ActionAid Ghana (AAG), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has organised a one-day workshop on sexual harassment at home and the workplace, in Wain the Upper West Region.
The training was organised as part of activities under the Zero-Violence Project with funding from the Foreign, Common wealth and Development Office of the UK Government.
The project, which was being implemented in partnership with Frontline Aids and ActionAid UK, is aimed at getting employers to protect workers and other persons in the world of work irrespective of their contractual status, including persons under training, workers whose employment have been terminated and job applicants.
Madam Abiba Nibaradun, Programmes Officer for AAG in the Upper West Region, explained that sexual harassment affected both men and woman and was, therefore, relevant that society created a favourable environment that would not only prevent sexual harassment but also encourage victims to speak up and seek justice.
She stated that the International Labour Organisation Convention (C190) of 2019, which was the focus for the training, basically sought to address sexual harassment in both public and private sectors in the rural or urban setting.
“Sexual harassment is an unwelcome sexual advance, request for favour or unwholesome sexual attitude towards another person who may consider the act offensive or humiliating and therefore should not be allowed or accepted no matter the circumstances,” she said.
Madam Abiba encouraged the participants to join the advocacy for the ratification of ILO C190 by Ghana as it would serve as major pillar for addressing issues of harassment in the country.
For his part, the Upper West Regional Labour Officer, Mr Justice Opare, told participants that the ILO Convention deemed harassment in the world of work as unacceptable and an affront to the pursuance of decent work.
“The Convention enjoins the prevention of harassment of workers whose employment has been terminated, volunteers, job seekers and individuals exercising their duties as employees,” he said.
He said member states of the United Nations were expected to adopt the convention in consonance with their national laws and policies in order to embark on participatory and gender responsive approach to the elimination of violence in the world of work.
He urged people who would fall victims to sexual harassment to immediately report to the National Labour Organisation for redress.
FROM RAFIA ABDUL-RAZAK, WA
