The Electronics Watch Board of Trustees and staff stand in solidarity with our fellow board member Lennon Ying Da Wang, whose life has been threatened for his work as a human rights defender.

Lennon is director of policies on migrant workers at Serve the People Association (SPA), an independent NGO committed to improving conditions for migrant workers in Taiwan. It runs shelters that provide temporary accommodation, legal advice, emergency resettlement and support obtaining legal wages and compensation. He has recently become aware of threats to kidnap and kill him and his colleague Kuang-Yu Tu. The threats were made in an employment brokers' Line chat group with almost 500 members.

The threats were sufficiently credible that Lennon fears for his safety. He has reported the incident to police and has written a public Declaration of Non-Suicide.

The threats to his life come in a context of rising hostility to migrant workers, in Taiwan and elsewhere around the world. As well as being more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in the workplace, in many countries migrant workers are vilified in public discourse. Political actors have stoked hostility to migrants and shared defamatory images and accusations about Lennon and SPA. This dehumanising narrative fuels anti-migrant sentiment and paves the way for threats to human rights defenders like Lennon.

The Electronics Watch Board of Trustees is also concerned about anti-union hostility directed at Lennon and at a group of migrant workers who are attempting to organise. The company where they work has tried to prevent them forming a union and criticises SPA and Lennon as "outsiders" trying to destroy the company. Union officers have been threatened and intimidated, denied bonuses and overtime, and faced contract non-renewal and blacklisting. There is also evidence of forced labour being used as punishment for organising and for breaking highly restrictive dormitory rules.

We see hostility to trade unions increasing in many countries, not just Taiwan. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Global Rights Index 2025 identifies a "stark and worsening global crisis for workers and unions". It also highlights a sharp escalation in violations of fundamental rights, including access to justice, the right to free speech and assembly, and the right to collective bargaining.

Such violations are often part of a deliberate strategy to stop workers from trying to claim their human rights at work and undermine the fundamental right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Governments and business must work with civil society to ensure human rights defenders and trade union members can exercise their rights and help build safe, healthy, and secure workplaces without fear.

As the Electronics Watch Board of Trustees and staff, we condemn violence and threats and stand in support of our colleague Lennon Ying-Da Wang and Kuang-Yu Tu.