it and adding our own information.

Though quite exhausting, it is motivating to get a bigger picture of all our partners and us are working on, so in a couple of posts on this blog, I want to share certain elements. For this first post, a bit of an overview:
Overall, the implementation of the programme seems to be on track for the zone countries of India, Nepal and Bangladesh during 2014, despite a somewhat slow start. The changes in context have not made work easier, with the election of a right-winged, liberal government in India and strikes in all three countries. Nepal is still in transition, with hopefully legislation which the WSM partners lobbied for to come through in the near future. No major risks occurred but the risk management system was fine-tuned and updated.

With regards to obtaining the indicators for 2014, the following was achieved:
For category 1, the services provided regarding the right to social protection (Legal Aid, Vocational Training, Social Economy, Social Security, Health Care and the Common Services), partners reported going past the set output indicators for 2014 by 37%, benefiting over 400.000 people in the three zone countries. With 43% of the overall goal for the 2014-2016 programme reached, WSM is optimistic about achieving the set indicators.
The joint political actions of category 2 also seem well on their way, with a study done in each country and a specific methodology developed by WSM which was used to facilitate drafting political agendas. In India, while research is ongoing to learn more about decent living income in the informal sector, some lobbying took place to advocate for the ratification by India of the ILO convention 189 regarding domestic workers and to put in place national legislation for domestic workers. Nepal is worth mentioning, since, besides the work done to promote Occupational Health and Safety for employees, partners are attempting to take advantage of the current transition phase to push through important legislative tools regarding social protection (the chapter on labour rights in the draft constitution, a social security act and amendments to the Labour Act). It is however slower to take off in Bangladesh, where both the differences between the WSM two local partners (one NGO focusing on health and another a garment trade union) as well as the volatile political situation render advocacy harder.

The category 3, capacity strengthening, is satisfying but still has new structures and approaches that need fine-tuning and closer follow up by WSM. The Steering Committee which is new in this programme is functioning but has had little concrete impact so far. The methodology for capacity strengthening has been introduced to all partners of the zone countries. Regarding the north-south exchanges, much attention still went to the clean clothes issues, regarding the working conditions in the garment industry and lobbying towards consumers and retailers in Belgium. The south-south exchanges need to be promoted and systematized better. WSM has supported certain of the international political action of the partners in the SAARC region. The majority of the partners managed to do adequate reporting, despite some delays and challenges. The follow-up done by WSM is well in place, though the tool for the continuous monitoring of the capacities of the partner organisations needs to be improved. 

But together, we're clearly having an impact. Union is strength!

Urge the Indian government to fix Minimum Wages for Domestic Workers

The National Domestic Workers Movement, the WSM partner in India, has launched a petition for the cause of the domestic workers, so they would be under the Schedule and the Minimum Wages Act of 1948, because currently they are denied Minimum wages, which is their right as worker.

Take Middu for example, a domestic worker from Savitri Nagar, Delhi. She goes to work as a part time domestic worker in 12 houses and she earns Rs. 12,000 or 177Euro per month, working 11 to 12 hours per day. Is she not denied of her rights of Just Wages?

Join us in signing this petition calling on Delhi government to fix minimum wages for domestic workers. Sign our petition and forward it to your friends and family to bring the change in the lives of domestic workers. Please sign the petition and share on change.org here!

When street vendors, domestic workers and construction people look at how to include the informal workers in social security in Nepal

This meeting took place as part of the synergy political action by the two WSM partners, GEFONT and NTUC, two main trade unions in Nepal, and was organized through ITUC-NAC. It followed on a study done by M Ramesh Badal in August 2014 regarding the existing social security systems in Nepal, analyzed through the ILC 102, which had already been shared with the partners in September. The current meeting meant to go beyond these findings and examine to which extent the informal economy could be included in the social security systems which are currently being established. 

The situation in Nepal regarding the political action synergy and roadmap methodology is indeed atypical, in the sense that the existing social protection schemes are already under revision and that trade unions have already advanced quite far in their positions and demands on these matters, which have been presented and negotiated to a large extent with both State and employers. Hence, the WSM support is meant to contribute to the already existing dynamic and strategic choices of the partners, rather than start from scratch. 

During the preparatory meetings, both partners had expressed an interest in ways and systems to include the informal workers in the schemes that were being established. Questions that were still unanswered were how to distinguish between the self-employed informal workers: independent or dependent, which amount and providence of contributions for them, how to ensure proper implementation… 

The objective of this meeting was hence to gather representatives from four informal sectors (construction, agriculture, domestic and home based workers and street vendors) and have them brainstorm across the three trade unions on potential ways of answering these issues in their sector.