Founding Statement for a Campaign to Call on the Egyptian Government to ratify ILO Convention no. 190 for 2019 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work

ILO adopted Convention no. 190 on the 21^st of June 2019 in its General Conference met in Geneva following the approval of the three social partners (representatives of governments, employers and workers). The Convention shall come into force twelve months after its ratification by two Member states. It is the first Convention to specifically cover violence and harassment at work, and confirms the right to live in a world in which work is free of violence and harassment.

We believe that international conventions adopted by ILO are very important because they ensure legal protection for all workers. They are as powerful as national laws for countries that ratify them. This is confirmed by the Constitution of Egypt of 2014, article 93, which obliges the government to amend its law in order to be consistent to treaties it joins. Human rights treaties recognize the special importance of guarantees of women’s access to their right to work, removal of obstacles they face, and abolishing all forms of violence and harassment that might take place in the world of work.

In this context, we affirm that we believe in the right of every individual to live in a world free of violence and harassment so that the future of work is based on mutual respect and dignity of the human being. Violence and harassment negatively affect the heath and dignity of individuals, and may prevent individuals, especially women, of accessing, remaining and advancing in the labour market. The work environment is an important arena in which the extent and nature of violence and harassment especially practiced against women workers are revealed although work is a way for their economic, social and political empowerment.

The Permanent Conference for Working Women, in cooperation with Public Services International and CTUWS, organized a workshop on Monday the 13^th of January 2020 in Cairo. This workshop was attended by a number of representatives of independent trade unions, members of the Permanent Conference for Working Women, and representatives of Public Services International. For a full day, the workshop talked the main principles of the Convention which confirm the right of every individual to live in a world free of violence and harassment. The Convention also adopts a comprehensive, integrated and gender-sensitive approach. It defines specific and integrated roles and functions of governments, employers and workers, in addition to respecting, promoting and implementing basic principles at work, as well as identifying hazards of violence and harassment in the workplace for men and women.

Moreover, the Convention stipulated the necessity to adopt and implement mechanisms and procedures for criminalizing violence and harassment in the world of work for all workers in all sectors (formal and informal),
as well as the responsibility of employers to adopt and implement a workplace policy on violence and harassment in consultation with workers and their representatives. It also recognizes that violence and harassment are workplace issues that especially and directly affect women, their work and productivity.

The workshop concluded with agreeing on launching an extended campaign that includes an action plan made by the participants. The plan includes a general objective, and specific targets, as well as executive tools and activities used to achieve these objectives. It also includes identifying the targeted group and beneficiaries thereof. Participants agreed that we need to exert continuous efforts to disseminate awareness and collective action. We need to build coalitions, and to mainstream the objectives of the campaign in the policies of different unions. The launching of the campaign and its founding statement takes place in a press conference the next day (Tuesday, the 14thof January 2020).

So that this Convention becomes a living reality, we need to call on the Egyptian government to join and ratify Convention no. 190 for 2019 and to change national legislations so that they are consistent with the provisions of the Convention and its basic principles.

Cairo – 14 January 2020

Participants in the workshop:

• The Permanent Conference for Working Women
• Public Services International
• Center for Workers and Trade Unions Services 
• The Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Giza
• The Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Ismailia
• The Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Suez
• The Union of Workers in Supplies in Ismailia
• The Independent Union of Teachers in Suez
• The Union of Workers in Education in Alexandria
• The Union of Nurses in the New El Qasr El Ainy Educational Hospital
• The Nurses Union in Alexandria.
• Workers in Agriculture.
• Small farmers Union in Minya. 
• Alexandria Library Union
• The Union of Workers in Telecom Egypt
• The Union of Workers in Handicrafts in Alexandria
• The Union of Workers in Prosecution Office and Courts in Alexandria
• The Union of Workers in Alexandria University
• The Union of Workers in the Sector of Petroleum in Suez
• The National Egyptian Foundation for Human Rights in Ismailia.
• The Union of Workers in the Agriculture Department of Ismailia.