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Statement Of Solidarity: Oxfam Condemns The Killing Of Union Leader, Shahidul Islam

Oxfam stands in solidarity with the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), trade union leaders and all human rights defenders who stand up for workers’ rights and protect human rights.

Oxfam learned of the horrific news of the brutal murder of Shahidul Islam, a union leader who was beaten to death on June 25th for his labour rights activism in Gazipur, a major garment industry hub on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was an organizer of the BGIWF for 25 years advocating for workers’ rights as a trade union organizer, and was attacked and killed for standing up for basic human rights. We mourn not only the loss of an individual but also the loss of a powerful voice that championed the rights and well-being of workers, including the right to a living wage. We extend our sincere condolences to the grieving family, friends, colleagues and allies mourning his loss.

Kalpona Akter, the president of BGIWF, said: “Shahidul mobilised thousands of workers to join unions, empowering them to become solid factory-level trade union leaders. Throughout his life, he assisted thousands of workers in receiving arrears and severance pay wrongfully denied by their employers. With workers’ needs always in mind, Shahidul and three other union leaders met on the evening of his death to discuss a peaceful resolution to a wage dispute and the Eid-ul-Azha festival bonus. He met his fate due to the industry’s ill practice to promote yellow unionism for years and the neglect of workers’ voices. This needs to stop. Let our workers be free to organize and join unions. Shahid’s contributions to the labour movement were remarkable and will be sorely missed.”

Ahmed Sharif, a union organizer who was wounded in the attack, told the Guardian “As soon as we came out of the gate, a group of assailants grabbed Islam and separated him from us. They started cursing and randomly beating us, particularly Islam, some of them were kicking him mercilessly.”

As an organisation dedicated to the fight to end poverty and injustice, we are deeply concerned by the murder of Shahidul Islam. This tragic incident highlights the vulnerability of union leaders and activists fighting for workers’ rights. Oxfam joins BGIWF in demanding a thorough investigation and ensure justice is served for the death of Islam. We further call on all brands and stakeholders to conduct ethical purchasing practices upholding human rights within their supply chain and paying a living wage. We call on the government of Bangladesh to step up their protection of trade unionists who are exercising their fundamental human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Oxfam stands in solidarity with BGIWF, raising a resounding call for justice in the case of Shahidul Islam and demanding the unwavering safety of workers, union members and human rights defenders. We stand united in their relentless struggle to defend workers’ rights at Prince Jacquard Sweaters Ltd factory and in workplaces across Bangladesh. Together we demand accountability and an end to the systemic violations that perpetuate injustice.

#Justice4Shahidul

Background

Shahidul and his colleagues were attacked after leaving the meeting with the management of a factory named Price Jacquard Sweaters Ltd to help the workers collect their due bonuses and wages. The factory management refused to comply despite being directed by the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office of Gazipur District to pay the workers’ salaries.

This is not the first time BGIWF has been the victim of such a fatal attack. Eleven years ago, in April 2012, another worker leader, Aminul Islam was tortured and murdered. Aminul was also an organizer with BGIWF, a vital contributor to the nation’s striving movement to advance workers’ rights. The murders of human rights defenders exemplify the extreme measures employed to suppress freedom of association in Bangladesh.

The tragic death of Shahidul, along with countless incidents of other workers being silenced by violence and fear, highlight the urgent need for change. Brands are responsible for ethical business practices and need to ensure that their purchasing practices are not leading to exploitation and deprivation of human rights. Brands must guarantee the right to a living wage and just, safe and healthy working conditions for garment workers.

Despite legal provisions, union leaders and activists face many challenges and restrictions such as anti-union discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against union leaders and members. Additionally, labour activists have raised concerns about the composition and independence of worker participation committees in factories. Labour activists argue that these ‘yellow unions’ are established by factory owners to exert control on workers raising concerns of workers’ rights to collective bargaining and discriminatory power dynamics.

Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Australia and Oxfam Aotearoa’s What She Makes campaign aims to transform the fashion industry into a more just and equitable space by holding brands accountable for their purchasing practices and advocating for a living wage. A living wage is the minimum amount that a worker should earn in a 48-hour work week and adequately covers workers’ and their family’s basic needs, including food, water, housing, energy, healthcare, clothing, childcare, education, transportation and savings for unexpected events. We stand united with the women who make our clothes, advocating for their right to living wages, freedom of association and labour rights.

