Publications

Developing Effective Mechanisms for Implementing Labor Rights in the Global Economy

Publication Date: 

May 10, 2000

The major point of this paper is that workers in different countries are not adversaries and there is no actual conflict of interest between them. Broad-based economic development is a win-win proposition for workers. Workers in all countries must grasp that they are presently in a doomed competition for low wage jobs, while the MNCs are reaping the benefits of a global surplus of cheap labor. Workers everywhere must return to basics and act together to deal with the global power of MNCs. The unifying theme can be that all workers will benefit if global wages rise.

Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry

Publication Date: 

February 1, 1999

In 1996, the International Labor Rights Fund launched a campaign to end the exploitation of child labor in the soccer ball industry. This campaign secured the endorsement of important soccer leagues, city government, youth and children's associations. The campaign also helped encourage the establishment of an international program to move children from soccer ball stitching to schools in Sialkot, Pakistan, where 70% of the world's soccer balls were made.

Partners' Agreement to Eliminate Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry

Publication Date: 

February 14, 1997

In February 1997, an agreement was reached between the industry, the ILO, and UNICEF to remove children from the soccer ball industry, provide them with educational opportunities and created internal and external monitoring systems. Over 50 Pakistani soccer ball manufacturers and U. S. importers have signed on to the agreement, known as the "Partners' Agreement to Eliminate Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry in Pakistan"(Partners' Agreement).

A Missed Opportunity: The World Bank's World Development Report 1995

Publication Date: 

January 1, 1995

The World Bank's World Development Report 1995: Workers in an Integrating World (WDR) afforded an opportunity for the World Bank to provide leadership on a central issue that faces both its borrowing and non-borrowing member countries: how the increasing competition of countries for the same pool of investment capital, particularly for the purpose of producing manufactured goods, can be reconciled with the interests of workers in industrialized countries and countries at lesser stages of development.

Sexual Harassment and Reproductive Rights

Publication Date: 

January 1, 0001

Sexual harassment is not an illegal practice in many countries and there is shortage of national and international legislation to address this serious rights violation. Studies indicate that women often fail to report incidents to employers or courts because they are unaware of their rights, either because they have been threatened, or because they are afraid they will be punished or humiliated.

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