KUWAIT: The President of the International Federation of Asian and African Trade Unions Saud Hujailan stressed the importance of the International Labor Organization Convention on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment, 2019 (No 190), pointing to the right of workers, especially women, to work in an environment free from violence and harassment.
Hujailan indicated, in a press statement, that these anomalous phenomena negatively affect millions of people around the world, calling on the countries that have ratified the agreement to start taking steps to protect, provide the necessary legal environment, make appropriate improvements to the work environment and push it in the right direction that provides job security for workers from both genders.
Hujailan pointed out some psychological, health, and economic passive effects that result from violence and harassment in the world of work, which affects labor productivity, especially after the emerging of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Hujailan stressed the need to activate the role of civil society institutions, first in spreading awareness and second in forming a front to pressure on governments to sign the agreement and implement all its provisions for the benefit of a large number of workers.
He explained that the Convention (No 190) defines violence and harassment as "a range of unacceptable behaviors and practices or threats associated with them, whether they occur once or repeated, that aim, lead, or are likely to lead to physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm.
It includes violence and harassment on the basis of gender," which includes bullying and harassment, and other matters, noting that the Convention recognizes the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including violence and harassment on the basis of gender, and provides broad protection that applies to the public and private sectors, the formal and informal economy, and in urban and rural areas.
Hujailan revealed that the International Federation of Asian and African Trade Unions adopts spreading awareness of the importance of the International Labor Organization Convention on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment, 2019 (No. 190), through a series of events and visits to members of the diplomatic corps accredited by the member states of the Union.