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April 30, 2020 News

No May Day Marches in Myanmar

Workers Fear Increase in Union Busting at Factories During Covid-19 Lockdown

In previous years on May 1, workers across Myanmar would rally and march in solidarity for workers’ rights and justice. But this May Day the streets will be quiet, as no marches are allowed with Covid-19 lockdowns and curfews in place. Most…

Workers shout slogans during a May Day march in Yangon, Myanmar, May 1, 2019.

July 31, 2019 News

Thailand Offers Persecuted Rohingya Little Hope

Prime Minister’s Racist Comments Reflect Inhumane Asylum Seeker Policy

Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha’s racist slurs directed at the Rohingya are bad enough. But they are made even worse because they reflect the Thai government’s cruel policy toward Rohingya asylum seekers who take perilous journeys to…

Rohingya refugees sit behind bars at a police station in Satun province, Thailand, June 12, 2019.

February 12, 2019 News

Combating Sexual Harassment in the Garment Industry

Sexual Harassment in Garment Factories Eleven women garment workers from a factory in southern India sent a hand-written letter to a local union in late 2016.[1] They wrote: “The plight of women workers … we don’t have anyone who would…

August 17, 2018 News

Don’t Expect Much from Latest Myanmar Commission

Chairwoman Declares ‘No Finger Pointing’ for Atrocities Against Rohingya

It’s now clear that Myanmar’s new “independent commission of inquiry” into human rights violations committed in Rakhine State will not be a serious and impartial investigation that will identify alleged perpetrators to be brought to justice…

A Rohingya woman walks through Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, March 22, 2018.

May 1, 2018 News

Bangladesh’s Monsoon Season Threatens Rohingya Refugees

UN Security Council Should Act to Protect Population at Risk

When I last visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh at the end of last year, a new sort of everyday life was taking shape. No longer were countless desperate people milling about by the road, on paddy fields, and in public buildings.…

Rohingya refugees try to take shelter from torrential rain as they are held by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) after illegally crossing the border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, August 31, 2017.

April 27, 2018 News

Mangoes and Workers’ Health and Safety Rights

How Unions Help Workers Worldwide

How can a mango craving spiral into a labor dispute? I was talking with garment workers in Cambodia when I heard the mango story. A pregnant garment worker had been caught sneaking mangoes into the factory despite a rule forbidding food…

Garment workers take part in a May Day demonstration in Phnom Penh, Cambodia May 1, 2017.

November 7, 2017 News

Ten Principles for Protecting Refugees and Internally Displaced People Arising from Burma’s Rohingya Crisis

1. Members of the Rohingya ethnic group who have fled from Burma to Bangladesh are refugees and should be recognized as such. They are entitled to all rights that attach to refugee status. More than 600,000 Rohingya…

Rohingya refugees walk on a muddy path as others travel on a boat after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 6, 2017.

September 24, 2017 News

India Can’t Mistreat Refugees By Not Signing Refugee Convention

Customary International Law Prohibits Returning Rohingya to Burma

India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh, said in a tweet that his government is “not violating any international law” if it deports Rohingya refugees “as we are not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.” Hold on. If India had not signed the…

A group of Rohingya refugees cross a canal after travelling over the Bangladesh-Burma border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 1, 2017.

September 23, 2017 News

‘Safe Zones’ for Rohingya Refugees in Burma Could Be Dangerous

Deadly Experiences in Bosnia and Sri Lanka Should Serve as Warning

When Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, spoke at the United Nations General Assembly this week, she focused on the humanitarian challenges of hosting 400,000 Rohingya Muslims from northern Rakhine State in Burma. They have arrived destitute,…

January 26, 2016 News

Dispatches: Zika Warnings Versus Realities Women Face

The rapid spread of the Zika virus has raised concern among public health officials across the Americas. The World Health Organization warned Sunday that the virus is likely to spread further across the region. At first glance,…

A woman walks away from her apartment as health workers fumigates the Altos del Cerro neighborhood as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Soyapango, El Salvador January 21, 2016.

June 1, 2015 News

Dispatches: UN Falls Short in Helping Burma’s Rohingya

The world was transfixed in horror by images of desperate Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma on cramped boats and being pushed back to sea by Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. At the same time, the United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy to Burma,…

March 30, 2015 News

Dispatches: Positive Step Toward Burma Election

There is much to be skeptical of in Burma’s plan for nationwide elections in October. But today one small, yet important, first step toward making Burma a genuine rights-respecting democracy took place. As part of a national process to update voter lists…

November 27, 2001 News

Fact Sheet: Past U.S. Criticism of Military Tribunals

(Washington, DC) - Under President Bush's November 13th Military Order on military commissions, any foreign national designated by the President as a suspected terrorist or as aiding terrorists could potentially be detained, tried, convicted and even…

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