Global: New developments at ICLR

ICLR was founded in 2002 with the mission of supporting workers? and trade union rights internationally. Our resolution was to develop a network of lawyers who could provide quickly respond to the needs of labor movements, no matter where. Today, there are more than 300 Network members spanning more than 75 countries. And we continue to expand into new areas all the time. This is a model that we believe in and are recommitting to as we move forward with our work.

Over the last several years ICLR has worked in close partnership with unions and NGOs all over the world. And we have reached out to members of the network to support this work, seeking the assistance of lawyers in countries including Panama, India, Malawi and Morocco, to help our New York office draft ILO and OECD complaints, analyze domestic labor laws, develop reports on violations of labor rights, and conduct trainings.

In the next phase of ICLR's development, we hope that the Network will be even more central. We will no longer be undertaking programmatic work through our New York secretariat, but hope to use our staff resources to coordinate the Network, and provide logistical support to our members. As we receive requests for assistance from unions and NGOs, we will be reaching out to members with the regional and topical expertise to help. We expect that the work will continue to be a combination of providing small amounts of pro bono advice, and more substantial projects in partnership with organizations with the financial capacity to compensate you for your expertise and time. As always, our office will be available to assist with coordination and logistics.

In addition, we hope that our networks will see our New York secretariat as a resource for their own efforts to address the global dimensions of your work, and to connect them with groups and individuals in other countries. We look forward to the opportunity to create a stronger fabric of support over coming months. We will be soliciting their input, and finding ways to share information across the Network on projects that members are involved in, and issues of importance. To maximize the potential for dialogue among Network members, we will be developing a members-only discussion area on our website to discuss strategies and projects.

This is also an opportunity to update members on changes at our New York secretariat. Ashwini Sukthankar, who has served as ICLR's Director since 2005, will be stepping back from the day-to-day work of the organization, and into a supervisory role on our Board of Directors. She will be checking email only intermittently at her ICLR email address, and can best be reached through her personal email address, [email][email protected] Moving into the role of Program Administrator is Kate D?Adamo ([email protected]), who has served as Program Assistant to ICLR for the past two years.

We look forward to watching the ICLR network grow to meet emerging challenges, and expand the depth and breadth of its connections to advocates. As we continue to refine our model, we will keep you informed of developments.