EU outshines NZ with its vote for Corporate Due Diligence

On 1 June, 2023, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) shedding light on the lack of similar due diligence regulations here in Aotearoa, especially with regards to international supply chains which Oxfam Aotearoa says it is deeply concerned by. 

For many years trade unions and civil society groups, like Oxfam, have been lobbying for laws to be put in place to ensure living wages, safety and protection in supply chains owned by New Zealand companies. Whilst the conversation around the proposed Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation law was a step in the right direction, sadly, some areas have fallen through the cracks.  

Women and men working in factories overseas, making the clothes, food and other products that we consume, can and should be treated with dignity. Dignity means upholding human rights standards in terms of paying a living wage, ensuring safe conditions, adopting gender sensitive policies and several other key human rights standards. 

Earlier this year, Oxfam visited women working in factories in Bangladesh, where – due to the lack of policy – women and men suffer severe consequences. One worker named Sabina told Oxfam about the factory where she works, “Due to the target filling pressure, sometimes I can eat and sometimes I cannot. It’s hard to drink water and use the toilet.” Sabina then goes on to say, “Yes, they abuse [me], but if I meet the target, then they don’t abuse. It happens to everyone. I feel sad and I cry for 1 or 2 hours, then I get relief.” These kinds of human rights violations should not be happening. Without fashion brands being made to do their due diligence, this will continue to happen. 

Corporate due diligence is essential to ensure we can detect, prevent and address human rights violations in supply chains. The What She Makes Campaign launched by Oxfam Aotearoa is one such step towards ensuring corporate due diligence. The campaign works with leading fashion brands in Aotearoa to pay a living wage to the women who make our clothes in hundreds of factories situated across the globe.  

Another approach to guarantee corporate due diligence is when governments enact and implement rules and regulations mandating companies to enforce human rights standards in their supply chains.  

The CSDDD, an example of the latter approach, holds the potential to require that companies address issues such as payment of a living wage, ensure human rights standards in their value chains and be held accountable for environmental and/or climate damage caused by such companies. This is a small, yet positive step towards guaranteeing that women and men working along these supply chains are ensured a living wage, safety, and most of all, are treated with human dignity. 

The CSDDD however, also has its shortfalls, such as only capturing a small proportion of companies, failing to remove significant hurdles in victims accessing justice, affording certain exemptions to the financial sector, and failing to include strong accountability measures for directors of companies. As the European Parliament along with the European Commission and the Council of Europe move forward in finalising the wording of the rules following Thursday’s vote, much work is needed to ensure that the CSDDD is made stronger. This will provide meaningful protection and redress mechanisms to millions of women and men around the world. 

As the European block, the UK and Australia move towards abolition of modern slavery, ensuring due diligence and living wage guarantees, this is a good time for Aotearoa to take stock of its own commitments. The What She Makes Campaign’s most recent Transparency Report showed certain New Zealand brands lagging behind in supply chain transparency when compared to international brands. Hence, it is high time to rekindle the conversations around due diligence and modern slavery, and take concrete steps towards holding companies in Aotearoa accountable.  

100 days since Cyclone Freddy, farmers in Malawi and Mozambique have nothing to grow ahead of the winter

Families forced to sell their land or take children out of school to survive.

100 days after Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi and Mozambique, many families have had to sell their farmland or withdraw their children from school in order to use the money to buy food.

Cyclone Freddy – one of the deadliest storms to hit the continent in the last two decades – killed over one thousand people, forced dozens of thousands out of their homes, decimated over one million acres of crop land, ripped apart over 5000 kilometres of roads, powerlines, telecommunications, and public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals were levelled to the ground. In some places, such as in Chiradzulu District in Malawi, a whole village was swept away.

“Torrential floods washed away everything, leaving farmers nothing to harvest. Families told us they have nothing to grow ahead of the winter as they lost their seeds, harvest and agricultural tools forcing them to make desperate decisions to survive,” said Amjad Ali, Oxfam in Southern Africa Programme Director.

“This has hugely contributed to food insecurity in the affected areas and the situation will only get worse if people are not assisted to grow food this winter”.

