Safeguarding Workers’ Rights: Key Issues for 2023 | GIZ Fabric | Asian Dialogues Seminar 14

The 14th “Moving the Needle” online seminar will focus on key issues facing workers in Asian apparel and textile chains in the year ahead, and what has to happen to ensure these workers’ rights are safeguarded.

Date & Time: Thursday, 23 March 2023 at 10:30 AM Berlin / 3:00 PM IST & SLST / 4:30 PM ICT (90 minutes)

Four panellists with extensive experience researching and supporting workers in apparel and textile supply chains across Asia will discuss research findings from a number of articles and reports published this year. The discussion will be wide-ranging, with input on issues such as purchasing practices and the non-payment of wages (still a persistent problem), the impact of this on women and homeworkers, and some analysis on how unions, workers and their allies are seeking to take wage non-payment directly to the brands themselves.

The panelists are:

• Professor Muhammad Azizul Islam, Chair in Accountancy and Professor in Sustainability Accounting & Transparency, University of Aberdeen Business School
• Sahiba Gill, Senior Staff Attorney, Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF)
• Abiramy Sivalogananthan, South Asia Coordinator, Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA)
• Rakesh Supkar, Business Head, Traidcraft Services India

“Moving the Needle: Creating the Future Together” is an online seminar series under the banner of ‘Asian Dialogues on Sustainability in the Textile and Garment Industry’ seeking to provide a broad range of views on how the industry will look as it emerges from the pandemic and beyond. This online seminar, which is organized by GIZ Fabric, is an open event for manufacturers, brand representatives, and other stakeholders interested in what the most urgent issues are for safeguarding worker rights in fashion supply chains.

About GIZ FABRIC

The regional project “Promoting sustainability in the textile and garment industry in Asia (FABRIC)” focuses on knowledge exchange on good practices to foster sustainability in the textile and garment industry in Asia. It is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). FABRIC is addressing sustainability in its social, economic and environmental dimensions. The project is working in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Vietnam and cooperates with actors in China. GIZ FABRIC is also part of the team that developed and maintains the Asia Garment Hub, a digital one-stop shop tailored to the garment and textiles sector in Asia, viewed through a lens of Decent Work and Sustainability.