ZCZC
BFF-33
ILO-LABOUR-SUMMIT-GENDER-#METOO
Head of UN labour agency backs anti-harassment measures
GENEVA, June 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The head of the International Labour
Organization on Monday urged the agency to approve new rules to stop violence
and harassment in the workplace, despite some concerns from employer
representatives.
ILO director general Guy Ryder made the call as he opened a congress
marking the United Nations labour body’s 100th anniversary. Following the
#MeToo movement, ILO delegates are negotiating a convention with enhanced
worker protection that would, once ratified by member-states, be legally
binding.
“By adopting new international labour standards to stop violence and
harassment at work, this conference will … strike a blow against abuse
which should offend the basic standards of decency of each and every one of
us,” Ryder told the congress.
“We must do this,” he added.
The ILO’s work is often complicated by its tripartite structure that
includes government officials, union leaders and private sector employer
representatives.
It is a unique set-up among UN agencies, which normally offer formal roles
only to member-states.
According to Ryder, employers have voiced concern about the convention on
harassment, especially whether an enterprise should be responsible for abuses
that happen away from the workplace.
A provisional draft of the resolution refers to abuses that occur during
“work-related trips or travel, training, events or social activities”.
The provisional text also defines “violence and harassment” as “a range of
unacceptable behaviours and practices… that aim at, result in, or are
likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm”.
– ‘Unacceptable mischievousness’ –
Employers want specific offences to be more precisely defined, according
to Ryder.
The head of the employers’ delegation to the ILO congress, Mthunzi Mdwaba,
said his camp supported a binding convention but warned that employers would
not tolerate negotiations where their concerns were disregarded.
He accused some, unnamed ILO delegates of “unacceptable mischievousness”
and said employers were frustrated that they were not being treated as equal
partners within the organisation.
The ILO is the only agency set up under the League of Nations following
World War I that survived the rise of fascism in Europe and the outbreak of
World War II.
Dozens of heads of state and government are due to address the congress
that runs through June 21, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1841 hrs