International Labour Conference 107th Session, 2018 (Geneva)
Statement by India on Report V (2) –Agenda item 5 -Ending violence and harassment in the world of work
Thank you chair.
At the outset we compliment the office in bringing out this document. We note that the Report contains the proposed conclusions relating to forms of instruments; definition and scope and proposed conclusions with a view to a Convention and Recommendation and; not the text of the instrument. Before this instrument takes shape, there are some key issues that would need detailed deliberations.
India unequivocally supports the proposed agenda item. India has supported the matter ever since this was proposed as a possible item for agenda of ILC in the meetings of GB of ILO. We support a focused and short Conventions supported by a Recommnedation. We look forward to rich discussions.
I take clue form what Employers’ Vice Chair to GB said in today’s plenary. There are still a lot of terms in the proposed conclusions that need serious deliberations before they form part of the instrument.
ILO has a rich body of labour standards covering wide array of subjects. It is not appropriate to have provisions of these ILO Conventions in the present instrument. Not every country has ratified these instruments; therefore, the reference to these should be deleted. The attempt should not be to make this instrument an amalgamation of various other labour standards. Violence and harassment against men and women is a specific workplace issue that needs to be dealt with separately. We should be cautious of including reference to various other labour standards in this instrument as it may create difficulties in ratification of this instrument by countries.
We would be very keen to see that the scope of the instrument is defined very unambiguously. Enforcement in the matters of such sensitive nature depend to a large extent in the clear scope and boundaries of application
We look forward to fruitful discussions on this agenda item.
Thank you.
28 May 2018
