Labour rights activism makes societies fairer by addressing the imbalance of power between corporations and workers and improving working conditions.  It is also at the heart of the broader struggle for human rights and social justice. Several examples of human rights movements that have been led and supported by labour rights groups include: coalitions to rebuild democracy in Honduras after a coup; the mobilizing of workers in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain during the Arab uprisings; and the pro-democracy movement in Zimbabwe, led by the country’s labour federation. Yet today across the globe, we are witnessing a mounting erosion of space for worker organizing and violence against labour rights defenders which negatively affects all human rights movements and requires cross-movement and cross-sector collaboration to address. Distinctions are sometimes made between labour rights defenders (including trade unions and other workers' representatives) and human rights defenders, but as former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association Maina Kiai expressed: these distinctions are artificial. Labour rights are human rights, and any person or organisation defending them is a human rights defender as articulated in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. As Sharan Burrow, the Secretary-General of the ITUC, put it: “Workers and their unions are the defenders of rights and freedoms.” This page collects the latest news on restrictions on worker organizing and labour rights defenders and highlights company statements in support of labour activists and freedom of association, company implementation of related commitments, and guidance for governments and companies.