Around 70.93 percent Indonesian workers have experienced or have become a victim of violence and harassment at work; while 72.77 percent have witnessed workplace violence and harassment and 53.36 percent have become both victim and witness, according to the latest ILO report on violence and harassment at work in Indonesia.

Titled “It Can Happen to Anyone”, the report highlights the results of the recent ILO’s Survey on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work 2022, covering a total of 1,173 respondents across Indonesia. The survey, jointly conducted with Never Okay Project, an organization deals with sexual harassment at work issues, was conducted online for one month from 12 August to 13 September 2022.

The survey showed findings for the past two years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. It also attempted to get more information on experiences of workers in Indonesia related to violence and harassment at work, as victims and witnesses, reflecting term of violence and harassment under the ILO Convention No. 190 (C190) on Violence and Harassment at Work.

The C190 refers the term of “violence and harassment” in the world of work refers to 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.

In terms of vulnerability, the report finds that women and persons with disabilities are more vulnerable to violence and harassment. The report also reveals that 69.35 percent respondents have experienced more than one types of violence and harassment at work with psychological violence and harassment as the most frequent experienced by the victims (77.40%), followed by sexual violence and harassment (50.48%).

No workers are immune as the report shows that all work sectors, both public and private, have recorded at least 58,06 percent of workers have become a victim in each sector. “Therefore, prevention policy and case handling mechanism are important for workplaces at all sectors both private and public,” says the report.

The report also includes the economic dimension of harassment and violence at work. Out of 417 victims, 74.58 percent admitted that they have to work beyond their job responsibilities, 42.45 percent are forced to work late beyond regular working hours and 33,09 percent to work without any clear payment mechanism.

Power imbalance still plays a key role with supervisors/senior worker are found as the main perpetrators (54.81%). However, the report reveals that the incidents of violence and harassment do not only happen at the offices or workplaces, but also occur online (39.06%) and during field trip or outside the office building (21.88%). Working from home or working outside the office is not necessarily making workers safer from workplace violence and harassment.

Victims of violence and harassment, said the report, experience a mental health disorder (55,05%)—depression, anxiety, fright and stress, while 47 percent prefer to resign from their job. Unfortunately, the majority of the victims remain silent—45.61 percent have lack of trust that the HRD/management would take actions, 37.79 percent are worried no one believes them and 37.52 percent are afraid the negative impact to their careers.

The report finds that 470 respondents (55.16%) experience no results from their cases and 18.54 percent face victim blaming. “This demonstrates that victims of violence and harassment still face socio-cultural challenges with negative labels attached to them such as provocative, fishing for attention, inappropriate outfit,” the report explains.

In terms of actions taken by witnesses, the report finds that 468 witnesses (54.74%) support the victims by asking their conditions and 322 assist the victims to take next actions of case handling. However, the report also demonstrates personal impacts felt by the witnesses. Around 41.64 percent of witnesses are afraid that they would become a next victim, 30.41 percent experience mental health disorders and 22.81 percent blame themselves.

For reporting and case handling mechanism at the company level, the report shows that 34.53 percent of workers exclaim that there is no mechanism at their workplaces. Interestingly, 23.53 percent do not know whether their company has a mechanism or not. Thus, the report highlights the importance of socialization of company’s regulations related to violence and harassment case reporting and handling.

The report also captures hopes voiced by some workers: “The settlement of violence and harassment cases benefit victims not perpetrators”; “There is a need for companies to conduct training on violence and harassment that should be avoided at workplaces”; “The society does not normalize and neglect any forms of violence and harassment”; and “The Government should ratify the ILO Convention No. 190.”

The report concludes with the calls for comprehensive legal protection for Indonesian workers from violence and harassment at work. The report also calls for all parties to take actions against violence and harassment at work through the ratification of ILO C190 as the first international treaty recognizing the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment.