On November 24, the Initiatives for Workers Solidarity – Asia Pacific was launched in a solidarity program that closed the Workers Study Conference on informal labour.
Participants of the study conference from 29 organisations across 15 countries and territories in the region (Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand) witnessed the launch. Also present were staff of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) office in the region.
Aaron Ceradoy, General Manager of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), gave a brief background on the conceptualization of the IWS-AP. He relayed that, while the concrete unity to establish IWS-AP was reached in a meeting of various networks and organisations convened by APMM in November 2023, the inspiration could be traced from various expressions of cooperation of trade unions and migrant organisations for worker’s rights that have been done for years in several countries in the region.
WSC coordinator, Noel Colina, then shared projected activities of the IWS-AP under its programs: Labour Rights Advocacy and Campaigns, Workers Education and Research, and Labour Cooperation and Network Building. He said that as first of many initiatives, IWS-AP shall pursue recommendations of the concluded WSC.
A solidarity social followed the brief launch program.
