APEC's process establishes a privileged relationship between business and government to the exclusion of other social groups. The accountability of governments to their populations is further diminished by APEC's characterization of states as economies and of heads of state as economic leaders. Governments have a responsibility to develop their economic policies in an open, transparent and participatory process. Governments must respect the right to form independent trade unions and therefore ensure that trade unionists and organizers are not subjected to intimidation, harassment, detention and prosecution. Governments must respect the rights of documented and undocumented migrant workers.
Governments are responsible for ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights.
Thus, governments must be held accountable for the continued violation of those rights. Corporations, national and transnational, are fully accountable for any rights' violations they may commit on workers and the communities in which they operate. Governments should ratify all UN and ILO human rights treaties without reservation and incorporate them into national legislation and policies. Effective mechanisms must be created at the national levels to strengthen existing international mechanisms for the protection and promotion of workers' human rights. Governments should take effective measures to eliminate discrimination and violence against women including violation of women's reproductive rights occurring all to frequently in the workplace.