Launch of the Labour Rights Index 2024

Fiona Dragstra is the General Director of the WageIndicator Foundation

Sean Cooney is a law professor at the University of Melbourne. His research interests concern international and comparative labour and employment law, with a focus on Asia. Sean has served as a Legal Specialist in the Labour Law and Reform Unit at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, where he provided advice to governments in countries such as China, India, Myanmar and Pakistan.

Iftikhar Ahmad is a Fulbright scholar, a comparative labour law expert, and a graduate of the Industrial and Labour Relations School, Cornell University. He is the Global Lead on Labour Law at the WageIndicator Foundation and the Founder of the Centre for Labour Research, Pakistan. Iftikhar has led the development WageIndicator's Labour Law Database and has spearheaded the work on the Labour Rights Index. Iftikhar also co-authored the Islamic Labour Code, based on the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.

Moderated by Fiona Dragstra

Anne Trebilcock (J.D., Dr. h.c.) is affiliated to the Institute for Labour Law at the University of Göttingen, Germany. She is a former official of the International Labour Organization, serving as Legal Adviser after working on fundamental principles and rights at work, policy integration and labour law reform. She has authored or edited articles, book chapters and books, most recently (ed. with Brian Langille), Social Justice and the World of Work: Possible Global Futures (Hart, 2023).

Elena Sychenko is an associate professor of Russian and International Labour Law, teaching at Saint Petersburg State University and the University of Bologna. She received her PhD degree from the University of Catania in 2016, a master's degree with honours from Saint Petersburg State University, and has been a Fulbright Scholar at Wharton Business School. In 2019, she received a prestigious Jean Monnet Module to teach European labour law. She  has previously consulted twice with the ILO.

Grace Camara is a Senior Legal Adviser and the Garment and Apparel Sector Lead for Global Rights Compliance, an international human rights law and development firm. Grace manages multi-stakeholder initiatives that strengthen the regulatory environment and facilitate access to remedy for human and labour rights violations. She has over 15 years' experience advising on corporate accountability initiatives for both private sector and non-profit organisations. As a trustee and board member of The Circle, she advises on EU policy developments for the organisation's campaign for living wages for garment workers. 

Ken Chamuva Shawa is a Senior Economist and Head of the Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit (RESA) at the ILO's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Thailand and a member of the ILO’s Research Department.  His research interests include the economics of labour markets, health and labour, the growth-finance-environment nexus, trade, and agricultural policy. Prior to joining the ILO, he was a Policy Economist at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and a Trade Economist at the African Union (AU-IBAR).

Prof. Beryl ter Haar is UW Professor and Head of the Center for International and European Labor Law Studies (CIELLS) at the University of Warsaw and Endowed Professor European and Comparative Labor Law at the University of Groningen. Her research deals with international and European labor law, especially collective bargaining, social dialogue, new governance, transnational private regulation, corporate sustainable/human rights due diligence, and the future of social law. She has co-edited several books and is the lead-editor of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Labor and Employment Law (forthcoming 2026). She is winner of the Marco Biagi Award 2011 (together with Attila Kun and Antonio García-Muñoz) and the 2013 Levenbach prize for best international publication in labor law.