Linking Human Rights and Economic Development in South East Asia

“With a workforce that has been conditioned more to conform than reform, economic growth has been largely fuelled by increases in capital investment without a corresponding increase in quality output from worker efficiency. Such an economy will, in time, have tremendous difficulty in regenerating itself”. Singaporean labor activist, Chee Soon Juan

Asia currently dominates global production of textiles and clothing. In 1998, more than 50 per cent of the world’s output in clothing was sourced from the continent. And developing economies in South East Asia such as Malaysia and Singapore are among the most ‘transnationalized’ in the world. Yet, these sophisticated investment destinations fail to provide even the most basic protections for workers. Malaysia and Singapore have no strong independent trade unions and workers rights activists are routinely silenced by repressive government policies.

Unfortunately, several activists in Singapore and Malaysia have recently suffered directly from the absence of free political expression and experienced the personal consequences for those courageous enough to stand up for workers rights. Labor activists have been jailed, prevented from organizing in public and have been hit with what appear to be politically-motivated defamation suits. The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, through the Defenders Project and the Workers Rights Program, is campaigning on behalf of these labor activists, pressuring governments to safeguard their democratic rights.

The Lawyers Committee believes that the private sector can also play an important role in enhancing respect for human rights. U.S. corporations are ideally placed to demonstrate that modern business practices work best in an open and democratic environment. Indeed, human rights, workers rights, democracy and development are inextricably linked. And, increasingly, foreign investment decisions are tied to strong values of transparency, anti-corruption, accountability and fair labor standards in the host state. By neglecting democracy and labor rights, authoritarian regimes in South East Asia risk undermining economic development.

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