The vast majority of domestic workers in Malaysia are migrants, mainly from Indonesia. The MTUC is running a project aimed at preventing the abuses and exploitation they often face. Interview with project officer Pari Moses.

SADSAWU is one of the oldest organisations defending domestic workers’ rights in Africa. It managed to secure a number of gains even prior to the ILO’s adoption of the international Convention on domestic work in June 2011. Myrtle Witbooi, a founding member and general secretary of the union and Chair of the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN) , looks back on her 30 years as a union activist and the challenges linked to this new Convention.

Trade union activities are being repressed with ever greater ferocity in Swaziland. Repeated arbitrary arrests, intimidation and beatings are used to silence activists. Barnes Dlamini, president of the SFTU (Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions) has been arrested several times over the year 2011. He gives us an overview of the situation.

The Dominican trade union confederation CASC has secured social security coverage for over 31,000 informal economy workers and their families. It also supports essential projects providing concrete assistance to Haitian migrants. Fighting poverty and labour rights violations, defending domestic workers... Gabriel del Rio, general secretary of CASC, outlines the many battles being waged by his union.

Bahrain’s national trade union centre GFBTU, that was at the heart of the 14 February 2011 movement for democratic reform and social justice, has been the target of violent attacks. Ebrahim H. Abdulla, Assistant General Secretary of the GFBTU, and Abdulla Mohammed Hussain, Assistant General Secretary for Arab and International Relations, look back at the anti-union attacks and mass dismissals, two issues that the GFBTU wants to put on the agenda of the national dialogue that began on 1 July.

In Cambodia, one of the countries denounced in the latest ITUC Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, over 800 workers were dismissed following a massive strike in the textile industry in September 2010. Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), exposes the tactics used, such as yellow unions and short-term contracts, to stop workers from organising. He is also appealing for international pressure to secure the reintegration of the workers dismissed and to stop the lawsuits against their union representatives.

In Cambodia, one of the countries denounced in the latest ITUC Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, over 800 workers were dismissed following a massive strike in the textile industry in September 2010. Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), exposes the tactics used, such as yellow unions and short-term contracts, to stop workers from organising. He is also appealing for international pressure to secure the reintegration of the workers dismissed and to stop the lawsuits against their union representatives.

The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) is among the organisations most experienced in the defence of domestic workers in Asia. Its chief executive, Elizabeth Tang, looks back on the difficulties encountered in this struggle and the gains secured for both migrant and national domestic workers in Hong Kong.

The adoption of an international Convention on Domestic Work and accompanying recommendation was approved in principle at the last International Labour Conference. This is a welcome step forward for the many trade unions fighting to defend this particularly vulnerable group of workers. One of these unions is “Unite the union” in the United Kingdom, which supports the group “Justice for Domestic Workers”. Marissa Begonia, a member of the group, describes its activities and the reality of life as a migrant domestic worker.

Gertrude Hambira is the general secretary of the General Agricultural Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) (1). She has been forced to leave her country after criticising the land reform that has triggered countless barbaric acts and left hundreds of thousands of workers jobless. Amid continued human rights violations and the persecution of trade unionists, she is calling for a genuine land reform programme that will bring greater social justice without violating human rights.

Keeping children in school is the best way to stop their exploitation as child labour. Abdelaziz Mountassir, vice president of Morocco's national teachers' union SNE, explains how a project in the Fez region is helping to reduce school dropout rates at the same time as benefiting the union.

The Global Child Labour Conference is opening on 10 May 2010 in The Hague. It will adopt a roadmap setting out the measures to be taken to eradicate the worst forms of child labour by 2016, in line with the ILO Action Plan. Kailash Satyarthi, who is the chair of the Global March against Child Labour, shares his expectations on the matter and comments on the positive developments in his country, India.

After decades of inaction, Nepal’s leaders are finally taking an interest in the concerns of the workers, such as the creation of a social security net. Umesh Upadhyaya, general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), looks back at the political upheavals that have shaken the country and the challenge of integrating former Maoist rebels into the world of work.

Relentless threats and murders... Guatemala is witnessing an intensification of trade union rights violations. Imelda López, general secretary of the civil aviation workers’ union, assistant general secretary of the CGTG and the public services federation, has already suffered three attempts on her life. She recounts the day-to-day realities of trade unionists in Guatemala and, following on from her recent participation in the first ITUC World Women’s Conference, she speaks of the specific difficulties faced by women workers, especially in export processing zones.

Workers are the main casualties of the coup d’état that overthrew the Honduran president, Manual Zelaya, on 28 June. Trade unions continue to mobilise to demand a return to democracy, although many of their members have been killed, imprisoned and tortured. The de facto government controls the press. Erasto Reyes, a lawyer working for the trade union movement and one of the leaders of the National Resistance Front against the Coup, denounces the abuses committed since the overthrow. He calls for international trade union solidarity.

How is the economic crisis affecting the large migrant population in Malaysia? G. Rajasekaran, general secretary of the MTUC (1), talks about trade union initiatives designed to help them. He also denounces the exploitation suffered by domestic workers, a particularly vulnerable category of migrants.

Whilst the Georgian government has been creating an environment in which unbridled capitalism can thrive, the trade union movement has been modernising and improving its image in order to survive. Irakli Petriashvili, President of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), describes these developments.

Being a trade unionist is a very dangerous business in Palestine. Rasem Al Bayari, Deputy General Secretary of the PGFTU (Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions), an ITUC affiliate, knows that well: following the destruction of a PGFTU building in October 2006 and the firing of two rockets at his home in January, on 6 April Rasem Al Bayari was injured by masked men who attacked him while he was in a car with his family. He describes these events and the enormous problems faced by workers in Palestine.