Production of staple food in Malawi such as maize has plummeted by nearly 30 percent forcing prices to surge. Food Inflation in Malawi has increased by 37.9 % and a 50-kilogram bag of maize costs approximately US$22, a price that is out of reach for most Malawians living on less than US$1 a day. Prices are likely to further rise before the next harvest which is ten months away from now.

Michenga Pensulo, 56, a farmer in Phalombe District in Southern Region of Malawi, said: “I have sold my two acres [piece of land] for MK150 thousand (approx. US$100) because I need to buy food and other household needs. It was a painful decision because I sold it cheaply, but I can’t stand to see my family starve.”

“In situations like these, evidence has shown that women, girls and children suffer the most,” Said Lingalireni Mihowa, Oxfam in Southern Africa Gender Justice Lead. “They often face extraordinary difficulties to secure food, and yet, too often they eat the least and last, and girls are most vulnerable, some may have to drop out school so that savings from school fees can support purchases of food for family to eat”.

“Over seven million people are already facing extreme hunger in the two countries. Unless developing partners immediately meet the US$253.9 million UN appeal, currently 22% funded, to help people rebuild their lives, millions more of people will have nothing to eat”, said Amjad.

Cyclone Freddy is another glaring reminder of how the people least responsible for climate change continue to pay the steepest price. The estimated loss and damage for Malawi and Mozambique is US$0.5 and US$1.5 billion respectively and the unmet financial need for them to strengthen their adaptive capacity to cope with these recurrent extreme events is skyrocketing.

“Rich polluting nations must honor their US$100 billion climate financing to support countries hit hardest like Malawi and Mozambique, sadly that is not the case,” said Amjad.

Oxfam’s “Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023” published in June 2023 shows that while donors claim to have mobilized US$83.3 billion in 2020, the real value of their spending was —at most— US$24.5 billion. The US$83.3 billion claim is an overestimation because it includes projects where the climate objective has been overstated or as loans cited at their face value.

Notes to the Editor

New Oxfam report shows broken promises on climate finance

A new report out this week titled ‘Climate Finance Shadow Report’ from Oxfam shows New Zealand still has much more to do to support poorer countries adapt and respond to the climate crisis.   

Oxfam Aotearoa’s Climate Justice Lead Nick Henry said:  

“Oxfam’s report reveals that as governments around the world begin negotiations of a new global goal for climate finance, rich countries have already broken their promise to deliver US$100 billion a year to assist developing countries.  

“The New Zealand Government is doing better than most on climate finance, but unfortunately the bar is very low. It is time for New Zealand to commit to increasing its climate finance and call on other rich countries to do the same. And deliver on their promises.  

“The new report reveals that globally only a quarter of climate finance is given as grants, meaning most climate finance is provided in the form of loans. Although the New Zealand Government has a long way to go in order to do its fair share, one positive take away is that New Zealand has a strong commitment to give climate finance as grants, not loans.  Loans only increases the burden on poorer countries as they take on expensive debt. Debt created from the failure of rich countries to deliver on their promises. 

“It is also encouraging to see New Zealand increasingly integrate gender-equitable approaches to climate finance, but the Government is a long way off from making sure that the needs of people in all their diversity are met. New Zealand must stand with our whānau in the Pacific – the women, girls, and LGBTIQA+ and others who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. 

“Rich countries must find new ways to fund climate finance by taxing the wealthiest and the big polluters. In addition, Oxfam Aotearoa calls for new and additional finance to respond to loss and damage caused by climate change. This is a separate negotiation leading up to COP28, and should come with new funding.”  

 

Notes: 

Click here for the report: https://www.oxfam.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Climate-Finance-shadow-report.pdf  

New Zealand’s current climate finance commitments end in 2025. Commitments for the next period from 2026 will need to contribute New Zealand’s fair share of the new global quantified goal on climate finance to be set at COP28 in December. Discussions on the process for setting the new global goal are underway this week in Bonn, at the intersessional meeting of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

Rich countries’ continued failure to honour their US$100 billon climate finance promise threatens negotiations and undermines climate action

Rich countries’ continued failure to honor their $100 billon climate finance promise threatens negotiations and undermines climate action

As global greenhouse emissions continue to rise, and climate change wreaks more havoc upon the people and places least responsible for the problem, rich polluting countries are now three years overdue on their promise to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance for low- and middle-income countries.

