Solidarity in Action:
Our Projects

Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, as the global justice organisation of the Australian union movement, works to support stronger union and social movements in thirteen locations in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. We do that by working in partnership with thirty-nine local unions and community organisations through thirty projects and campaigns.

Our approach to development and movement-building work is centred in values of partnership, solidarity, equality, justice, and accountability.

We provide on-the-ground assistance which aims to address the causes of injustice and inequality, not the symptoms.

We support organised movements of people to make their own change possible, by exerting political pressure for just and sustainable solutions.

We recognise our solidarity with the working classes and marginalised people of the Global South and stand with them, as together we struggle for a better world.

We seek to deploy funds in effective and strategic ways, with accountability to partner organisations, funding bodies and our own members.

Here are some of the projects and campaigns we undertake in collaboration with communities in our region and beyond:

By working to support strong movements of people, we can fight inequality and corporate greed. History shows us we can demand a just world.

Kate Lee

Executive Officer, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA

To learn more about how we put our solidarity into action, take a look at the 2023 Annual Report, where you can read about our partnerships and projects, the activism and advocacy of our members, and the progress of our campaign to ban asbestos across Asia.

Recently Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA received an important question from a supporter: What is the Australian union movement doing to support workers in countries where they haven't even had their first dose yet? While we are getting our second, and
The fight to ban asbestos worldwide is gaining new momentum as networks across Asia and the Pacific pledged recently to step up the battle to protect their populations from the deadly dangers of asbestos exposure at the Asia Ban Asbestos Network (ABAN) Conference 2021.
EuroCham Cambodia has pledged its support to ban the use of deadly asbestos across the country. The move comes as global pressure to curtail its use in the construction industry steps up a gear.
On September 28-30, ban asbestos and victim networks from across the Asia Pacific region came together online for the Asia Ban Asbestos Network’s (ABAN) three-day conference.
On the Global Day of Action for Myanmar on September 15, unionists across the country tuned in to our webinar with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to learn more about the ongoing situation in Myanmar.
Following public pressure, Trade Minister Dan Tehan has finally announced Australia will put people over profits and support the TRIPS waiver at the WTO.
Asbestos fibre imports in Vietnam have fallen 50% in the last 2 years, partly due to our awareness program and partly to growing supply of alternative products.
In August, APHEDA supporters gathered to celebrate women leaders within the union movement and our global solidarity projects in Timor Leste, Myanmar, and on the Thai-Burma border.
With the support of the Australia Middle East NGO Cooperation Agreement Program – Phase Three (AMENCA 3), APHEDA works with farmers and small businesses on the Gaza Strip to enhance their access to markets and market information as part of

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