Held on 29 June, the discussion was opened with testimonies from Elyarumiyati, a domestic worker and Agust Pitoyo, a worker with disability, who shared their vulnerability as informal workers to violence and harassment. Exclude from the national labour, the faith of domestic workers are left at the mercy of their employers; while workers with disabilities still face discrimination and struggle to find decent jobs.

Both the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Children’s Protection and Ministry of Manpower emphasized that the Constitution of Indonesia upholds zero tolerance to violence and harassment in all aspects of life, including the world of work. These Ministries have also issues relevant regulations to provide better protection for women a response to an increase of gender violence in the country.

“The Convention is crucial as it covers the protection of both formal and informal workers,” said Ratna Susianawati, Deputy for the Protection of Women’s Rights of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Children’s Protection. Meanwhile Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah emphasized that “workplaces that are free from violence and harassment will lead to high productivity and harmonious industrial relations.”

Valerie Julliand, UN Resident Coordinator for Indonesia, stated that the prevention of violence and harassment is part of the UN Agenda. She also reminded that the violence and harassment at work, according to the ILO Convention No. 190,  takes a range of forms and leads to physical, psychological, sexual and economic harm. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the issue even further.

“The Convention provides the first international definition of violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment. It ensures safer, more productive workplaces by protecting the most vulnerable,” said Valerie in her opening remarks.

Policy gaps on workplace violence and harassment

Maria Emeninta, a representative of the Alliance to Stop Violence and Harassment at the Workplace in Indonesia, said that the organization has promoted the ratification of the Convention since its first adoption in 2019. “Started from 13 organizations, we have now developed to 59 organizations from women organization, trade unions and civil societies, urging Indonesia to start joining the six countries that have already ratified the Convention,” she said.

To date six countries have ratified the Convention – Argentina, Ecuador, Fiji, Namibia, Somalia and Uruguay.

Responding to Maria, Aliyah Mustika Ilham, a parliament member from the Commission IX of Demokrat Party, stated that together with her party, she strongly supported the ratification of the Convention. “We continue lobbying women caucus of parliament and other parties under the Commission IX to provide similar support for the ratification.”

However, both representatives of Minister of Manpower and the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) reminded the participants about Indonesia’s various legislations and policies at national and enterprise levels that could be better utilized to free workplaces from violence and harassment.

Sumondang, Acting Director for Labour Relations and Wages of the Ministry of Manpower, argued that the bipartite institution and the collective labour agreement, for example, were two existing labour instruments that could be strengthened to enforce policies on workplaces that free from violence and harassment. “I believe this will be effective as it will be directly managed by workers and employers under the labour-management cooperation.”

Similarly, Myra Hanartani, Head of Employment Regulation and Institutional Relations of Apindo, claimed that companies’ Code of Conducts could be also be used as tools to address violence and harassment at the workplace. “Apindo has also taken sexual harassment issue as an important issue for all its members as mentioned in our guidelines,” she argued.

Workplace violence as a recognized workplace problem

Taking into accounts all the available instruments developed by various ministries and institutions, Sri W. Eddyono, the ILO’s consultant who has reviewed policy gaps between the Convention No. 190 against the existing, relevant instruments, stated that existing regulations and instruments only focused on one layer of issue. The Indonesian Penal Code, for example, does not yet cover violence at the workplaces.

“We need to admit that our regulations are not sufficient enough to protect victims of workplace violence. We need to review all aspects of the protection. Is there any protection service provided by the existing regulations? Is there any protection of confidentiality? Is there any legal protection? Is there any guarantee that the worker who reports the harassment can still keep her/his job. These are the questions that we need address,” she said.

The discussion concluded with the notion that violence and harassment at the workplace have become a recognized workplace problem. “Together with Recommendation No. 206, Convention No. 190 has made this problem more visible. As an international labour standard, it is now recognizable as a labour right like wages, working hours, working conditions and so forth,” concluded Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director for ILO in Indonesia, who also invited around 500 viewers participated in the event to take part in socializing the awareness about this issue.

The ILO continues its global campaign to promote the ratification and implementation of Convention No. 190 on violence and harassment in the workplace. The public is invited to participate by downloading assets from the ILO campaign hub and sharing them on social media.

The live streaming of the interactive discussion can be viewed on ILO TV Indonesia