To make matters worse, says Oxfam, the actual support they provide is much less than reported numbers suggest, and is coming mostly as debt that has to be repaid.

Oxfam’s ‘Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023’ published today shows that while donors claim to have mobilized $83.3 billion in 2020, the real value of their spending was —at most— $24.5 billion. The $83.3 billion claim is an overestimate because it includes projects where the climate objective has been overstated or as loans cited at their face value.

By providing loans rather than grants, these funds are even potentially harming rather than helping local communities, as they add to the debt burdens of already heavily indebted countries —even more so in this time of rising interest rates.

Donor countries are repurposing up to one-third of official aid contributions as climate finance rather than putting forward new and additional money, while more than half of all climate finance going to the world’s poorest countries is now coming as loans.

Among bilateral providers, France has the highest share of its bilateral public climate finance through loans, at a staggering 92 percent. Other loan-heavy culprits include Austria (71 percent), Japan (90 percent), and Spain (88 percent). In 2019–20, 90 percent of all climate finance provided by multilateral development banks, like the World Bank came as loans.

“This is deeply unjust. Rich countries are treating poorer countries with contempt. In doing so, they are fatally undermining crucial climate negotiations. They’re playing a dangerous game where we will all lose out,” said Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi.

In the lead up to the Bonn Climate Summit (5 to 15 June), Oxfam also finds that climate-related development financing is largely gender-blind. Only 2.9 percent of all funding identified gender equality as worth prioritizing. Only one-third of climate finance projects in 2019-2020 mainstreamed gender, meaning that they took into account both women and men’s specific needs, experiences and concerns.

Oxfam estimates that the real value of funds allocated by rich countries in 2020, to support climate action in low- and middle-income countries was between $21 billion and $24.5 billion, of which only $9.5 billion to $11.5 billion was directed specifically for climate adaptation —crucial funding for projects and processes to help climate-vulnerable countries address the worsening harms of climate change.

“Don’t be fooled into thinking $11.5 billion is anywhere near enough for low- and middle-income countries to help their people cope with more and bigger floods, hurricanes, firestorms, droughts and other terrible harms brought about by climate change,” Dabi said. “People in the US spend four times more than that each year feeding their cats and dogs.”

Oxfam is highly concerned that adaptation funding is given too little attention when, in the past three years, India, Pakistan and Central and South America have all seen record heatwaves, in Pakistan later followed by flooding that affected over 33 million people, while East Africa is mired in its worst drought in over 40 years, contributing to crisis levels of hunger.

“Despite their extreme vulnerability to climate impacts, the world’s poorest countries, particularly the least developed countries and small island developing states, are simply not receiving enough support. Instead, they are being driven deeper into debt,” Dabi said. 

The expectation that private investors can be mobilized by low- and middle-income countries to contribute a sizeable chunk of climate financing has not materialized, raising only $14 billion yearly, mainly for mitigation. Oxfam says it is difficult to find details on how this private finance is used or who benefits from it. According to a recent Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, mobilized private adaptation financing rose sharply from $1.9 billion in 2018 to $4.4 billion in 2020, mainly because of a big liquefied natural gas energy project in Mozambique that does not reveal any adaptation activities.

Oxfam is highly concerned that funding for “loss and damage” —climate impacts that cannot or have not been mitigated or adapted to— still has no predictable place within the international climate finance architecture. Loss and damage finance needs are urgent, with estimates saying that low- and middle-income countries could face costs of up to $580 billion annually by 2030.

Oxfam says that ongoing deliberations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to set a new global goal on mobilizing climate finance from 2025 onwards is a chance to rebuild trust between rich and low- and middle-income countries. But if past mistakes are not resolved and simply repeated, this initiative will have failed before it properly starts.

Climate finance providers should be massively scaling-up their efforts and be reporting climate financing on a case-by-case basis, highlighting the actual proportions channeled towards mitigation and adaptation. There is equally an urgent need for more grant-based financing for climate action, and less momentum toward loaning the money they have all promised to give. 

Notes to editors 

Download Oxfam’s ‘Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023’.

