Latest Campaigns

Make Poverty History

Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, the overseas humanitarian aid arm of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), supports the Make Poverty History campaign internationally and in Australia. The international solidarity of working people against oppression and poverty has always been central to our movement. The aim of this campaign is to put pressure on governments around the world to take action for global poverty, focussing on three slogans:

• More and better aid
• Drop the debt
• Trade justice

Human Rights in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe was once a model African country, achieving the highest economic growth rates and the highest levels of education on the continent. But Robert Mugabe, in power since independence, has become increasingly erratic, eccentric and autocratic as he pursues policies which have crushed human rights, repressed opposition and crippled the economy. He and his corrupt allies keep themselves in power through terror and intimidation. On Valentine’s Day several hundred women were arrested and tortured as they were protesting against the unbearable poverty, hunger, unemployment and high inflation.

Fair Trade

The Fair Trade movement has become a powerful force in fighting injustices that are a result of free trade policies. When it emerged, in the early 1970s, few imagined it would ever be more than a form of charity, aimed at a dedicated few. Today, everyone can buy Fair Trade goods and it is becoming increasingly popular for people to buy with a conscience. One in five cups of coffee drunk in Britain is fairly traded; so are half the Bananas eaten in Switzerland. Five million producers in Africa, Latin America and Asia benefit from Fair Trade terms. In the west it’s the fastest growing retail area – expanding by 20-30% a year since 2000.

East Timor Boundary Dispute

Act NOW to preserve East Timor’s rights

Following requests from our partners and human rights organisations in East Timor (now officially called Timor-Leste), Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, along with Australian unions, churches and development agencies, supports campaigning on the issue of East Timor’s just share of the oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.
TIMOR SEA LOBBY GROUP SKEPTICAL OF 'GRINCH' DOWNER - 02 December 2005
The Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, has told Parliament that officials had initiated a resource sharing agreement with East Timor that is expected to be signed at a ceremony in mid January....
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Stop Child Labour

The number of child workers between the ages of four and fifteen years is now estimated at 250 million. Working full-time, their work also deprives them of their health, their childhood and their future.
10 to 13-year-olds Sewing "I Love My Wal-Mart" Shirts - 03 April 2006
An undercover investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "Zone Libre" program found children 10 to 13 years of age sewing blue "I love my Wal-Mart" shirts in several Bangladesh factories. The children were paid less than ten cents an hour and forced to work long hours in dimly lit and dirty conditions. The children also sewed t-shirts carrying Wal-Mart's "Simply Basic" private label....
>> READ MORE

Talking Point - 13 October 2003
Wouldn't the abolition of child labour have a negative effect on those who rely on the income to survive? ...
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Workers Rights are Human Rights

Article 23, Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
• Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
• Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration for ensuring for themselves and their family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
• Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests.

These rights are not granted or given to workers by governments or employers - they are basic universal human rights that we all are entitled to by virtue of our humanity.

Please note that the salary figures for the Global Teaching Industry and the Global Nursing Industry Comparative are for the year 2000, and the figures for the Global Manufacturing Industry Comparative are for the year 2001. The figures are all in US dollars, which have been calculated using the average $US/$AUS exchange rate for 2000 of .5771 US cents.

Fair Wear Campaign

This Campaign aims to stop exploitation of homebased workers in the clothing industry. The Campaign is a coalition of unions, churches and community organisations and uses consumer pressure to fight for the rights of all homebased outworkers.
Fair Wear Campaign Updates - 16 December 2003
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Urgent Action Campaigns from Labourstart

ACT NOW!
Campaign Updates from Labourstart - 16 December 2003
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Burma Education Resource

The Burma Education Resource presents you with a number of ideas and issues inspiring a variety of lessons dealing with key issues of human rights in Burma. The kit is designed to encourage students’ awareness and understanding of the many complex issues facing the country today. The political climate in Burma constantly changes, and many hope to see significant change towards democracy sooner rather than later. Therefore, use of this Resource Pack should be complemented with materials on any current developments in the country.
Four Foreign Companies Quit Burma - 16 March 2006
Austrian Airlines has finally dropped its flights between Rangoon and Vienna and three other foreign companies have also said they want no more business with Burma, according to the Burma Campaign UK on yesterday. By Shah PaungDecember 08, 2005...
>> READ MORE

Burma Campaign

The Burmese military regime is one of the most repressive in the world. To complement our work with refugees on the Thai-Burma border, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA activists and supporters in Australia can be involved in a range of activities from promoting the Global Unions Plan of Action on Burma to raising money to support our projects with refugees.
Burma's "Saffron Revolution" is not over - 19 January 2008
International trade union and human rights organisations say international community must seize the opportunity now!Read the ITUC-FIDH report on the current situation inside Burma....
>> READ MORE

EU Extends Sanctions against Burma - 26 April 2007
April 23, 2007 — The European Union extended diplomatic and economic sanctions against Myanmar by another year, saying Monday that the country was making no "tangible progress" in improving its shaky human rights record. ...
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Appeal to UN Following Attack on Burmese Rights Activists - 26 April 2007
A prominent Burmese civil rights activist has lodged a formal complaint with senior UN officials about last week’s attack on two human rights workers by members of a regime-backed organisation....
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Malaysia Hopes Junta Will Restore Democracy - 26 April 2007
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Monday that member countries of Asean continued to hope for reform in Burma but recognized that it would take time....
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Burma’s Junta Vows to Crack Down on Human Rights Activists - 26 April 2007
Burma’s military government stated its intention to crack down on human rights activists operating in the country in order to maintain the peace, according to a report today in the country’s official press....
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© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 06-Feb-2008 10:10:36 EST
This page: http://apheda.org.au/campaigns/index.html