Industry News
Nazma Akter’s Opening Key Note at the OECD Due Diligence Forum Paris
OECD invited Nazma Akter, President of Garments Sommilito Sramik Federation (SGSF), one of the largest union federations in Bangladesh, to give the keynote speech for the Opening of the 2023 Forum on Due Diligence for the Garment & Footwear Sector.
Ten years after the Rana Plana Desaster in 2013 the engaged activist still misses any fundamental turning point in the interaction between the garment workers and the buyers, especially the C-level management by far is not getting involved enough to make change happen.
“We respect and love you,” Nazma Akmer said the morning of 16th of February at the Paris stage and in front of hundreds of international delegates participating online, “but you must learn to respect and love us as well.”
Akter as well is the founder and Executive Director of Awaj Foundation. Here she has been fighting to improve workers’ rights, especially women workers, in the garment sector in Bangladesh for over 32 years. Ashoka* Fellow 2019 and Executive Member and Co-chair of the Asia Pacific Women’s Committee of IndustriALL Global Union. *Ashoka is a US-NGO, that invests in transformative ideas and the people behind them, including 3,800+ social entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) in over 90 countries and 270+ Fellows here in the U.S., as well as a growing community of young change makers.
Akter as well is the founder and Executive Director of Awaj Foundation. Here she has been fighting to improve workers’ rights, especially women workers, in the garment sector in Bangladesh for over 32 years. Ashoka* Fellow 2019 and Executive Member and Co-chair of the Asia Pacific Women’s Committee of IndustriALL Global Union. *Ashoka is a US-NGO, that invests in transformative ideas and the people behind them, including 3,800+ social entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) in over 90 countries and 270+ Fellows here in the U.S., as well as a growing community of young change makers.