APEC leaders `responsible' for labor rights violations
APEC leaders `responsible' for labor rights violations
By Ati Nurbaiti
VANCOUVER (JP): Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum should be held accountable for
violations of labor rights in their countries, human rights and
labor activists have said.
They reached this conclusion following an international
tribunal on workers' rights held here last week to hear the
testimonies of workers from different countries.
The event was part of a People's Summit held by non-
governmental organizations ahead of the annual APEC summit.
A worker from China said she survived a fire in 1993 in a toy
factory which claimed 87 lives; a Thai worker narrated the plight
of fellow workers who were left unpaid and jobless when the
garment plant where they worked closed down; and American workers
in a California plant faced this threat because owners said they
would move to Mexico if the workers continued their attempt to
form a union.
The plight of Indonesia's labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, who
is serving a prison term, was also highlighted at the tribunal.
Irene Fernandez, one of the jurors and executive director of
the Malaysian Tenaganita, a non-government organization focusing
on women workers, said efforts to open up economies in Asia-
Pacific was done "while workers are without protection
mechanisms".
"At the same time, the deregulation that is taking place is
tied very much to the fact that leaders are seen only as
'economic leaders', which leads to the sidestepping of political
and social issues of trade," Irene said.
Other jurors were Pierre Sane of Amnesty International, Yayori
Matsui, director of Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center and
Francisco Sionel Jose, national secretary of the Philippine
Center of PEN International, a literary organization.
They recommended that APEC should "ensure mechanisms through
which member governments can be held responsible for violations
of human rights, and ways in which they can ensure that
transnational corporations respect workers' human rights."
They also urged APEC to ratify the human rights' treaties of
the United Nations and International Labor Organization and
incorporate them in national legislations.
Although officials have repeatedly said that APEC should focus
only on trade, the activists said the condition of workers in the
region was "deplorable and unacceptable", and "more painful
stories" would follow without a commitment from governments to
heed labor practices.
"The priority accorded to economic growth and rapid trade and
investment liberalization run counter to any notion of people-
centered sustainable development," it said, underscoring the fact
that sustainable development is one of APEC's agendas.
"APEC's process establishes a privileged relationship between
business and government to the exclusion of other social groups.
"The accountability of governments to their populations is
further diminished by APEC's characterization of states as
economies," the statement said.
Bob White, president of the Canadian Labor Congress, and
Warren Allmand, president of the International Center for Human
Rights and Development, whose organization sponsored the
tribunal, said they had met Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lloyd Axworthy in the morning to urge APEC governments to respect
basic workers rights.