About

Our Mission & Purpose

The core mission of the ILAW Network is to bring together legal practitioners and scholars in an exchange of ideas and information in order to best represent the rights and interests of workers and their organizations wherever they may be. Given the global nature of work and the common trends that affect workers regardless of nationality, a global legal network is needed now more than ever to effectively represent workers in issues that transcend national boundaries. Effective legal advocacy for workers will increasingly require the collaboration of lawyers in multiple legal jurisdictions.

The issue areas in which the network will focus are:

• Workers’ Rights and Corporate Accountability In Global Supply Chains
• The Fissured Employment Relationship
• The Informal Economy
• Migrant Worker Rights
• Forced Labor and Trafficking
• Employment Discrimination
• Public Sector
• Trade Union Rights
• Gender-based Violence and Harassment
• OSH
• International Labor Organization
• COVID-19

The ILAW Network seeks to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas through our online library and forums, and encourage all members to contribute resources. Given the global reach, this website will be the main point of interaction among members, though we will endeavor to convene member conferences as resources allow.

Who We Are

The ILAW Network is currently a project of the Solidarity Center, a US-based non-governmental organization affiliated to the AFL-CIO and which is dedicated to the promotion of workers’ rights worldwide.

The ILAW Network is led by Jeffrey Vogt, Director of the Rule of Law Department, Monika Mehta, Senior Program Officer and Jon Hiatt, of Counsel, and is administered by Haley Gray, Program Assistant.

The ILAW Network has three regional coordinators: Jacquline Wamai, Regional Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa,  Mery Laura Perdomo, Regional Coordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean and Tamar Gabisonia, Regional Coordinator for Europe & Central Asia.  (Regional Coordinators for Asia & the Pacific as well for MENA are expected in the future.)

You can contact the ILAW Network at admin@ilawnetwork.com. You can follow us on twitter at @ILAW_Network

The ILAW Network is supported by an international advisory board of worker rights lawyers from around the world. They include:

Argentina: Monica Tepfer
Australia: Trevor Clarke
Bangladesh: AKM Nasim
Brazil: Maximiliano Garcez
Canada: Steve Barrett
Germany: Torsten Walter
Ghana: Edward Kareweh
Honduras: Maria Elena Sabillion
Italy: Antonio Lofredo
Malaysia: Sumitha Shaanthinni
Nigeria: Nkechi Odinukwe
Poland: Lucja Kobroń-Gąsiorowska
Republic of Georgia: Raisa Liparteliani
Republic of Korea: Dahye Park
South Africa/Germany: Dr. Rüdiger Helm
Thailand: Mrs. Nadthasiri Bergman
United Kingdom: Tonia Novitz
United States: Mary Joyce Carlson
United States/Zimbabwe: Pamhidzai Bamu
European Trade Union Confederation: Isabelle Schoemann
International Trade Union Confederation: Paapa Danquah
International Transport Workers Federation: Ruwan Subasinghe

Institutional Support