Ayuba seeks ratification of ILO convention on workplace violence

 Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

COMRADE Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has joined his counterparts across the globe to demand for the domestication of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work.

In a statement issued at the weekend in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, Wabba while citing official statistics from the United Nations Women noted that 35 percent of women all over the world have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by a non-intimate partner. It is estimated that 137 women lose their lives on daily basis as a result of violence mainly in the hands of family members. Out of the total number of trafficked persons globally, 72 percent of them are women and girls. In Africa south of the Sahara, one out of every four girls are most likely to be married out before their 18th birthday.

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In the statement which reads in part, the NLC boss said, “It is the persuasion of the Nigeria Labour Congress that the best gift that the Federal Government of Nigeria can give to the Nigerian people especially our women at the commemoration of the 2020 International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is to ratify ILO’s Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment. We urge that the ratification of this important centenary Convention of the ILO be done with the same zeal with which the Federal Government ratified Convention 185 on Seafarer’s Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003, as amended.

“Well, Uruguay has beat Nigeria and the rest of the world to the pole position as the first country to ratify Convention 190. Yet, there is no gainsaying the fact that it would still be great if Nigeria becomes the second country to ratify this convention and bring it into force globally. This would not only bolster the advocacy against sexual violence by organised labour and other like-minded civil society organisations, it would also demonstrate to the world how seriously we take sexual crimes, violence and harassment.”

The organised labour in Nigeria, Wabba said, “Will remain committed to the elimination of all forms of sexual crimes and violence especially those perpetrated against vulnerable persons and groups – girls, women, the youth, the aged and those living with disabilities. A few days ago, the NLC issued a statement raising the alarm on the rising wave of “Rape Epidemic” in Nigeria. We condemned the rape epidemic as immoral, barbaric, anti-development and a gross mislabeling of African culture and values.”