Kalpona Akter is the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, a labour NGO in Bangladesh. She is a former child worker who started work in garment factories when she was twelve. Kalpona set up the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity in 2001 to campaign for improved conditions in the garment industry. Like many labour organisers in developing countries, Kalpona and her colleagues have experienced significant repression for the work that they do. In 2012, unknown assailants abducted, tortured, and killed Kalpona's colleague, labor union organizer Aminul Islam. April 4 is the 5 year anniversary of his death.