Translation of the media report

Free trade agreements imperil women workers

by P.s.Nirmala, Mathrubhumi Newspaper

Published on 18th October, 2008, Saturday

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Committee For Asian Women and the Centre For Education And Communication jointly organised an international meet at New Delhi.The Conference observed that the free trade agreements compel women to toil for very low wages under appalling conditions.

The right to unite and organise is withheld from women. Onslaught on women is on the increase, both within and without their work places. The conference exhorted the governments to annul the existing free trade contracts and to abandon the so-called Special Economic Zones which refuse to respect the labour-protection laws.

The indiscriminate signing of free trade agreements jeopardise the sovereignty of the people and their cherished rights in the South Asian region. Industrial liberalisation, privatisation, and the virtual freezing of governmental laws, alter completely the nature of labour.

The conference also noted that the section of society most adversely affected by unemployment is women.

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Translation by Prof. V. Sukumaran; edited by CAW.