Random Reflections - ILO C190 Convention on Violence and Harassment in the Workplace

 The International Women’s Rights Action Watch, Asia Pacific, (IWRAW AP) is part of the global campaign to encourage states to ratify the  ILO Convention C190 on Violence and Harassment in the world of work and as such I have recently been exposed to many discussions around the convention.  One of the more recent online discussions organised by IWRAW AP, ITUC, Action Aid and CARE gave rise to this very impressive graphic recording of the issues being raised



This was a conversation that was rooted in South and South East Asia, and the thoughts that were circling in my head as we discussed the challenges of promoting ratification, described in this graphic as patriarchy, lack of political will, political instability, difficulties of implementation, lack of awareness, and a focus on dealing with the pandemic, were about  how complicit we could be with our pretty graphics and online discussions if we didn’t really expose the elephant in the room.  


Can we really isolate Violence and Harassment in the workplace from the risky and socially and environmentally destructive Australian extractive companies in Papua New Guinea, for instance?  Can we ask the government of Filipino President  Rodrigo Duterte that targets impoverished citizens in urban areas through its murderous “war on drugs,” ongoing since  it took office in June 2016 with total impunity for all extrajudicial killings, to “take appropriate measures to prevent violence and harassment in the world of work”? What will addressing Violence and Harassment in the workplace mean to Narendra Modi’s government with its hardline Hindutva agenda that revoked the special status of Kashmir in August 2019 and has instituted a Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that intends to disenfranchise and exclude Muslims?  Will the government of Sri Lanka that has consistently refused to investigate well founded allegations against the atrocities committed by its troops during the country’s almost three decades of civil war and recently pardoned those convicted by the courts of these crimes, take measures to “adopt laws and regulations requiring employers to take appropriate steps…. to prevent violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment”? 


The list could go on.  I do recognise that it is important to fight the small battles and make some immediate gains, especially to strengthen global standards for accountability.  But there is a bigger war that needs to be won and that we need to continue to call out root causes of structural violence in our societies as a fundamental part of our advocacy for a non-violent and secure society for our children and grandchildren.



 




This will be a series of random thoughts that come to me as I go about my work and life.


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