By The HR Observer Staff

Canada has become the latest country to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) bringing the total number of countries to 25 globally, and the 8th country in the Americas, to ratify Convention No. 190.

“It is particularly important in the current global social and economic context to pursue the fight against this pervasive phenomenon,” said the Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo in a statement.

Convention No. 190 is the first international labour standard to address violence and harassment in the workplace.

It provides a common framework for action  to shape a future of work based on social justice, the ILO said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed increased specific risks of violence and harassment in the world of work and addressing them is key to promote a human-centered response and recovery that tackles injustice,” added Houngbo.

According to the ILO, the Convention affirms that “everyone” has the right to a world of work free from violence and harassment, through internationally agreed standards. These standards provide a clear definition of violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence, understood as “a range of unacceptable behaviour and practices” that “aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm”.

The labour organisation said that the Convention protects everyone at work including interns or apprentices, and “ persons who exercise the duties or authority of an employer, and covers the public and private sectors, the formal and informal economies, as well as urban and rural areas.”