Zonta Club Kathmandu organizes Virtual Panel Session;  collaborates with number of institutions for creating World of Work Free from Violence and Harassment

To mark the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence 2020, Zonta Club of Kathmandu in collaboration with Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), International Labor Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Pourakhi Nepal, Kumari Bank Limited and Royal Thai Embassy Nepal is organizing a campaign to raise awareness to end violence against women in the world of work in both formal and informal sectors from 25 November to 10 December. The theme of the campaign is “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”  “A World of Work Free from Violence and Harassment: A Right and An Obligation”.

On November 27,2020, as part of the 16 Days Campaign, a Virtual Panel session was organized on “A World of Work Free from Violence and Harassment: A Right and An Obligation”. The distinguished panelists for the session were Ms.Aya Matsuura, Gender Specialist ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team (DWT) for South Asia;Mr. Hansa Ram Pandey, Senior Expert, FNCCI; Ms.Shreejana Rana, President, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN); Mr Bhuvan Dahal, President, Nepal Bankers Association (NBA) and Dr.Lochan Karki, President, Nepal Medical Association (NMA). The session was moderated byMsDyuti Baral, Independent Consultant and Head of Capacity Building Cell, South Asian Institute of Management (SAIM).

Ms.Aya Matsuura (ILO) highlighted ILO’s Convention No. 190 and Recommendation No. 206, the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment including gender-based violence. She shared how violence and harassment in the world of work could be eliminated and requested Nepal Government’s attention and action to Ratify C190. She committed that ILO will continue to help partners develop policies, supporting materials and conduct training to ensure elimination of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Mr.Hansa Ram Pandey (FNCCI)highlighted the Government of Nepal’s Sexual Harassment at Workplace Prevention Act, 2015 and shared the Act addresses sexual harassment at workplace. It provides that no one should be subjected to sexual harassment in workplace, and provides definitions, scope, and measures for enforcement and remedies. He also shared that, the Act does not prohibit anyone to seek any legal remedy as per the prevailing law of the country. An individual can take the case directly to the respective District Court against the perpetrator. He added that now the responsibility lies on the employers to formulate and implement company policies and bylaws to protect the employees. Mr. Pandey committed that if any sexual harassment case is reported to FNCCI, he will ensure necessary support to bring justiceto the survivor.

Ms.Shreejana Rana, President, HAN, shared that many hotels have guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in place to address sexual harassment at the workplace. She emphasized on the need to regularly update these SOPs and protocols, train and orient employee,s especially on these protocols. She added that in addition to make the workplace safe, proper reference check and orientation should be conducted during the recruitment process, providing orientation to the partners and suppliers and encouraging them to commit to zero tolerance are the ways ensure that the world of work is free from violence and harassment. Bringing in her perspective and the experiences of the hospitality sector, Ms. Rana committed i) to ensure that everyone receives training on sexual harassment prevention during the recruitment process, ii) promote the formulation of open-door policies in the tourism sector and iii)to take an intersectional and holistic approach and work with other partners like Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) to raise awareness on and to take action against sexual harassment at the workplace.

Mr.BhuvanDahal, President, Bankers’ Association Nepal, shared that, of the total people working in the banking sector, currently 37 percent are female. Based on his long experience, in the sector, he shared that to ensure the elimination of sexual harassment, senior management should set an example and in addition to formulating policies, should strictly implement the policies to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace. He further added that any issue related to harassment against women should be taken seriously and addressed immediately.

Dr.Lochan Karki, President, NMA, shared the experiences of front line workers, especially during this COVID time. He shared that there is need to collect data on sexual harassment among health workers in Nepal for informed decision-making. He committed to conducting research to understand more about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the health sector including the level of awareness among the health workers on what harassment at the workplace means. Furthermore, he also committed to take steps to make the workplace safe for health workers.

MsDyuti Baral made the session interesting by engaging all the Panelists with interesting, thought-provoking questions

The audience put forward a very important question: “Why is the issue of workplace harassment not reported?” To this, the panelists opined that social-cultural issue, the fear of losing job, being stigmatized could be the factors holding them back to openly address the issue. The panelists suggested that facilities of psycho-social counseling, and having a lady mentor in organizations and having a help desk in FNCCI, and NMA to report such issues to play a support role to encourage reporting.

Over 70 invitees and attendee who attended the session included, officials and representatives from the formal sector Corporate houses, Banking, Hotel, Medical etc sectors: bilateral organizations: nongovernmental organizations and media colleagues.

The participants shared, “it was a highly informative and interactive session that discussed about the prevalent issues in all working sectors”.