In June 2019 the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a new Convention and Recommendation to combat violence and harassment in the workplace. While the convention recognizes the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment and is accompanied by a Recommendation that provides advice and guidance against gender-based violence (GBV), it is still a long way to put these into practice to effectively address and mitigate GBV. Ratification of the convention and, most importantly, implementation of measures to prevent and reduce GBV at the workplace and beyond are urgently needed. When looking at the garment industry, the importance to address GBV from different angles becomes evident. While both evidence for GBV as well as solutions to address abusive behavior at work exist, responsible stakeholders, including governments, brands and retailers as well as factory management, are often still reluctant to address violence and harassment proactively.
The present study is part of the Multi-stakeholder partnership to decrease gender-based violence against women in the garment industry of Bangladesh and India and therefore meant to collect facts and figures on the prevalence of violence and harassment in Bangladeshi garment factories. From this data as well as earlier studies and initiatives to combat GBV, the report analyses the situations in which workers are likely to become a victim of violence and harassment, with case studies that clearly illustrate the practices and structures that are currently fostering abusive behavior against workers. The report is the outcome of a joint project between the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS) and FEMNET in Germany, that set out to bring brands and retailers, suppliers as well as workers' rights organizations in Bangladesh to one table in order to establish a meaningful and sustainable dialogue on how to jointly address GBV in the garment sector of Bangladesh.
