The Committee for Asian Women, Thai Labour Campaign and Triumph (International) Labour Union Thailand staged a protest in front of the UN building in Bangkok on the International Day of Peace, 21st September 2009. The public action aims at raising awareness on women workers’ situation and struggle in conflict and suppression. It was participated by over a hundred women workers and activists from local and regional organisations in Thailand, Burma, Pakistan, the Philippines, China, South Korea and Nepal. The participants organised and performed a street drama on “Stop Violence against Women”.

The event was covered by a regional newspaper (Bangkokpost) and several Thai local media.

 

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Press statement (Download WORD veresion)

Committee for Asian Women

End war on Women Workers; End Free Trade Regime

Statement on International Day of Peace

21 September 2009

Participants to the conference on “Undeclared war on women: women workers’ rights in conflict and suppression” held by the Committee for Asian Women on 20^th September 2009 in Bangkok, sharing the lives of women workers in situations of conflict and political suppression within the context of the global war on terror and the current global financial crisis:

• Notes that the burdens entailed by the global financial crises are disproportionately borne by the most vulnerable groups of women workers;
• Condemns the violation of women workers’ rights and freedoms as a consequence of unfair free trade agreements;
• Expresses alarm over religious fundamentalism that has brutalized and victimized growing numbers of women;
• Decries the use of the war on terror to sustain and expand economic, political and military interests, on one hand, and to subdue legitimate protest and silence minorities including women, on the other hand;
• Denounces the use of forced labor and gender violence as state policy to quell demands of freedom, democracy and selfhood of Burmese and ethnic peoples;
• Affirms the rights of migrant workers who are an integral part of the economies of receiving countries; and
• Underscores the factors that drive migration including economic decline and political repression.

On this International Day of Peace, we demand:

• An end to state violence and repression in the pursuit of globalization and free trade;
• Decent work–livelihood security, fair living wages, freedom of association;
•  Protection of all rights of migrant women and their families including the right to mobility and to work with dignity.

 

We commit to create a working environment for all women, free of fear and hunger. We rise to the challenge of protecting ourselves and our resources against the onslaught of war and deprivation. We will struggle to unite to achieve genuine and lasting peace.

 

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