The second progress report on the Dindigul Agreement shows significant progress in the fight against gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at Eastman Exports' Natchi plant. The agreement plays a crucial role in improving working conditions and underlines the positive effect of legally binding agreements negotiated with trade unions. Businesses and political actors are now more than ever required to extend the agreement.
Foto: © FEMNET
At the beginning of December 2023, FEMNET was part of a delegation trip to India. The trip was dominated by important topics such as gender equality, rights holders and workers' rights in the textile industry. This mission was carried out as part of the German government's sector project on 'Social and Ecological Transformation of Textile Supply Chains', which is responsible for the Green Button, the Siegelklarheit initiative and the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles.
© Saskia Wulfinghoff
The links between gender-based violence and the health consequences have so far received little attention from the actors in the textile industry. FEMNET will focus more on this topic. Dr. Gisela Burckhardt, Chair of FEMNET and project coordinator Sina Marx give an insight into why health plays an important role in the context of FEMNET's campaign and project work.
In June 2019, after long years of negotiations, the International Labour Organization (ILO) finally adopted Convention 190 against Gender-Based Violence in the Workplace. So far, however, only Uruguay and Fiji have signed the convention.
Every year since 1991, women's rights organisations have called for a 16-day campaign against violence against women on 25 November. From the International Day Against Violence against Women to the 10th. In December, International Human Rights Day, the campaign draws attention to violence against women as one of the most widespread human rights violations.
© IndustriAll
Governments and businesses are now required to implement the Convention in practice
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the member states adopted the new International Convention No. 190 against Violence and Harassment in the World of Work by an overwhelming majority at the end of June 2019. This legally binding international treaty, which was supplemented by a recommendation for concrete implementation by the member states, is a historic victory for workers and their representatives:
In 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO) celebrates its centenary. With its highest body, the International Labour Conference, the member states of the United Nations meet every year in Geneva to decide on international labour law. This year, the conference will be held from 10 to 21 June and will address the issue of violence and harassment in the workplace. So far, there are no effective regulations at the international level.
A violent scene in the middle of Bonn's city centre: Again and again the overseer raises his hand against the seamstress and leaves a blue handprint on her white clothes with every symbolic hitting, pinching, holding. Exhausted, her head sinks to the table. “Faster! There is no pause now! Back to work!" On the occasion of the Rana Plaza Memorial Day, Bonn activists drew attention to the problematic working conditions in the fashion industry with an action theatre on 24 April 2019.
FEMNET supports the campaign for the signing of an ILO convention against gender-based violence in the workplace, which starts on 14 February 2018. The campaign runs until Women's Day on March 8. While the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the UN in 1979, does not yet have an international law requiring action against gender-based violence in the workplace.
