France: parliament votes to ratify the ILO convention on violence and harassment at work

Following the Senate’s assent, the French Parliament has definitively adopted the bill to ratify ILO Convention No.190 (Violence and Harassment Convention). Tabled in the spring by the government, the bill includes a single article ratifying the ILO text against violence and harassment at work. The ratification of the UN agency’s most recent convention, which dates from 2019, should enable enhanced protection for professions that are particularly exposed to violence and harassment and for people who are victims of domestic violence, emphasizes the Senate report. It should also lead to better recognition of discrimination in the workplace (based on gender, ethnic minorities, disability, individuals’ precarious situations…). While France’s role in negotiating the convention is unanimously recognized, some unions and NGOs denounce the lack of ambition in ratifying the text (c.f. article No. 12561). France thus becomes the ninth country to incorporate the international standard into national law after Greece, Mauritius, Ecuador, Namibia, Fiji, Somalia, Uruguay, and Argentina. Annick Billon, president of the Senate’s Delegation for Women’s Rights, called on France to play a “leading role” during the French presidency of the European Union, in the first half of 2022, so that other countries also ratify the convention.