Conference Agenda

In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly declared a healthy environment, and access to clean air, a human right (CCAC secretariat, 2022). However, such rights remain unrealised in the global garment industry, wherein workers are routinely exposed to air pollution. In Cambodia, factory boilers are fuelled by wood and garment off-cuts (Geres, 2022; Parsons et al., 2021), the burning of which releases particulate matter, nitrous oxide and sulphur dioxide into the air (Chandath et al., 2023). Boundless in nature, this polluted air affects the quality of outdoor and indoor environments for workers at assembly lines, where they work up to 8 or 10 hours a day (Parsons et al., 2022:28). The environmental effects of this model are grave, with recent research noting the high levels of particulate matter and toxins detected at factory sites, exceeding World Health Organisation guidelines for the protection of human health (Chandath et al., 2023). Although there is little awareness of air pollution and its effects on workers, research evidences the high prevalence of exposure symptoms amongst garment workers at such factories using biomass boilers (Chandath et al., 2023). Crucially, the health impacts of air pollution are uneven, given young migrant women's over-representation in such roles (Lawreniuk et al., 2022). This paper examines the health effects of exposure to air pollution on garment workers’ respiratory health, to address a dearth of gendered data on women's health in the garment industry. Using arts-based methods, this paper employs a participatory, worker-led approach, that foregrounds embodied experiences of ill–health. In doing so, it highlights how exposure to air pollutants constitutes a form of invisible, ‘slow violence’ (Nixon, 2011), undermining the right to a safe work environment – a pillar of the ‘Decent Work’ agenda. Accretive in nature, the latency of chronic respiratory conditions, can result in years of ill-health without diagnosis, as witnessed with cases of Brown and Black Lung in the past (Blanc, 2012; Smith, 1981). The findings of this research suggest that increased awareness and capacity to communicate such experiences are crucial to initiate social dialogue and policy implications around air pollution; a necessary step for the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals 3, 5, & 8 on ‘Health and Wellbeing’, ‘Gender Equality’ and ‘Decent Work’. Enhancing understanding on air pollution and its effect on women workers’ health will therefore prove fruitful in ensuring garment workers’ right to dignified employment, and more critically, their right to clean air.

Introduction

Globally, 44% of the workforce is engaged in farming, exposing approximately 860 million agricultural workers to pesticides annually. Unintended pesticide poisonings result in 11,000 deaths per year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of these fatalities. Despite existing regulations, farm workers remain highly vulnerable due to unsafe pesticide practices, lack of awareness, and regulatory loopholes.

Research Questions

This study seeks to understand the primary safety risks faced by farm workers using pesticides, the effectiveness of current regulations in protecting agricultural workers, and the necessary policy changes to enhance worker safety and reduce pesticide-related fatalities.

Methodology

This research is based on an analysis of 100 pesticide exposure cases among chili farmers in India (2023-24) using a mixed-method approach. The study utilizes secondary data from the Farmers’ Situation Assessment and NCRB records. Additionally, primary data collection was conducted through snowball sampling to gather firsthand accounts from affected farmers and workers. A qualitative analysis was carried out to identify policy gaps and enforcement challenges within the existing regulatory framework.

Contribution to Literature

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on workers safety and policy by highlighting the discrepancies between legal provisions and real-world enforcement. It provides empirical data on worker safety gaps and pesticide exposure levels while advocating for stronger liability measures for pesticide manufacturers and suppliers. Furthermore, it proposes a comprehensive regulatory framework to ensure better implementation and monitoring of pesticide regulations to reduce pesticides exposures and reduce health hazards to farmers.

Findings

The study reveals significant gaps in worker safety, with 67% of farmers lacking awareness of pesticide hazards. Additionally, 41% report the sale of banned and unauthorised pesticides in local markets, and 75% do not have access to proper protective equipment. A concerning 63% of farmers state that dealers do not provide safety guidance, while 32% use excessive doses and mixtures of pesticides. Moreover, 35% experience unintended exposure during application, and 21% face exposure due to pesticide storage at home.

These findings underscore the urgent need for regulatory reform, including accountability at local level in implementation of regulations, stricter liability measures, and continuous monitoring under the proposed Pesticide Management Bill, 2020. Strengthening enforcement and accountability will be crucial in reducing pesticide-related poisonings and fatalities in India.

In her final speech at the ILC session adopting the 2022 amendment to the 1998 Declaration, the Workers’ Group chairperson expressed her hope that the right to a living wage ‘should receive the high priority it deserves, and – who knows – we may see a sixth fundamental right appearing on the horizon’ (Passchier 2022:9). Since then, the issue of living wage has garnered increased attention in the ILO’s system ( ILO 2024).

In our previous research on the 2022 amendment to the 1998 Declaration, we found that the 2022 amendment signals a lowering of the inclusion bar for future amendments of the Declaration beyond ‘procedural’ rights and opened the path for further updating of the list of FPRW (Katsaroumpas and Kotsoni, 2025). Building on our previous findings, with this article we will make the case for the inclusion of a right to a living wage in the 1998 Declaration.

Toward this end, the article advances the following arguments. Firstly, the 2022 amendment showed that not only ‘procedural’ or ‘autonomy rights’ belong to the 1998 Declaration, as previously thought (see Langille 2005 and Maupain 2005). In fact, the inclusion of health and safety as the fifth fundamental right renders these accounts obsolete and inadequate to capture the current evolution of the Declaration. Secondly, like the other FPRW, the right to a living wage has constitutional grounding that justifies its inclusion in the FPRW. In this article, we make the case for the inclusion of a right to a living wage in the 1998 Declaration. We locate this right within ILO’s constitutional framework and other significant legal sources, that demonstrate its constitutional grounding and distributive function, aligning with the Philadelphia Declaration's call for a just share of progress (see Ewing and Hendy, 2023). Thirdly, we argue that the inclusion of a right to a living wage in the Declaration is also supported by normative, rights-based, reasons, as well as the right’s links and enabling outcomes for other constitutional goals of the ILO.

Overall, recent developments regarding health and safety at work, suggest that ILO is equipped with experience and institutional capacity to expand the 1998 Declaration in that direction. The article will contribute to the debate on the possible inclusion of a living wage right in the 1998 Declaration by offering a constitutional normative narrative that views it as a normative and logical extension enabled and facilitated by the 2022 amendment.