{"id":8191,"date":"2025-11-15T13:48:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?p=8191"},"modified":"2025-11-15T13:48:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:48:33","slug":"declaration-of-solidarity-with-the-women-workers-of-lanka-garments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marchemondiale.org\/?p=8191","title":{"rendered":"Declaration of Solidarity with the Women Workers of Lanka Garments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The World March of Women<\/strong> (WMW)<\/strong> stands with women workers and human rights defenders facing repression and criminalization across the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, as WMW, express our firm solidarity with the women workers of Lanka Garments (Pvt) Ltd. (JB Apparel) in the Koggala Free Trade Zone, Sri Lanka, who have been subjected to repression and forced resignations for organizing to defend their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We condemn the coercive dismissal of Ms. G.M. <\/strong>Nilanka<\/strong> Sandamali<\/strong> and Ms. T. Samantha<\/strong>, targeted by the management after being questioned about forming a trade union and participating in a Women\u2019s Centre awareness programme on Gender Equality, Business and Human Rights. Their courage to organize and educate others is a legitimate act of human rights defense, but it has been met with punishment and intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This case exposes not only the violation of women workers\u2019 rights but also the criminalization of women human rights defenders within the global supply chain. Women who defend labourrights, organize collectively, and challenge corporate impunity are systematically harassed, silenced, or dismissed, whether through legal persecution, economic retaliation, or social stigmatization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Sri Lanka to Turkey, the Philippines to Colombia<\/strong>, women\u2019s movements face increasing attacks for confronting the violence of patriarchy, capitalism, and militarism: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0Turkey,<\/strong> women at the\u00a0Flormar\u00a0cosmetics factory\u00a0were dismissed and blacklisted for unionizing, a clear example of how organizing women workers is treated as a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0the Philippines, <\/strong>women\u00a0labour\u00a0leaders and community organizers are\u00a0\u201cred-tagged\u201d,\u00a0falsely accused of terrorism for defending their people\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0Colombia and Honduras,<\/strong> feminist and environmental defenders face threats, imprisonment, and even assassination for protecting territories and life against corporate and state violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a system where transnational corporations profit from women\u2019s precarious and undervalued labour, while those who resist are punished. The efforts to silence organizing women workers are thus inseparable from the criminalization of human rights defenders everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WMW denounces these violations and reaffirms that defending the rights of women workers is, in fact, defending human rights. We demand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n