Executive summary
This report reviews the International Labour Organization Convention concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work (No. 190) (the Convention) and also contains the Committee’s examination of a minor treaty action, the 2022 Amendments to Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.
The Convention
The Convention is a landmark international instrument, the first to commit International Labour Organization (ILO) Members to respect, promote and realise the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment.
The problem the Convention seeks to address is significant. The disturbing results of the latest Australian Human Rights Commission’s survey of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, Time for respect: Fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, 2022 (Time for Respect survey) shows that a substantial proportion of Australians suffer violence and harassment at work.
The Time for Respect survey found that, in the five years prior to the survey, 33 per cent of Australians in the workforce experienced sexual harassment at work. Forty-one per cent of women experienced sexual harassment at work, as did 40 per cent of people identifying as gay. For some cohorts of workers, including respondents who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples, and people identifying as bisexual, lesbian, and non-binary, the rate of sexual harassment was above 50 per cent.
The Time for Respect survey also found that a very low number of people who reported being sexually harassed made a formal complaint. In addition, the response of organisations to formal complaints has been unacceptable, often amounting to nothing.
Against this background, the Convention offers a new opportunity to adopt an inclusive, integrated and gender-responsive approach to resolving the complex multilayered problem of violence and harassment in the world of work. In particular, the Convention:
- adopts a broad definition of ‘violence and harassment’ in the world of work, including ‘a range of unacceptable behaviours and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm, and includes gender-based violence and harassment’
- replaces out-of-date notions about what constitutes a worker so as to include workers as defined by national law and practice, persons working irrespective of their contractual status, persons in training such as interns and apprentices, terminated workers, volunteers, jobseekers and job applicants, and other persons
- identifies a broadly defined ‘world of work’ to which the Convention applies so as to include violence and harassment in the workplace, (including public and private spaces), in places where the worker is paid, takes a rest break or a meal, or uses sanitary, washing and changing facilities, during work-related trips, travel, training, events or social activities, in work-related communications, including those enabled by information and communication technologies, in employer-provided accommodation, and when commuting to and from work.
The evidence provided to the Committee highlighted two potential barriers to the effective implementation of the Convention’s obligations in Australia:
1. the need for more comprehensive data on violence and harassment at work, and
2. the potential for the complexity and inconsistency in Commonwealth, state and territory laws and policies to constitute a barrier to redress for those affected by violence and harassment.
The Committee found that the Australian Government was in the process of addressing these potential barriers through a new body, the Respect@Work Council, which consists of government regulators and policy makers responsible for sexual harassment policies and complaint handling, employer groups, worker representatives, community organisations and other experts.
The Committee found that violence and harassment in the world of work remains an extensive problem, but that the Convention and recent work in the field in Australia such as the Australian Human Rights Commission’s, Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces, demonstrate that Australia is actively working to find solutions.
The Committee supports ratification of the Convention, noting of course that ratification should not be viewed as an end in itself. The measure of the success of the Convention will not be in the passage of laws or the prosecution of offenders. The measure of success will be a community-wide recognition that mutual respect and dignity are a central part of work with a corresponding normative shift that actually reduces the instances of violence and harassment in the workplace.
2022 Amendments to Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (the Rotterdam Convention) is a multilateral treaty promoting shared responsibility and cooperation in the international trade of hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment. The Rotterdam Convention supports the exchange of information on hazardous chemicals and their potential risks amongst parties to inform and improve decision making.
Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention lists chemicals the Conference of the Parties has decided should be subject to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. The PIC procedure requires each Party to the Rotterdam Convention to decide whether it wishes to receive future shipments of chemicals listed in Annex III. Each decision is then communicated to exporting Parties.
The minor treaty action adds the following chemicals to Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention:
- Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds. PFOA is used in the production of fluoroelastomers and fluoropolymers that are used as surface treatments that reduce surface tension in products like non-stick kitchenware and food processing equipment, protective coatingings for textiles and paper, lubricants in the automotive, electronics, construction and aerospace industries, and firefighting foams for extinguishing liquid-fuel fires.
- Decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE). [D]ecaBDE is used as a flame retardant in plastic enclosures for televisions, computers, audio and video equipment, textiles and upholstered articles, wire and cables for communication and electronic equipment, and replacement parts for cars and aircraft.
Australia intends to consent to the import of these chemicals subject to requirements applied under Australian regulations. Australian companies will be required to submit an import or export permit application to the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme, managed by the Department of Health and Aged Care. The permits will attract fees.
The Committee has agreed that the amendments to the Rotterdam Convention be endorsed as a minor treaty action.