Mauritius becomes 7th country to ratify ILO Convention 190

The Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI) welcomed Mauritius’ ratification of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work on 1 July.

Mauritus becomes the seventh country in the world and the third in Africa after Namibia and Somalia to ratify the Convention.

BWI said that the Convention’s ratification is an important way to make meaningful changes to end all forms of violence and harassment at workplaces, especially gender-based violence. 

"The Convention’s ratification can greatly contribute to structurally change national, regional, and local legislation to protect workers from workplace violence and harassment. ILO Convention 190 obliges governments and employers to develop and implement policies and programs to address gender-based violence," BWI said.

BWI-affiliate CMWEU and its national confederation CTSP were part of the effort to ratify the Convention.  

“We congratulate the leadership of the CMWEU and CTSP for intensively campaigning and lobbying for the ratification of the Convention by the Mauritius government. This is a major victory for the Mauritian working class, especially women workers. We hope this would start a wave of more ratifications in Africa and Middle East,” BWI Regional Representative Crecentia Mofokeng said.