Global rights in the face of Covid-19

If previous ITUC Global Rights Index documents caused a shudder – this year’s report evidences the stark reality of what has been going on while we have all been in lock-down.

We are all sick of the pandemic and the havoc it has wrecked on our lives. Yet from the comfort of your own working from home scenario, can you imagine dealing with all things Covid while toiling away in conditions that are already unsafe and dangerous?

The eighth edition of the ITUC Global Rights Index sheds some light on what this might be like for those workers, by ranking 149 countries on the degree of respect for workers’ rights over the last year. Findings show that both labour and human rights are being systematically dismantled and repressive laws ushered in. Workers have endured an increase in surveillance and undermining of their rights to privacy. Amid the pandemic, workers have been dismissed for sharing vital information about the spread Covid-19 in workplaces and workplaces have become less safe.

Statistics show that:

• 79 percent of countries violated the right to collectively bargain, 87 percent of countries violated the right to strike and 74 percent of countries excluded workers from the right to establish and join a trade union.
• Workers were exposed to violence in 45 countries with no or restricted access to justice in 65 percent of countries.
• Workers experienced arbitrary arrests and detention in 68 countries with trade unionists murdered in six countries: Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Myanmar, Nigeria and the Philippines.
• The number of countries which denied or constrained freedom of speech increased from 56 in 2020 to 64 in 2021.

Behind every horrid statistic, there is a human being working to feed their families, educate their children, trying to stay alive and yet being denied basic dignity that labour and human rights provide. The abhorrent tragedy is that governments and employers have used the pandemic to refine this exploitation and maximise suffering for workers around the world.

Who then are the offenders?

Belarus, Colombia, Cambodia and Myanmar have been restricting trade union activity and overseen the erosion of Occupational Health and safety standards making workplaces less safe. Honduras, India, Indonesia, Slovakia and Uruguay have dismantled labour and human rights protections and introduced repressive laws instead.

The top ten worst countries for workers

The ten worst countries for working people in 2021 are Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Myanmar, the Philippines, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

Regionally, the Middle East and North Africa has been the worst in the world for working people for eight years running. Libya, Palestine, Syria and Yemen were still beset with conflict, and fundamental liberties and rights in those countries continue to be trampled.

There is a lot to digest and think about this year, but my hope is that prompts companies, trade unions and NGOs to revisit our own supply chain HRDD mapping, to overlay this year’s report with what we already know.

One thing we can all do is discuss and share these injustices – from boardrooms and corridors of powerholders to farms, factories and shipping vessels. Those of us with the privilege to access our rights to speak freely, need to use our collective voice to make this story heard and responded to.