Phl addresses violence harassment in workplace
The Philippines has finally acceded to the International Labor Organization to uphold protection against violence and harassment in the workplace following its ratification of the Violence and Harassment Convention (ILO-C190) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Adopted in 2019 and coming into force on 25 June 2021, ILO-C190 is the first international treaty to recognize the right of everyone to work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment.
Once a country submits an instrument of ratification, it must put in place laws and policies to prevent and address violence and harassment in the workplace.
39th country to ratify
Labor and Employment Undersecretary Ernesto Bitonio, representing the Philippines, on 20 February personally deposited the instrument of ratification with ILO Deputy Director General Celeste Drake in Geneva, making the Philippines the 38th country in the world and the first in Asia to ratify ILO C190.
“These instruments align with the objectives outlined in the ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work, emphasizing a workplace free from violence and harassment and supporting a human-centered recovery from the Covid-19 crisis,” the ILO said in a press statement on Friday.
The ILO said it affirms the fundamental right of individuals to a workplace free from violence and harassment, as well as introducing the first globally recognized definition of workplace violence and harassment, offering protection to all individuals in the workforce, including interns, apprentices, and those with employer duties or authority.
“This protection extends across various sectors, including public and private, formal and informal economies, and urban and rural areas,” the ILO said.
Further, the convention mandates member states to adopt, in consultation with representative employer and worker organizations, inclusive genderresponsive strategies for preventing and eradicating workplace violence and harassment.
“This approach includes prevention, protection, enforcement measures, as well as remedies, guidance, training, and awareness-raising initiatives. Acknowledging the distinct roles of governments, employers, workers, and their organizations, the convention emphasizes the importance of social dialogue and tripartism in implementing these measures at the national level,” the ILO statement said.
On the part of the Philippines, Undersecretary Bitonio maintained that the country recognizes that as the first international instrument to institutionalize the “right to a world of work free from violence and harassment” as a specific right, Convention 190 breaks new ground in the boldness of its scope and ambition.
“Where it speaks of a right in the world of work, it transcends the traditional boundaries of physical spaces, territory, and geography, of formal and informal work arrangements, of urban and rural communities, of corporate halls and households. It embraces a world expanded by technology and at the same time brought tighter by it, and where very often men and women find their work, their family and social lives, and all other affairs of ordinary life increasingly fused and intertwined,” he said.
“Above all these, the convention ultimately calls upon us to agree on a baseline of acceptable behavior that respects every worker equally as a human being who has full freedom to choose and pursue the things that society values whatever [their] status, capabilities and sector are,” he said.
Deputy Director General Drake, for her part, said, “The ILO welcomes the ratification of Convention No. 190 by the Philippines. This ratification marks an important step in preventing and eliminating violence and harassment in the world of work. It is time to make workplaces free of violence and harassment a reality everywhere, promoting and realizing social justice for all.”
To date, the Philippines has ratified 39 ILO Conventions, 31 of them currently in force.