Enact law to prevent sexual harassment at workplace

The government should take initiatives including enacting laws to protect women from workplace sexual harassment, women’s rights bodies said on Saturday.

 

Besides, the government should ensure the implementation of the 11 directives of the High Court, Gender Platform Bangladesh, a platform of 13 women’s rights organisations, said at a press briefing at Jatiya Press Club in the capital.

They also urged the government to ratify ILO Convention- 190, the first international treaty to recognize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment adopted in 2019.

 

At the beginning of the event, Nazma Yasmin, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies(BILS), read out a keynote highlighting the need for a separate act and taking other measures.

She urged the government to implement 11 specific directives of the High Court to stop sexual harassment and end discrimination against women in their workplaces.

 

Salma Ali, president of Bangladesh Jatiya Mahila Ainjibi Samity, said that women are being victims of sexual harassment and facing discrimination at their workplaces in many cases.

 

Conducted by Nazma Akhter, Executive Director of Awaj Foundation, representatives from different women’s rights platforms attended the event among others.