Nigeria has joined Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Philippines, Tunisia and T?rkiye as the worst countries violating workers? rights.

According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Global Rights Index 2025, workers? rights are collapsing in most parts of the world.

The report says workers? rights are in free fall across every continent with Europe and the Americas recording their worst scores since the Index began in 2014.

It said just seven countries have the top rating of one for their respect for workers? rights, compared with 51, or one in three, rated five and 5+.

The report warned that if the current trend continues, no country will hold a rating of one within the next ten years.

Three out of five global regions saw conditions worsen, with the Americas scoring 3.68 and Europe scoring 2.78, both of which were the worst scores on record.

The report said Europe continued a rapid deterioration from 1.84 in 2014 ? the biggest decline seen in any region worldwide over the past 10 years.

It added that only seven out of the 151 countries surveyed (fewer than five per cent) earned a top-tier rating of one ? down from 18 a decade ago.

The Middle East and North Africa emerged as the worst regions for working people in the world with an average rating of 68. 87 per cent of countries violated the right to strike while 80 per cent violated the right to collective bargaining.

The report also found that workers? access to justice was restricted in 72 per cent of countries, the worst level ever recorded. In his response to the findings, ITUC General Secretary, Luc Triangle said: ?The 2025 ITUC Global Rights Index exposes the outcomes of the betrayal of the system built after World War Two, founded on democracy, trade union rights and justice. Governments have collaborated in decades of deregulation, neoliberalism, and neglect, leading to the collapse of workers? rights. This has disenfranchised millions and paved the way for extremism, authoritarianism and the billionaire coup against democracy that now threatens democracy itself.

?If this pace of decline continues, in ten years there will be no country left in the world with the highest rating for its respect for workers? rights. This is a global scandal, but it is not unavoidable; it is a deliberate decision that can be reversed.

?That is why the ITUC is exposing the coordinated attack by the ultra-rich and their political allies to rig economies against working people. It is not inevitable that workers? rights will worsen in the 2026 Rights Index. Together, through strong, independent unions and a democracy that delivers for all, we can reclaim power, rebuild economies that serve people, not corporations, and demand international institutions that are accountable to those they were created to protect. Our movement is fighting every day for this future ? and next year?s Index must show the beginning of real change.?

12 out of the countries surveyed, workers? rights have deteriorated so severely due to conflict and the corresponding collapse of the rule of law, that they now hold the lowest possible rating of 5+.

These countries are Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Haiti, Libya, Myanmar, Palestine, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

However, Australia, Mexico and Oman have seen their rating improve in 2025.

Seven countries including Argentina, Costa Rica, Georgia, Italy, Mauritania, Niger, and Panama have witnessed increased workers? rights violations.

The 2025 ITUC Global Rights Index was released on 2nd June to coincide with the start of the International Labour Conference (ILC) at the

International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland ? the world?s parliament for work.

ITUC said its priorities at the ongoing ILC include kicking against rights violations through the Committee on the Application of Standards and the implementation of Article 33 measures concerning Myanmar, advancing protections in the platform economy, addressing biological hazards at work, and promoting innovative pathways to formalising informal work.

The ILC plans to organise a special session on the 2025 ITUC Global Rights Index on 10 June. The session will feature testimonies from trade union representatives from some of the worst countries in the world for working people and remarks from Luc Triangle, the ITUC?s General Secretary. (The Guardian)

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