In East Africa alone, drought and conflict have left a record 36 million people facing extreme hunger, nearly equivalent to the population of Canada. Oxfam estimates that up to two people are likely dying from hunger every minute in Ethiopia, Kenya Somalia, and South Sudan.

The UN currently designates 46 countries as LDCs.

According to the OECD, mobilized private adaptation financing rose sharply from $1.9 billion in 2018 to $4.4 billion in 2020, mainly because of a big liquefied natural gas energy project in Mozambique that does not reveal any adaptation activities.

According to Anil Markandya and Mikel González-Eguino (2018), the costs of loss and damage in low- and middle-income countries could reach between $290 billion to $580 billion a year by 2030.

According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans spent $58.1 billion on pet food and treats in 2022. 

G7 have failed the Global South in Hiroshima

If G7 expect support from Global South for Ukraine War they must cancel debts, end hunger, and pay up for climate damage.

All quotes attributed to Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy, Oxfam

‘The G7 had failed the Global South here in Hiroshima.  They failed to cancel debts, and they failed to find what is really required to end the huge increase in hunger worldwide. They can find untold billions to fight the war but can’t even provide half of what is needed by the UN for the most critical humanitarian crises.’

Hunger and Debt

‘If the G7 really want closer ties to the developing countries and greater backing from for the war in Ukraine, then asking Global South leaders to fly across the world for a couple of hours is not going to cut it.  They need to cancel debts and do what it takes to end hunger.’

‘Countries of the Global South are being crippled by a food and debt crisis of huge proportions.  Hunger has increased faster than it has in decades, and all over the world.  In East Africa two people are dying every minute from hunger. Countries are paying over US$200 million a day to the G7 and their bankers, money they could spend feeding their people instead.’

‘The money they say they will provide for the world’s rapidly growing humanitarian crises is not even half of what the UN is asking for, and it is not clear what if anything is new or additional- and the G7 have a terrible track record on double counting and inflating figures each year.’

‘These food and debt crises are direct knock-on effects of the Ukraine war- if the G7 want support from the Global South they need to be seen to take action on these issues- they must cancel debts and force private banks to participate in debt cancellation, and they must massively increase funding to end hunger and famine across the world.’

Climate Change

‘The G7 owes the Global South US$8.7 trillion for the devastating losses and damages their excessive carbon emissions have caused.   In the G7 Hiroshima communique they said they recognised that there is a new Loss and Damage fund, but they failed to commit a single cent.’

‘It is good they continue to recognise the need to meet 1.5 degrees and stay committed to this despite the energy crisis driven by the war in Ukraine, but they try to blame everyone else- they are far off track themselves to contribute their fair share of what is needed to meet this target and they should have been on track years ago. 

‘They confirm their commitment to end public funding for fossil energy, they maintain their loophole on new fossil gas, using the war as an excuse. This means they have continued to wriggle out of their commitment to not publicly fund new fossil fuels, making a mockery of their fine statements. The G7 must stop using fossil fuels immediately- the planet is on fire.’

Health

‘The G7 had hundreds of fine words on preparing for the next pandemic, yet failed to make the critical commitment- that never again would the G7 let Big Pharma profiteering and intellectual property rights lead to millions dying unnecessarily, unable to access vaccines.  Given a 27% chance of a new pandemic within in a decade, this omission is chilling.’

More on Debt, Food and Hunger

‘Over half of all debt payments from the Global South are going to the G7 or to private banks based in G7 countries, notably New York and London.  Over US$230 million dollars a day is flowing into the G7.  Countries are bankrupt, spending far more on debt than on health or food for their people. Debt payments have increased sharply as countries in the Global South borrow in dollars so rising interest rates are supersizing the payments they must make.’

‘The G7 saying they support clauses to temporarily suspend debt payments for those countries hit by climate disasters is a positive step and a tribute to Barbados and Prime Minister Mia Mottley for fighting for this. They need to go further and cancel debts for all the nations that need it, a growing number daily. Money is flooding from the Global South into the G7 economies- that is the wrong direction.’

Notes: UN OCHA current total requirement for humanitarian crises is US$56 billion. The G7 communique says they will commit to providing over US$21 billion in total to address the worsening humanitarian crises this year (paragraph 16).

Copyright © 2024 Oxfam Aotearoa.

Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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