Report
ITUC Global Rights Index 2019 highlights intensified repression & violence against workers globally
"ITUC Global Rights Index 2019", June 2019
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has released the sixth edition of its Global Rights Index, which ranks 145 countries against 97 internationally recognised indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected in law and in practice.
The report’s key findings include:
- 85% of countries have violated the right to strike.
- 80% of countries deny some or all workers collective bargaining.
- The number of countries which exclude workers from the right to establish or join a trade union increased from 92 in 2018 to 107 in 2019.
- Workers had no or restricted access to justice in 72% of countries.
- The number of countries where workers are arrested and detained increased from 59 in 2018 to 64 in 2019.
- Out of 145 countries surveyed, 54 deny or constrain free speech and freedom of assembly.
- Authorities impeded the registration of unions in 59% of countries.
- Workers experienced violence in 52 countries.
Trade unionists were murdered in ten countries - Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Zimbabwe.
The report ranks the ten worst countries for workers’ rights in 2019 as Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia,Turkey and Zimbabwe.