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Annual Conference 2010
The Annual ANROAV 2010 conference is going to be held in Bandung, Indonesia from 18-20 October, 2010. For more details, please click here
Venue
Hotel Horison Bandung
Jl. Pelajar Pejuang '45 no. 121, Buah Batu
Bandung , 40264
Jawa Barat , Indonesia
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We have 7 guests online| Background for the ANROAV Annual Conference 2010 |
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| Wednesday, 15 September 2010 | |
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The Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) Annual Conference 2010 will be held in Bandung, Indonesia
Background for ANROAV 2010 “They were asleep when the scaffolding fell, crushing the two workers immediately,” said the eyewitness to a construction accident last July 16, 2010, in Laguna, Philippines, which killed 2 workers and injured 7 more. If not for the mentioning of the location and date of the of the accident, this gruesome story of workers dying could have been told anywhere and anytime in Asia, a murderous template to the continued shedding of the lives of workers across our region. According to the International Labour Organization estimates, almost 2.2 million workers die each year due to work or 6,000 per day. This figure is staggering, to say the least, with more workers dying from work than tolls from war. But what is more telling is that when we read the fine print, this are mere estimates extrapolated from conservative standards so as to give us at least an idea that indeed, work hazards are murdering our brothers and sisters in their millions. Why a mere estimate? Because this is the best that we have so far. In this age of the world wide web, wherein you can just type in your browser topics you are searching and be fed with thousands, even millions of webpages of related information, accurate data on work-related accidents and diseases have continued to elude all actors in the workers movement for years. We are fed with voluminous information on various economics indicators and metrics, we can easily get the latest running tally on the stock market via our mobile phone, yet the figures narrating the real situation of our brothers and sisters in the workplaces are as elusive as the solution to world peace. In the meantime while we grapple in the dark searching for the data, workers continue to die and families continue to be left behind. The current dearth of information on the real situation of occupational health and safety can be seen as glass of water, either we can view it as half-empty: a major stumbling block for actors to develop appropriate intervention measures, or half-full: an impetus for the same actors to actively bring to fore seemingly invisible realities of our brothers and sisters. Those in social movements can work around the existing situation by mainstreaming the issue and allowing the increasing exposure of ohs issues to various sections of society to influence public opinion. By creating a “buzz”, we can push other local and international organizations, including government agencies to pay more attention to workers safety. The experiences of the Ban Asbestos Movement in Japan and Korea and the efforts done to mainstream the effects of asbestos on the human body is an example wherein active engagement of actors can make headway against millions of dollars of corporate lobby from the Asbestos industry. Through consistent effort to share the stories of individual workers who are suffering diseases caused by asbestos, the once “invisible” victims are now seen as ordinary human beings in extraordinary situations, not by their willful actions, but because their bosses wanted to shave every centavo for profit. By allowing people to see that asbestos is not only a bane to workers who are directly in contact with the deadly dust, but also to the rest of the population - schoolchildren in buildings with asbestos, commuters in train stations asbestos-laden materials – a growing number of the populace took on the cudgels of the fight. By mainstreaming the Ban Asbestos Movement, our brothers and sisters were able to make OHS a hot topic again, with the media paying more attention and running stories on the asbestos. Doctors and other health workers became vocal about the effects of deadly dust and government agencies provided more resources, along with other civil society organizations becoming part of the campaign. Our network, the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims is composed mainly of grassroots organizations doing related work on occupational health and safety. We have had our fair share of mainstreaming ohs issues in our own locality and across the region. ANROAV members are currently in the midst of campaigns on Lung diseases including asbestosis and silicosis, on Electronics, including the campaign on Samsung, victims organizing, including support for workers compensation and Safe Mining, including exchanges of mine workers across the region. With the help from Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC), we are also building the database on work-related injuries and accidents across many countries, including Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Indonesia and Philippines. It was a busy year and as we again gather for our annual meeting, we have to build from are looking forward to more work and more successes. Let our achievements serve as our strength and our shortcomings as challenges to better ourselves. |
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